Brian Jeffrey
A government decree offering financial aid for pedagogical school students’ tuition and living expenses from the 2021-2022 academic year onwards has shown positive outcomes after three years of implementation, according to the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET). There has been a notable increase in student interest in teacher training majors, with a rise in registrations compared to other majors.
Despite these achievements, MOET has highlighted ongoing challenges. Localities have only assigned tasks to a small percentage of pedagogical students, leading to a shortfall in training orders. This suboptimal execution of the teacher order plan has been acknowledged by MOET.
Moreover, a few teacher training institutions have received orders but have faced delays or partial payments, hindering the support intended for pedagogical school students and creating an unfair situation for them.
Issues in budget allocations for financial aid to pedagogical university students have been identified by MOET. The Ministry of Finance has allocated only 54% of the total required funds for these students in teaching training establishments under MOET. This has resulted in delayed allowances and additional quota requests, causing challenges for both institutions and students.
Furthermore, provinces’ varying development levels and available resources have led to budget constraints, preventing many localities from placing orders with pedagogical schools for teachers.
To address these issues, MOET suggests closer collaboration between pedagogical schools and municipal or provincial people’s committees to propose training task assignments directly to state agencies under Decree 116.
Despite a significant number of pedagogical school graduates, the uptake of teacher exams remains low. There has been an increase in the total number of general school teachers nationwide by the end of the 2022-2023 academic year, yet demand for teachers is not fully met. Localities face imbalances, lacking teachers in certain subjects while having an excess in others. Subjects like English and Informatics are now mandatory at lower grade levels, posing challenges for schools without adequate specialized teachers.
