Look At Vietnam – A new project rotating teachers in and out of remote and mountainous areas will kick off soon, according to Pham Manh Hung, a senior official at the Ministry of Education and Training.

A class at Ngai Thau Primary School in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai. A project is being organised to bring more teachers into remote areas.

“To this end, teachers with more than five years experience in remote areas will be rotated to more convenient areas in the lowlands,” said Hung.

Decree 35/2001/ND-CP by the Government on policies for teachers and education officials in difficult areas stated that the duration of each rotation term would be three years for female teachers and five years for male teachers.

However, since the decree was put into place in 2001, many teachers have not been able to return to more favourable locations, even after staying in remote regions longer than their assigned duration.

Teacher stories

Tran Thi Huong, 35, has been teaching at the Xa Thanh Secondary School, in Huong Hoa District of Quang Tri Province, for 12 years. She volunteered to come to teach at the school right after she graduated from university, wanting to help children with their studies in remote areas.

“I thought that I’d be able to return after three years. And I was even willing to stay five years,” said Huong.

She has since submitted her proposal to the education unit of Dong Ha Township several times to try to move back to the town, but her wish has still not been accepted.

She currently lives over 100km from her family and is still not married.

“I’m not told the reason why I cannot move back, but I guess it’s because no one wants to replace me out here,” said Huong.

Nguyen Huu Duc, principal of Xa Thanh Secondary School, said that all 42 teachers currently teaching at the school were not local residents.

“Some teachers, like Huong, are still not married. And it’s not because they don’t want to get married; it’s because they can’t,” said Duc.

He added that it was also difficult for the education sector to deal with, because other teachers did not want to come in exchange when the rotation period ended.

New future

Pham Manh Hung said that the project would foster the essence of the previous decree, so that teachers like Huong could feel secure if they were on the rotation list.

According to the new project, the rotation list will consist of new graduates and teachers currently in more convenient locations.

The project has also proposed granting awards to teachers who volunteer to come to remote and mountainous areas. To encourage volunteers to stay longer, the ministry would also be offering certain preferential financial polices.

“Though the implementation will be difficult, the ministry will have to get it done,” said Hung.

“During my trips to many remote schools, I have seen that life out there for many teachers is quite hard,” he added.

The project is being drafted and will be announced in detail by the second quarter of this year. According to plans, it will then come into effect by early 2010.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News