The truth about the information that a female teacher with cancer still has to go on a secondment 35km away from home

On September 18, Ms. TTH, a teacher at Nam Can Primary and Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities ( Nghe An province), said that, in order to implement the general policy, she was assigned to a school in Huu Kiem commune, 35km from her home.

According to Ms. H., for the past two years, she has been suffering from peritoneal cancer and has been undergoing chemotherapy regularly. During this time, the school has created favorable conditions for her to seek treatment. When the policy of secondment was announced, she asked to stay but was not approved.

“I also asked to stay on due to illness but was not approved. However, I happily agreed to go on assignment because I did not want to make things difficult for the school because of common work. I hope that after 2 years of assignment, I will be able to return to my old school to teach,” Ms. H. shared.

Nam Can Primary and Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities (Nghe An)

Regarding this, Mr. Lam Nguyen Ngoc, Principal of Nam Can Primary and Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities, said that Ms. H. has cancer but is still on the list of people sent on secondment.

“The document of the Nghe An Department of Education and Training will consider cases of serious illness. As I understand it, serious illness means terminal cancer. In Ms. H’s case, she does not have terminal cancer, so she is still eligible for secondment,” said Mr. Ngoc.

According to Mr. Ngoc, Ms. H. is a special case. Although she has worked at the school for 25 years, she has never been on a secondment. “The three previous times Ms. H. was considered for secondment, she was exempted. This time, there are two more teachers in the school who also have cancer. If Ms. H. is exempted, it is mandatory to exempt the other two teachers, so it is very difficult,” Mr. Ngoc said.

The leaders of the Department of Education and Training of Nghe An province said that they will check, review, and request the school to report the above case. In the document guiding the secondment of teachers of the Department of Education and Training of Nghe An province, it clearly stated: "Units can proactively identify priority subjects that do not have to be seconded, including teachers with serious illnesses according to the list of the Ministry of Health as priority number 1 subjects".