VietNamNet Bridge – 100% of the teachers who have received the title of ‘merit teachers’ in Hanoi, are either current or former members of managerial staff.

Teachers in remote areas do not have province-level outstanding students, nor do they have scientific teaching initiatives

This is the highest number of teachers receiving the titles so far. However, what is noteworthy is that the merit and people’s teachers are mostly managerial staff members, while the number of lecturers, who teach students every day in classes, remains modest.

Of the 815 merit teachers, 301 came from provinces and cities. Of this number of people, more than 200 are or were once the managerial staff at school level, leaders of education and training departments and sub-departments, or trade union chairmen.

Hanoi has 21 merit teachers and all of them are or once were managerial staff members at different levels. Hai Phong City has 13 merit teachers, but there are only two teachers with the title, while the others are the headmasters of the schools which range from kindergartens to high schools, and one is the district’s trade union’s chairman.

Similarly, Bac Ninh province has 17 merit teachers, of whom there is only one lecturer. Thanh Hoa province has 16 merit teachers, including two lecturers, Thua Thien-Hue city has 14 merit teachers, including one lecturer, and Kien Giang has 21 merit teachers, including three lecturers. Other provinces, namely Lai Chau, Bac Kan, Ha Nam, Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Dong Nai, Hau Giang and Ca Mau, do not have any lecturer in the list of merit teachers.

Of the 101 people’s teachers who have been recognized, there is no general education teacher.

The titles just for the chiefs?

In fact, a lot of good teachers have not received the opportunity to be recognized as a merit teacher. A staff member from Thanh Hoa province said that a lot of school and education department leaders still want the titles to polish their images, though they have left the lecture halls behind for a long time to work as managers. It is understandable that once the leaders still cannot get the titles, their teachers should not dream of getting the titles.

Meanwhile, Bui Van Quang, Headmaster of the Viet Bac High School in Lang Son province, said that the teachers in remote and disadvantaged areas never dream of getting the titles. The students here are mostly poor and don’t have high learning ability, which can explain why teachers here do not have province-level outstanding students, nor do they have scientific teaching initiatives.

According to Nguyen Van Ben, Director of Bac Kan provincial Education and Training Department, the local education department submitted a list of 20 teachers to be recognized as merit and people’s teachers, but only seven have been finally recognized with the titles. The province now has 6,000 teachers, but only 11 have been recognized.

Ben said that in Bac Kan province, the most difficult thing for receiving the title is to have scientific teaching initiatives. Every year, the education department registers a lot of initiatives, but the provincial authorities only agree to give money to fund only one project. In remote areas, teachers all have to work hard, and it is understandable why they do not have money for their projects.

Bao Anh