A music lesson in a smart classroom at TP Kindergarten (Xuan Hoa ward, Ho Chi Minh City) - Photo: THAO THUONG
In the 2025-2026 school year, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training will recruit 5,726 teachers. In contrast to highly competitive subjects such as physics and math, there are also subjects such as music, fine arts, and technology that have very few teachers applying compared to demand.
Of which, the elementary music subject has only 46 candidates out of 180 positions. The middle school music subject has 65 candidates registered out of 223 positions. The elementary fine arts subject needs 194 teachers but only 30 candidates registered. The middle school fine arts subject needs 235 teachers but only 57 candidates registered.
Hiring the right person is like "winning the lottery"
"For many years, the school has not been able to recruit a single teacher to teach a specific subject such as music or fine arts. No candidates have applied. There were years when someone applied and was accepted, but when the day came for them to be assigned to the school, the school waited in vain. The school had to find a solution to have a teacher to teach the class, but it was only a temporary arrangement," confided the principal of a middle school in Cau Ong Lanh ward.
This principal told a story about knowing a person who studied at the Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music and had a teaching certificate but did not choose to teach. "I once offered to teach but received a true share. That is, working outside, at music teaching centers and running events with very high salaries, no time constraints" - this principal added.
Meanwhile, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dac - Principal of Hoang Hoa Tham Secondary School (Tan Binh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City) - shared that in the 2025-2026 school year, the school was able to recruit two students to teach the specialized subject of music, while many previous years were not able to recruit.
"However, until now, near the end of November, only one person who graduated from the Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music has come to the school to submit his application, even though the office had decided since the beginning of November. The school is still "waiting" for another new teacher."
"The school is very happy to recruit special subject teachers. When someone is recruited, the school feels like it has won a prize" - Mr. Dac likened and recounted the story of recruiting teachers to teach special subjects. That joy is still not complete because according to Mr. Dac, only a few days into December, near the first semester exam, but the new teacher has not yet come to school. He is worried that next year the story of "eye fatigue" with teachers teaching special subjects will continue.
As an "insider", Ms. Ngo My Tam (Binh Phu ward, Ho Chi Minh City) graduated from Ho Chi Minh City University of Architecture in 2014 and has a certificate in pedagogy.
She said: "I planned to apply for a teaching job, but the attraction of the salary at the art center, the extra teaching sessions after hours at the center... kept me for more than ten years. My salary increased every two years.
15-20%, still have other benefits.
The number of students registering to learn drawing at the center is increasing, my future income is expected to increase so I seem to have forgotten that I ever intended to ask to teach.
Temporary solutions
Faced with the reality that for many years, he has not been able to recruit teachers to teach art, music, technology... the principal of a middle school in Cau Ong Lanh ward shared how the school "cleverly arranged" by inviting guest teachers and balancing the local budget.
"However, that solution is only temporary. In the long term, the school's budget must be recalculated, which is not possible. We once proposed that the HCM City Department of Education and Training, if it could not recruit, would find a contract for guest lecturers and propose paying guest lecturers' salaries from the budget, but the department requested payment from the local budget. So the school stopped this solution," he said.
According to the 2019 Education Law, primary and secondary school teachers must have a university degree. However, according to this leader, teachers with college degrees are still teaching specialized subjects but are "in limbo" and do not know when they will be reduced. Therefore, this leader proposed that the department have a way to legalize this source of teachers.
The principal added: "These teachers are teaching but receiving the old salary coefficient. But the problem here is that when assessing the quality of education, the school has a team of college-level teachers teaching special subjects, the school's evaluation results are at a normal level, because the percentage of teachers has not met the standards. Therefore, I propose that the department take the lead in opening classes and request the policy to standardize this source of teachers."
This person also said that he went to "knock on the door" of Saigon University to create conditions for the college teachers of the school to go to the transfer program. But to open a transfer class from college to university, 20 full-time students are needed to have 1 transfer quota; but to have 20 full-time students is very "difficult".
The plan to contract with artists to teach specific subjects that the department proposed is considered a good idea, but according to Mr. Dac, it is not easy to implement because it involves funding issues. Therefore, a solution is needed to attract teachers who are students graduating from school and taking exams to enter public schools in Ho Chi Minh City.
Teacher Dac assessed that the current income of teachers is enough to attract teachers, because the salary is stable, the salary follows Resolution 08, the additional income at the end of the year at school... these are relatively large sources of income.
Mr. Dac told the story of a new teacher who came to the school to take up a job. This person used to teach at a music center but wanted stability so he chose a public education environment. He only started recruiting this year because he had long been afraid of... "difficult exams, difficult applications, strict recruitment".
"In terms of attraction solutions, my point of view is to loosen the recruitment process. The recruitment method must be such that participants cannot pass one school and then go to another. Or it can be understood that there are more wishes such as wishes 1, 2, 3... Because part of the teachers' psychology also wants to go to a top public school, while the quotas in these schools are always low, so it is necessary to spread out the wishes and loosen the registration wishes" - Mr. Dac analyzed and proposed.
Meanwhile, according to a dean at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, to open a university major like music pedagogy or fine arts pedagogy, first of all, 5-6 PhDs in the major are needed. "But the problem is where to find 5-6 PhDs in this specific major, it is very difficult" - he emphasized.
Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training: "Continue to innovate in teacher recruitment"
Teacher in music class at TP Kindergarten (Xuan Hoa ward) - Photo: THAO THUONG
From the perspective of state management, the leaders of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City admitted that the recruitment rate of teachers for special subjects in recent years has reached 10% compared to the demand. The Department has consulted the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City on policies to attract human resources, but due to regulations on salary regimes, it has not been possible to have a special mechanism for this group of teachers.
The Department recommends that the Ministry of Education and Training increase training quotas for music and fine arts majors. In the long term, Ho Chi Minh City needs to have a direction for developing STEAM schools and art schools to create a source of talented students and supplement the team of future teachers.
"The Department will continue to innovate in teacher recruitment such as giving recruitment authority to schools; increasing recruitment of excellent students; building many policies to attract human resources of the city, attracting quality resources from provinces and cities to work in Ho Chi Minh City," the department leader emphasized.
Invite parents who are artists and painters to participate
According to Ms. Tran Be Hong Hanh - Principal of Nguyen Thai Hoc Primary School (Ben Thanh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City), the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training allows teaching programs outside of textbooks to bring love and excitement to students.
"The school is proactive and prepares school plans, builds programs based on experiential activities, and orients student development. The school has many clubs such as the amateur music club, where artists are parents of students of the school.
The children love the club, and parents want their children to be interested in learning so they join hands to support the funding. Taking advantage of this socialized source, every time there is a music or art class, the school pays the artists and painters.
With enthusiastic parents, they teach for free. In general, there is a lack of teachers to teach specific subjects, so the school opens more clubs for experiential hours, the school proactively brings interesting lessons to students. As for the teachers, they are all specialized, knowledgeable, and prestigious, so students are more interested," Ms. Hanh shared.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nhieu-truong-o-tp-hcm-dai-co-cho-tuyen-giao-vien-am-nhac-my-thuat-20251128222720163.htm
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