Education officials face difficulties

TP - After more than a month of operating the two-level local government model, the education sector in many localities has begun to show obvious difficulties.

Many commune-level experts who are assigned to manage schools do not come from the education sector, and some even studied land management and livestock farming. The lack of expertise and confusion in operations and coordination are posing challenges for the education sector, especially as the new school year approaches.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training , about 70-80% of education specialists in communes and wards do not have expertise or experience in the field but must manage and direct education.

Civil servants in charge of the education sector without expertise will have difficulty advising and directing schools (Illustration photo)

Ms. Nguyen Dieu Binh, an expert from the Department of Culture and Society of Lang Ward ( Hanoi ), said that although she previously worked at the District Department of Education and Training, she was in charge of preschool education. When transferred to the ward, she was assigned to be in charge of 9 schools from preschool, primary school, and secondary school, so she did not have in-depth expertise, and advising on the implementation of educational programs at all levels and applying them in practice was difficult.

Some commune-level civil servants assigned to be in charge of education previously worked at the Statistics Office, the Department of Agriculture and Environment, the Women's Union, the Justice Department... Many commune-level civil servants feel confused, pressured, overloaded, do not understand, and cannot control all assigned work.

Mr. Nguyen Tien Bac, Principal of Cao Phong Secondary School (Phu Tho) shared that the new school year is approaching, the school has proactively developed an educational plan and prepared facilities but there are still some difficulties such as a lack of teachers. The recruitment of teachers for schools under the commune level is assigned to the Department of Culture and Society, but they have not done their role well so the school is still in a state of waiting. While there is only 1 month left in the new school year, the recruitment of teachers for educational institutions is certainly not possible.

According to Mr. Tran The Cuong, Director of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, after the merger, Hanoi has 126 communes and wards. There are 347 civil servants of the Department of Culture and Society, but only 25% of them have worked in the education sector. In fact, there are cadres in the Department of Education and Training who were previously in charge of one field, but now have to be in charge of all three levels of education. Over the past month, Hanoi has proposed a solution of organizing professional clusters according to the scope of the previous districts. "This method is good for professional activities, organizing competitions for teachers and students. Hanoi also requires school boards and teachers to support the authorities and the Department of Culture and Education at the commune level in professional matters, digital transformation...", Mr. Cuong said.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, a quick survey of about 1,000 civil servants assigned to work at the Department of Culture and Social Affairs at the commune level showed that only about 1/3 of them had expertise in education, the rest had no expertise and had no experience in this field. There were even cases where expertise was truly "unrelated" such as bachelor's degrees in land management, animal husbandry... now assigned to work in education.

Two issues of concern

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said that when operating a two-level local government, the role of commune-level civil servants and the Department of Education and Training in education and training poses new tasks. The Ministry of Education and Training has reviewed and issued two decrees regulating decentralization, delegation, and assignment of authority in state management of education and issued six guiding circulars.

Although there are still difficulties and confusion, the implementation of a two-level local government aims to operate the education system in the whole country better than before. The Ministry of Education and Training continues to support the education sector at the commune level and considers this urgent because the commune level is the most fundamental block in the system, and is also the block that is facing initial confusion. Reality requires training and standardization of staff, considering the model of inter-commune school clusters or specialized education clusters that will be established, in charge of a group of 3-5 neighboring schools.

According to Minister Son, two issues that localities are particularly concerned about at present are the appointment and recruitment of teaching staff. Circular 15 of the Ministry of Education and Training has recently issued clearly stating the authority to appoint leaders of educational institutions. Regarding teacher recruitment, it is clearly stipulated that the education sector is responsible, specifically assigning the role to the Department of Education and Training, but proposing the demand from educational institutions, the commune level is responsible for synthesizing.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/cong-chuc-phu-trach-nganh-giao-duc-gap-kho-post1766413.tpo