New regulations on overtime pay for teachers

Photo caption — Illustration photo: Thanh Tung/VNA

This Circular replaces Joint Circular No. 07/2013/TTLT-BGDĐT-BNV-BTC dated March 8, 2013 of the Minister of Education and Training, the Minister of Home Affairs and the Minister of Finance guiding the implementation of the overtime pay regime for teachers in public educational institutions. Compared with Joint Circular No. 07, Circular 21 has a number of new points to suit the teaching practices of teachers.

The new circular removes the provisions on conditions for paying overtime wages in Clause 6, Article 3 of Joint Circular No. 07.

Specifically, Clause 6, Article 3 of Joint Circular No. 07 stipulates: “Payment for overtime teaching is only made in units or departments that lack the number of teachers approved by competent authorities. Units or departments that do not lack teachers are only paid overtime teaching when a teacher is on sick leave or maternity leave according to the provisions of the Law on Social Insurance or goes to study, train, participate in inspection teams, and participate in other tasks assigned or mobilized by competent authorities, and must arrange for another teacher to teach instead.”

However, in reality, the number of teachers approved by competent authorities is almost lower than the number of teachers according to the norms prescribed by the Ministry of Education and Training - the level prescribed to ensure the implementation of the educational program on the basis of adequate working regimes for teachers. In addition, with the characteristics of teaching by subject, although the total number of teachers is enough according to the norms, when calculating by subject, there are still situations where there are subjects with excess teachers, subjects with shortages of teachers; for subjects with shortages, teachers have to teach extra hours.

In addition, preschool teachers work 6 hours a day, but in reality, due to the nature of their job and the demands of parents, they often have to pick up children early and drop them off late (in some cases, they have to work directly at school from 6:30 to 18:00, meaning the actual working time can be up to 9 - 10 hours).

Thus, even though educational institutions have enough assigned teachers, in reality, teachers still have to teach more than the prescribed teaching hours without being paid overtime wages.

To ensure that teachers who teach extra hours are paid, to ensure fairness in the division of tasks among teachers in the same educational institution, and to ensure that overtime pay is consistent with the requirements of implementing the educational program, Circular No. 21 stipulates a number of binding conditions.

Circular 21 stipulates that the total number of extra teaching hours in a school year of all teachers must not be higher than the maximum total number of extra teaching hours in a school year of the educational institution for which the educational institution is paid. In which, the maximum total number of extra teaching hours for which the educational institution is paid is the total number of hours required to implement all tasks minus the total number of standard hours of all teachers actually present; the total number of extra teaching hours in a school year of each teacher must not exceed 200 hours.

The salary calculation formula is adjusted as follows:

Salary for a regular teaching period of preschool and primary school teachers = (Total salary for 12 months/standard teaching hours per year) x (Number of teaching weeks/52).

Salary per period of university and college lecturers = (Total salary for 12 months/standard teaching hours per year) x (Standard teaching hours per year calculated according to administrative hours/1760 hours) x (44 weeks/52 weeks).

Salary for one extra teaching period = Salary for one regular teaching period x 150%.

Circular 21 also adds regulations on the responsibility for paying overtime wages for teachers on secondment and inter-school teaching. Accordingly, overtime wages for teachers on secondment are paid by the educational institution to which the teacher is seconded. Extra-hour wages for inter-school teachers are paid by the educational institution to which the teacher is assigned.

In case a teacher is assigned to teach at three or more educational institutions simultaneously (including the educational institution where the teacher works), the teacher's overtime salary will be paid by the educational institutions where the teacher teaches at the inter-school level according to the ratio of the teacher's actual teaching hours at these educational institutions.

The time for paying overtime pay to teachers is after the end of the school year. However, in case of retirement, resignation, mobilization or transfer of teachers, the payment of overtime pay is made at the time of the decision on retirement, resignation, mobilization or transfer by the competent authority.

If a teacher's teaching time is less than a full school year, he/she will receive overtime pay corresponding to the actual working time.

Educational institutions shall base on the provisions of this circular to develop their own regulations, ensuring that the new circular is implemented from the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year. In particular, determine the total maximum number of extra teaching hours in a school year for which the educational institution is paid overtime wages, prepare a budget estimate and send it to competent authorities for approval and allocation of funds; assign and arrange tasks for teachers appropriately, ensuring the rights of teachers, in accordance with the funding source for paying overtime wages.