Salaries paid by the State to teachers are too low to feed their families. Teachers in urban areas can still obtain high income through teaching extra classes

Salaries paid by the State to general school teachers are too low to feed their families. Teachers in urban areas can still obtain high income through teaching extra classes.

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KD Primary School is a well known school in Hanoi and all parents dream of bringing their children to this “star” school. However, the number of seats is limited and there are too many applicants. Parents have spread the word that, to get a seat there, every student needs close relations with the school’s leaders and to pay $1000. The sum goes into the pockets of the school’s managers.

As for other teachers, the most popular way to earn money is teaching extra classes, which can be set up at schools, centres or homes of teachers

A survey conducted in 2004 by Dr. Nguyen Thi Quy from the Education Research Institute under HCM City Pedagogical University showed that 45.3 percent of students in HCM City go to extra classes.

Not only teachers, but school managers can also earn money from the extra teaching. Students who attend extra classes pay an “administration fee”, 15-20 or even 40 percent of tuition rates. The schools’ management boards can pocket these sums, so school staff can earn tens of millions of dong, or several thousands dollars, each month. This is considered a “sky-high” income in Vietnam.

According to the General Statistics Office, the income per capita in Vietnam in 2009 was $1000 per annum.

On average, teachers can earn 3-5 million dong per month in “extra income” through extra teaching. Quy’s survey also showed that, in big cities, income from extra classes can be up to 4-6 million dong a month.

The tuitions also vary, depending on the fame of teachers. Teachers of Hanoi-Amsterdam Gifted High School are considered as having the highest extra income, because this is such a famous school.

Some claim that the most qualified teachers of the school earn 60-70 million dong a month.

High school students talk a lot about TVB, an experienced math teacher. The teacher spends most of his time on extra classes, where he earns at least 500,000 for every lesson. On average, TVB has three “shifts” a day, which means that he can earn 1.5 million dong a day, an income most people earn for the month.

There are many teachers like TVB. Right in 2004, a survey on extra classes in HCM City showed that a famous teacher could earn up to 200 million dong.

Teachers nowadays do not live on their State salaries. The total income earned from the State by some teachers of Hanoi-Amsterdam Gifted High School is just several million dong. V, a teacher at the age of 50, gets 3.6 million dong a month, while V.A, who is about to retire, gets 3.9 million dong.

At KD Primary School, a teacher born in 1971 is receiving 1.3 million dong a month from the State. Even the headmaster at age 48 with 20 years of experience, obtains 3.4 million dong. Most other teachers get two million dong.

At KL Primary School, there are only a few teachers who have salaries of more than three million dong a month, and all will retire soon.

Cam Quyen