HCM City plans to increase salary for kindergarten teachers
The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has petitioned the municipal People’s Council to increase salary and allowances to raise incomes for kindergarten teachers to encourage them to continue working as the city has seen a year-by-year increase of kindergarten teachers quitting their jobs.
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Under the petition, the total fund for the salary increase is estimated to be over VND251 billion (US$11 million) each year.
In the 2013-2014 academic year, 706 teachers quit teaching to switch to other jobs. This figure increased to 823 in the 2014-2015 year and 885 in the 2015-2016 year.
According to the city authorities, kindergarten teachers work for 10 hours to 12 hours each day. The intensity of their work is also high. However, their income is too low.
While the city needs 1,965 teachers for kindergarten education each year, only 1,466 are employed.
Each year, nearly 5,000 students are enrolled to study kindergarten education at teachers training universities and colleges.
However, only 1,000 to 2,600 of them made it to graduation. The rest study other occupations because they recognise how hard it is to be a kindergarten teacher during their internship.
Of those that graduate, only about 30% have the city’s permanent residence status, which allows them to teach in local public kindergarten schools.
The committee also suggested the city provide non-interest loans for students who major in kindergarten education at teachers training universities or colleges.
These students will be required to work at the city’s public kindergartens and repay the loan within three or five years after graduating.
People’s councils should also allow kindergartens autonomy in recruiting teachers and school tuition. In addition, the schools should be given permission to recruit teachers who do not have the permanent residence status in the city.
