Early unification of teacher recruitment process

Many educational institutions are still struggling to wait for instructions on teacher recruitment, while the new school year is approaching.

Leaders of many schools in Ho Chi Minh City said that currently, the units have only conducted statistics on the human resource needs of each school. Meanwhile, the recruitment process has to go through many stages and procedures. If there is no early guidance, from now until the opening of the school year, many schools will have to find teaching plans.

Embarrassed

Ms. Le Thi Tuyet Nhung, Principal of Nguyen Anh Thu Secondary School (formerly District 12), said that in the 2025-2026 school year, the school will have about 1,400 students, an increase of 1 class compared to the previous school year. The increase in students is accompanied by a shortage of teachers, in addition to the lack of some specific teachers for a long time, such as music and art teachers. Although the shortage is still less than other units, according to Ms. Nhung, the school is currently short of 9 teachers due to an increase in the number of students, teachers retiring, transferring jobs, etc., and is still waiting for instructions. She said that the school has recently reported its personnel needs for the new school year to the locality. "However, recruiting personnel must go through many processes from submitting applications, interviews, etc., so the local authorities hope to have instructions soon to prepare carefully and thoroughly for the new school year," Ms. Nhung said.

Many educational institutions in Ho Chi Minh City are anxiously awaiting general process guidelines for implementation. Mr. Le Hong Thai, Principal of Phan Van Tri Primary School (Cau Ong Lanh Ward), said that the school is currently short of 2 physical education teachers, technology teachers and a team leader. However, according to Mr. Thai, in case the new school year does not have time to recruit, the school will calculate options to ensure that students can study and practice fully according to regulations.

The principal of a primary school in Ho Chi Minh City said that before the implementation of the two-level local government, in cases of recruiting school staff under contract, the school would go through each school's pedagogical council, send it to the Department of Internal Affairs and report to the district. "Currently, the above regulation no longer exists, schools only hear that teacher recruitment is assigned to the Department of Education and Training but do not know the specific process," said this principal.

Educational institutions in Ho Chi Minh City are awaiting guidance on recruiting teachers for the new school year. Photo: TAN THANH

Overcome difficulties

According to Ms. Le Thi Tuyet Nhung, in addition to waiting for instructions on the recruitment process, the school is also considering options in case there is a shortage of teachers when the new school year starts. "Fortunately, the school already has 1 music teacher and 1 art teacher. In case we cannot recruit in time, we will consider options for teachers to increase teaching hours and receive extra benefits. "In addition, for the subjects that are still lacking, we will invite guest teachers to teach, ensuring that if there are students, there will be teachers to teach the class," Ms. Nhung said.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoai Bac, Principal of Huynh Tan Phat Secondary School (Tan Thuan Ward), said that the school has more than 2,000 students for the new school year. There is still a shortage of teachers in subjects such as civics, music, and fine arts. While waiting for instructions, the school has considered options such as inviting guest teachers or assigning teachers with spare class hours to take charge of the class.

While many schools are having a headache with recruiting teachers, many educational institutions are also having a headache with the situation of having a surplus of teachers. According to Mr. Phan Anh Tuan, Principal of Nguyen Truong To Primary School (Xom Chieu Ward), in previous years, when there was a shortage of teachers, they implemented part-time teaching contracts, but in the past two years, the number of students has continuously decreased, so schools in the ward have a surplus of teachers.

The situation of local teacher surplus and shortage requires a unified recruitment process. According to the leader of a primary school in Ho Chi Minh City, the process of recruiting, transferring, and rotating teachers needs to be unified soon so that recruitment and coordination can be appropriate, avoiding the situation of local teacher surplus and shortage. According to this person, in reality, not all schools lack teachers, but some schools have surplus teachers because in recent years, the number of students has decreased or they have gone to study in other localities. There is a surplus of teachers but we cannot just want to transfer them to places with shortages...

The Department of Education and Training is responsible for recruitment.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training, previously, the country had 705 districts, which were 705 focal points for managing cadres and teachers from preschool, primary, and secondary schools. This led to local teacher surpluses and shortages because the district level could not transfer teachers from one district to another.

Therefore, if the recruitment of teachers is currently assigned to the ward and commune levels, the above situation will become more serious because one ward or commune cannot transfer teachers to another. Therefore, at the online training conference on implementing educational management according to the two-level local government held on August 5, in response to concerns from localities, leaders of the Ministry of Education and Training affirmed that the authority to appoint, dismiss, transfer, and remove heads and deputy heads of preschool, primary, and secondary schools is decided by the Chairman of the People's Committee at the commune and ward level. The recruitment and transfer of teachers is the responsibility of the Department of Education and Training.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/som-thong-nhat-quy-trinh-tuyen-giao-vien-196250805212117568.htm