LookAtVietnam – Experts warn teaching will not be an attractive career any more if wages remain low.

President of the Hanoi University of Education under the Hanoi National University Nguyen Thi My Loc talks to a foreign educatioin expert at the workshop

According to Hoc, 20 percent of the state budget now goes on education and training. There are 2.4 million students studying at schools and universities nationwide, and there are nearly 1.5 million teachers who work at training establishments from nursery schools to universities. This means the budget spent on each teacher and student remains modest.

The average income of each teacher in 2007 was less than 2 million dong ($125, the exchange rate was 16,000 dong per dollar in 2007).

However, with the limited state budget, there is not much money for pay and allowances for teachers. It is estimated that increases in wages due to service length allowance alone will cost 10 billion dong in 2010.

The State has launched many policies to attract more students to teaching universities, including exempting them from tuition fees and giving allowances to teachers and education management officers.

However, according to president of the Hanoi University of Education under the Hanoi National University Nguyen Thi My Loc, policies for teachers still have many problems.

Loc says Vietnam still lacks a workable mechanism to attract talent to teaching universities and policies which encourage good lecturers. The pay for a lecturer now depends on the length of service, not capability or work efficiency.

Loc said in order to attract good students to study at teaching universities, the state needs to set up a financial support mechanism and offer preferences in tuition to attract capable students.

Other educators also stressed the need to improve the current pay scheme for working teachers and improve pension schemes. Wages must be defined on the capability rather than the length of service.

Kieu Oanh