Where there are students, there must be teachers.

General Secretary To Lam's remarks on the Law on Teachers addressed the most pressing issue facing the education sector and every school today: the shortage of teachers.

Emphasizing the need to avoid a shortage of teachers, General Secretary To Lam clearly stated the requirement: "Where there are students, there must be teachers," and argued that with the national database on residents, it is now possible to know how many children in a commune, ward, district, or city are attending school this year. And once there are students, we must proactively ensure there are teachers.

Every school year, the shortage of teachers is a pressing issue, worsening year after year. Particularly since the implementation of the 2018 General Education Program, the teacher shortage has become even more serious and difficult to resolve, especially with the introduction of new subjects and the mandatory enrollment of previously elective subjects.

The shortage of teachers is not a reactive or unexpected problem. As the General Secretary pointed out, national population data can fully predict the number of students at each educational level in a ward or commune five years in advance of the next school year; the 2018 general education program also had many years of preparation before its official implementation, giving teacher training colleges ample time to train teachers, yet the education sector remains reactive and confused due to a lack of teachers; there are staffing quotas and contract policies, but recruitment is impossible or there is no source of candidates.

Just a few weeks ago, news that a number of schools in the mountainous region of Thanh Hoa province had to temporarily suspend teaching some core subjects due to a shortage of teachers shocked those concerned about education. Obviously, the curriculum is mandated, and compulsory subjects must be taught in all schools, regardless of whether they are in favorable or extremely difficult areas. Therefore, the inability of schools to conduct classes due to a lack of teachers is unacceptable.

These schools and localities later explained that despite trying various methods, from transferring teachers to teach in multiple schools within the same area; moving teachers from one district to another; to promoting even preschool teachers to teach in primary schools, they still did not have enough teachers to cover the teaching needs…

Previously, mountainous districts like Meo Vac (Ha Giang) and Mu Cang Chai (Yen Bai) became famous nationwide when the head of the Education and Training Department requested schools in Hanoi to help teach English online to students from grade 3 onwards because there were no teachers and they could not recruit teachers for this subject.

In its submission of the draft Law on Teachers to the National Assembly, the Ministry of Education and Training proposed a groundbreaking solution: transferring the authority to recruit and assign teachers to the education sector instead of the Ministry of Interior, as has been the case for a long time. This proposal has generally received support as it would address the current situation of localized teacher shortages and surpluses. However, when given the power to recruit teachers, the education sector would also have to take full responsibility, from ordering to training teachers, ensuring sufficient quantity and quality. In that case, the education sector could not blame the teacher shortage on a lack of recruitment sources. These are also issues not yet addressed in the draft Law on Teachers.

Addressing the root cause of the teacher shortage is particularly anticipated following the General Secretary's directive: "Now that there's a shortage of teachers, how will the children go to school? Whatever leads to the shortage must be resolved," he also noted that many policies must be incorporated into the law.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/co-tro-la-phai-co-thay-185241110221434204.htm