Minister Nguyen Kim Son proposed focusing on supporting commune-level education staff - Photo: MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Lack of commune-level officials with expertise and experience in education
50% of commune-level administrative units do not have leaders or officials who have worked in the education sector, so there is currently a shortage of commune-level officials with in-depth knowledge in education management. This is information in a report by the Ministry of Education and Training after the two-level government was put into operation.
According to current guidelines, each commune -level cultural and social department shall arrange a maximum of 2 positions in charge of education and training. Accordingly, with 3,321 communes, wards and special zones after the arrangement of the 2-level government apparatus, more than 6,000 officials are needed.
But according to the Department of Teachers and Educational Managers (Ministry of Education and Training), the assignment of staff at the People's Committees at the commune level is currently not suitable for job positions and quantity norms.
Specifically, many departments of culture and society have only been able to arrange one officer. A quick survey of 1,000 civil servants assigned to work at the department of culture and society in charge of education and training showed that 303 people had previously worked at the department of education and training.
There are 395 people with professional qualifications trained in pedagogy. The rest are trained in other fields. Many also have no experience in education.
Statistics provided by the Ministry of Education and Training show that about 50% of communes do not have leaders or officials who have worked in the education sector to monitor and manage the state in the education sector. There are localities where only 20% or nearly 30% of commune-level education officials have expertise or experience in the education sector.
According to the Ministry of Education and Training, from surveys in localities and recent reflections on the confusing shortcomings in the operation of commune-level authorities on education, if there are no timely adjustments and supplements, the risk of directing, guiding, and assessing professional activities on education is impossible.
In some localities, there have been initiatives to establish specialized areas and clusters including many communes directly managed by the Department of Education and Training to ensure smooth professional guidance, but there are still many difficulties and shortcomings.
An education official, burdened with too much work
Not having enough time and resources to carry out assigned tasks is another difficulty after the administrative restructuring. In Lang Son, there is a place where a commune-level cultural and social officer is doing the work that was previously done by a team of 8 civil servants and about 20 key officers of the education and training department.
Another cultural and social department of Lang Son is taking on the task of advising on state management for areas that were previously under the control of six district-level units, including education, health, culture, internal affairs, ethnicity, and religion.
At the discussion, some leaders of the cultural and social departments at the commune level also said that they are taking on work in many areas. There are many cases of officials without experience in education having to take care of education.
Ms. Nguyen Dieu Binh, a social and cultural specialist in Lang Ward (Hanoi), said that although she used to be an education officer, she was only in charge of preschools. Currently, she is in charge of both primary and secondary schools, so it is very difficult because she has not yet had time to grasp the situation of all three levels of education.
The pressure from the large workload makes many officials feel overloaded and confused. Sharing at the discussion, some officials also said that there are many issues in educational activities that need more specific guidance documents, or adjustments to current regulations to suit the new situation.
"Human resources and staff quality are two issues we are worried about and must find solutions to resolve" - Mr. Tran The Cuong, Director of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, shared at the discussion.
Mr. Cuong said that Hanoi currently has 126 communes and wards. There are 347 commune-level civil servants, but only 212 have a teaching degree. Not to mention that among those with a teaching degree, their previous expertise was only focused on one level of education, but now they have to take charge of many levels of education with different characteristics.
Opportunity to adjust, operate better
Listening to the opinions exchanged and expressing different difficulties, the leaders of the Ministry of Education and Training also stated that implementing the two-level government model has the advantage of increasing unity, concentration, and timeliness in professional direction. This is also an opportunity to optimize the management apparatus and resources, streamline the intermediary apparatus, reduce administrative costs, and increase operational efficiency.
Speaking at the seminar, Minister Nguyen Kim Son said that when innovating, there will be initial difficulties, but we should not be pessimistic. Finding solutions to overcome difficulties must be based on the spirit of reorganizing the educational system to operate better than before, not just with the mindset of dealing with immediate difficulties.
On the side of the Ministry of Education and Training, Mr. Kim Son said that he is implementing a plan to inspect and monitor the implementation from many different channels. Listening to opinions at the discussion is also a channel to grasp the situation and have an action plan according to the authority of the ministry.
"Supporting commune-level education staff is an urgent key task in the coming time," Mr. Kim Son emphasized.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bo-truong-nguyen-kim-son-tap-trung-toi-da-ho-tro-can-bo-giao-duc-cap-xa-20250802193709899.htm
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