Teachers quiting their jobs in big cities is no longer a strange. However, it is really a worrying thing that the phenomenon has become more popular in rural areas.

Why do they have to leave?

The information that teacher Hanh filed for resignation from her job surprised all the teachers of the school, because she did not tell anyone before about the intention to give up job. While close colleagues tried to persuade Hanh to stay, she kept quiet and calm. It seemed that Hanh thought very carefully before she released the decision.

Graduating from the biology faculty of a famous pedagogical university, Hanh planned to return to her home village to work as a high school teacher. However, in that year, Hoa Binh provincial authorities did not intend to recruit a biology teacher for its high schools.

Hanh accidentally heard that Nam Dinh province offered preferences to the graduates with excellent degrees, and she decided to move to Nam Dinh to become a local permanent resident. She was luckily accepted to work as a teacher of a high school which meets the national standards.

However, the job and the life away from home have made Hanh feel tired. Since Hanh could not give private tutoring lessons, she could not earn extra incomes, except the official monthly salary of 1.6 million dong.

Hanh had to struggle to live on such a modest income which is not high enough to cover her basic needs. She even did not have money to send home to help treat the serious disease of the mother.

Finally, she gave up the job of teaching.

Like Hanh, Duong was considered a potential chemistry teacher. At university, he was a dynamic student: he was not only good at chemistry, but at English as well. The knowledge allowed Duong to earn money as interpreter or seller.

At work, Duong is considered a young good teacher. Meanwhile, his income was not too low, because he could earn one million dong in extra income when providing tutoring lesson.

However, Duong still decided to resign from his work, after he found a new job at a trade company in Hanoi, where he can earn six million dong a month in the probation period.

In general, the teachers who give up the jobs are all young. They feel shocked when going to work and feeling too big of a gap between the socio-economic development and the confined environment at school. Especially, the overly low incomes cannot continue nurturing their dream of working as teachers.

The teachers and the farmers

After graduating the pedagogical school, Tam decided to study further to obtain the master degree. With the high qualification, Tam got a job as a teacher at a high school which was 10 kilometers far from her home.

However, Tam did not feel happy because the dream of becoming a teacher became true. She felt discouraged with the salary. In principle, Tam can earn 2.3 million dong a month, but she had to pay one year for the probation time, when she could get 85 percent of the salary, or 1.8 million dong.

Tam spent all the night long to think about how she would spend money with the 1.8 million dong. She would have to spend 300,000 dong a month on petrol at least, and 1 million dong a month on meals. Besides, she would have to spend on clothes, healthcare and a lot of other spending items.

Tam had to take extra jobs to earn her living. As she could speak English and Chinese fluently, she could earn some more money and decided to stay working as a teacher. “Other teachers can live, so I will also have to live on the teaching job,” she thought.

However, Tam has changed her mind, and has decided to leave for a better job.

The colleagues of hers still work for schools, and they have to breed pigs to earn extra money. Therefore, at school, when meeting each other, the teachers not only talk about students and curriculums, but also share experience about how to farm pigs and how to grow plants.

Kim Chi