LookAtVietnam – Hundreds of teachers at semi-state-owned (SSO) schools in Quang Binh province may not get salaries on time because there are no funds to pay teachers.

VietNamNet Bridge – Hundreds of teachers at semi-state-owned (SSO) schools in Quang Binh province may not get salaries on time because there are no funds to pay teachers.

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Bac Quang Trach SSO school still owes 220 million dong in salaries to its staff. Headmaster Nguyen Xuan Thang admitted that he must borrow money from banks to pay at least a portion of the salaries for teachers and school officers.

Nguyen Xuan Sung, Headmaster of Quang Trach SSO school, also conceded that the school has not paid salaries, social insurance and extra working hours to its teachers, to the tune of 560 million dong.

“Teachers have not gotten a single dong in salary for May, because salary funds have run out,” Sung revealed.

“I have sent a document to Quang Binh Education and Training Department and the province’s people’s committee, requesting authorities help pay salaries,” he added. “If my request is not approved, I must borrow money from banks to pay part of the money. The remaining sum will only be paid later, when the new school year begins and we begin collecting tuition.”

Why don’t Quang Binh SSO schools have money to pay teachers? The problem lies in the fact that the basic salary, under a State decision, has been raised from 650,000 dong to 730,000 dong.

Mai Son Ha, Headmaster of Dong Hoi SSO school, does not have to borrow money from a bank yet, but the school’s salary fund is nearly empty.

Ha commented that the school has only enough money to pay staff salaries until the end of June 2010.

“I think that I will pay teachers’ salaries for June in May,” he mused. “But I will be late in paying salaries for July, because I will only be able to pay salaries for July in August, when we can collect tuition for the 2010-2011 academic year.”

There are seven SSO schools in Quang Binh province and all of them complain of shortages in salary funds.

Under a resolution by the province’s people’s council, only managers and accountants of SSO schools obtain salaries from the state budget, while teacher and officer salaries come from other sources, including tuition. The tuition that a SSO school student must pay is 130,000-140,000 dong.

According to the headmasters, tuition levels were decided by the people’s council when the basic salary was 540,000 dong. Tuition levels have become “out of date” as the basic salary has been increased twice. While the basic salary has risen, tuition levels remained unchanged and so the schools do not have enough money to pay their instructors.

Ha observed that, with the current salary level, their inability to pay teachers has been inevitable.

In 2009, when the basic salary increased to 650,000 dong a month, the province propped up 300 million dong to the Dong Hoi SSO school and this year the amount could be 730 million.

Money only comes in at the beginning of the school year, so schools do not have money to pay summer salaries (when students do not attend school and thus pay no tuition).

Headmasters of SSO schools have pointed to this as a problem in the SSO school model. While the schools cannot decide the tuitions they collect, they must cover all expenses alone.

Source: Dan tri