VietNamNet Bridge – The teachers in Simacai district in the mountainous northern province of Lao Cai, said they have not celebrated Tet in the last eight years as they have not received any Tet bonus.

The small room of teacher Pham Chi Cong of Lu Than School in Samacai district, Lao Cai province

While labourers in enterprises are eager for the information about their Tet bonuses, teachers and educators dare not think much about that.

Teachers in remote areas don’t have Tet

“For the last few years, teachers in remote areas do not expect Tet bonuses,” said Then Dung Phu, Deputy Chairman of Simacai District’s People’s Committee in Lao Cai province. Not only teachers, but state agencies’ employees also do not receive Tet bonuses.

Simacai district has some 800 teachers at different education levels, from pre-school to secondary education. And the teachers have not gotten any Tet bonuses since 2000.

The teachers in the province even have to spend their money to buy candies for their students to persuade them go to school. “We have asked the higher levels to give us two-month salaries at once, so that teachers have money to enjoy Tet,” Phu said.

The US $1.76 Tet bonus

In Ninh Binh City, the highest Tet bonus is VND 500,000 for each teacher, which is applied mainly to the teachers in the high schools in the inner city.

The schools in the suburb areas of Hai Phong, including Vinh Bao, Tien Lang, Kien Thuy and kindergartens in the city just receive modest Tet bonus. At some schools, teachers get VND 20,000 in gifts and VND 30,000 in cash.

However, the teachers still feel lucky with the bonus, as it is higher than that of the previous year. According to Hoang Phu Manh, Chairman of the Trade Union of Hai Phong education and training, the last year’s Tet bonus was just VND 30,000.

Manh said that the trade union this year has decided to give allowance to 100 poor teachers, with VND 300,000-500,000 each.

Hanoi authorities have also decided to give allowance to 170 teachers with VND 500,000 each.

According to Nguyen Viet Can, Chairman of the Trade Union of Hanoi education and training, Hanoi now has some 72,000 teachers who will receive from several hundreds thousands VND to one million VND each.

The Headmaster of Nghe An-based Phan Boi Chau Gifted School said that the school plans to give VND 500,000-700,000 to every teacher this year.

VND 2 million the highest Tet bonus level

People’s Tet bonuses will only come in several days, but Nguyen Thi Lan from Can Thanh Secondary School in Can Gio district in HCM City is happy because she has been told that she will get VND 900,000, or double that of the last year.

However, teachers of other schools are not as lucky as Lan.

Minh, a teacher of a privately owned kindergarten in HCM City, related that last year that she was given VND 250,000 in Tet bonus, but she then had to give back VND 50,000 which was then given to the babysitters who did not get official bonuses. She said that the 2009 Tet bonus is expected to be the same like the last year.

Minh and other teachers like Minh may feel touched if they know that the highest Tet bonus level which has been reported so far is VND 330 million.

Every year, Minh gets only one bonus. However, she still feels luckier than many other colleagues because she still can enjoy Tet with the money of her husband and because she has her own small family in the city. Minh said that some of her colleagues do not even have money to return to home villages to celebrate Tet days with families.

Nguyen Trai High School in HCM City proves to be the school which gives highest Tet bonus to its staff, at VND 2 million on average.

Where does money come from?

In the press conference in mid December 2008, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Training, Nguyen Thien Nhan, said that he feels sad because teachers and educators cannot be cared well.

Nhan said that local authorities should reserve money to take care for teachers and give bonuses to teachers while should not rely on the ministry.

Meanwhile, local authorities said that they do not have money for Tet bonuses for teachers because of the limited budget.

Bao Anh – Doan Truc