Vietnam Primary Schools Facing Shortage of 19,000 Teachers

Vietnam is facing a shortage of 19,000 teachers for the next academic year (2019-2020), informed the Ministry of Education and Training at a conference in Hanoi on May 16 in preparation for grade 1 at the 2020-2021 academic year. The ministry noted that the problem may become worse in 2020-2021 because the new curriculum will become effective, bringing new mandatory subjects of foreign language and information technology. Currently, those two subjects are optional ones. Earlier, the ministry informed about a lack of 5,600 teachers of English language and 5,600 others for Information Technology at primary schools. The figures are part of the teacher shortage of 75,989 as of the end of October 2018. However, there is a redundancy of 12,165 teachers for secondary schools for certain subjects. Besides, the ministry listed another problem of the insufficient facilities at primary schools. About 20% of learners will not be able to go to school for two sessions a day. The ministry proposed solutions of more payments for teachers, more autonomy for schools in conducting extra-curricular activities with the consent from learners and parents, and more autonomy for schools in replacing two-sessions-a-day program by others. (TinTuc, Nhan Dan, Bao Chinh Phu, An Ninh Thu Do, Vietnam Plus, Giao Duc Thoi Dai)