“The nation is in dire need of young people working in the public services sector because they will later become involved in macro management, national construction and development. It is the time they devoted themselves to the nation,” said Thang Van Phuc, Deputy Minister of Interior in a recent interview granted to the Youth newspaper.

His appeal came after a wave of talented young people have left to work for foreign and private companies.

Last year the Government approved a scheme under which 1,000 young intellectuals were to be encouraged to work in administrative agencies in disadvantaged communes. However, the scheme proved ineffective.

When the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCMYU) Central Committee submitted the scheme to the Prime Minister, it believed that the scheme would be feasible. In an interview granted to VOV, Bui Van Cuong, Secretary of the HCMYU Central Committee said, “Young people will experience a thorough screening and training before departing. They will be supervised during the probation period and later get promoted in their particular areas of expertise.”

In fact, the scheme proved to be of no interest to most young people who really want to devote themselves to getting promoted to certain posts in State agencies. To attract them to public service, the most important thing is to create an environment where they can prove their capabilities.

The Interior Ministry recently announced the results of a recent survey by the Ministry of Education and Training, showing that up to 41 percent of over-aged teachers do not want to retire. People wonder whether there is a lack of teachers in the education sector. However, graduates from teachers training universities are the first to voice opposition to this argument. It is notable that the education sector rarely publishes recruitment adverts in the media. It is true that the sector has been keeping over-aged teachers to prop up the education sector?

The point was refuted following a recent meeting in which educators discussed ways to deal with the hundreds of thousands of dropouts at primary and secondary schools across the country. The educators gave objective causes leading to the dropouts, including the prolonged cold spell and inflation, but no causes relating to the quality of teachers and teaching methods.

The Ministry of Interior also found out that many teachers have received pay rises after having already decided to retire. This possibly explains why many teachers do not want to take retirement because their incomes will be significantly reduced.

Young people should devote themselves to working for State agencies. However, they have to accept the fact that they will work under labour contracts until their over-aged predecessors retire. 

That 41 percent of over-aged teachers do not want to retire does not reflect the real human resources situation in the education sector, as only nearly 2,000 were questioned in the survey. It is worth mentioning that the enrolment of students for teachers training universities relies on real demand in the education sector.

Another fact is that many students find it hard to get a steady job after graduating from university. So to attract human resources, the State should first create opportunities and conditions for young people to stand on their own feet.

According to the Ministry of Interior, about 30 percent of the 1.7 million State employees who enjoy salaries from the State budget fail to meet the requirements for work. How to deal with them remains an open question for State management agencies. Meanwhile, in-service training courses continue to mushroom to standardise certificates for employees who are recruited to work in the wrong place.