VietNamNet Bridge - Schools across the nation are paying support staff higher wages in an attempt to keep their services.

Low wages have made many school support staff feel insecure about working at boarding schools.

According to the head of HCM City Education and Training Department’s Primary Education Bureau, Le Ngoc Diep, the precarious existence leads to frequent job changes.

And, he said, this could cause unexpected changes in the way pupils were cared for at school.

Support staff normally prepare meals and care for and help pupils take a short nap after lunch. They also do cleaning and other school chores.

Principal of Nguyen Viet Hong Primary School Tran Thi Hanh shared Diep’s views. “Low salaries make it difficult for them,” she said.

The school has charged pupils a monthly boarding fee of VND30,000 (US$1.7) for the last 10 years. At the Nguyen Viet Hong school, each member of the support staff is paid between VND600,000 and VND700,000 a month.

The State has not yet considered increases for school support staff, according to the head of Primary Education Department Le Tien Thanh.

Although it is still encouraging all schools nationwide to open two-shift classes a day, a shortage of classrooms is hampering them.

For this reason, the State has left schools in cities and provinces to decide if they are able to provide boarding services for pupils.

Thanh said the service was usually provided after an agreement between schools, parents and support staff.

Municipal and provincial People’s Committees will decide the rate of boarding fees for schools in their localities.

At present, 36 per cent of boarding-school primary students do two shifts a day throughout the nation.

Primary schools employ the highest number of support staff, but Diep said they all found it impossible to solve the problem of support staff.

Under HCM City People’s Committee’s regulations, schools can only charge each pupil a boarding fee of between VND20,000 and VND30,000 a month. This fee has been the same for 10 years.

In addition, support work requires staff to work from early morning to dusk, making it difficult for them to find other work.

A support worker at Nguyen Viet Hong School, Nguyen Thi Anh Tuyet, said she started working at 7.30am every day and only finished at 6pm when the last children were picked up.

Another worker, Nguyen Thi Thanh Tra, said caring for first-grade pupils was harder because they needed so much care.

Principal Hanh said the job required staff to care for pupils at every meal and sleep session like second mothers.

She said anyone who did not love children could not work as support staff.

“Support staff must understand the psychology of every child and have proper teaching methods for each,” said worker Ngo Thi Le.

Worried by the shortage, Viet Hong primary school has called on pupils’ parents to pay more for boarding fees for the 2008-09 school year. Thanks to the effort, each staff is now paid an extra VND400,000 to VND500,000 a month on top of their VND600,000 to VND700,000 pay.

Support staff at To Vinh Dien primary school in Binh Thanh District are paid only VND800,000 a month.

“With the current escalating prices, this salary is not enough to buy rice for my family, not to mention school fees for my children,” said one worker.

Phu Nhuan District has allowed primary schools in the district to raise boarding fees since the start of the year to boost pay for support staff.

But even though, according to principal Dam Thi Minh Ngoc, their salary has increased up to VND1.2 million a month, it remains low compared with the cost of living.

Diep called on society to put support staff in a better position. She said boarding schools should employ regular support staff as boarding services were in high demand by parents.

In HCM City, 950 schools out of a total of 1,442 primary and secondary schools provide boarding services. Most of support staff workers are secondary education graduates.

The city is pondering a plan to help all schools at different education levels have boarding services by 2010.

(Source: VNS)