Teachers’ additional income: decision made, but money hasn’t come

VietNamNet Bridge – More than one million teachers have been expecting to receive the monthly allowances based on their length of services since September 1, 2011. However, they now still have to wait for money to come.

Three months ago, when the new academic year began, teachers heard a good news that those, who have been working as teachers for five years and more, will enjoy a monthly allowance of 465,000 dong a month under a newly released government decree. However, …

No circular, no allowances yet

Dao Hong Khoi, a teacher in Bien Hoa City of Dong Nai province, said that he and his colleagues were so happy when hearing the news three months ago, but they now feel discouraged because they have been waiting for the allowances too long. Some of them have heard that the allowances would be cut, while some others have been told that the money would come in December.

“Even the leaders of the school also say they do not know when teachers would get the money,” he complained

Tran Duc Thuy from the Long Thanh High School in Giong Rieng district of Kien Giang province also said he cannot understand why the government’s decree has not been respected, even though it was promulgated three months ago already.

Not only teachers, but headmasters of schools also do not have any information about when the allowances would come. A school headmaster in HCM City said that teachers have no other choices than keeping waiting. “I think that there might be some troubles in the administrative procedures,” she said.

What are the troubles, then?

Tran Trong Khiem, Director of the Can Tho Education and Training Department, said that though the decree has been promulgated, the circular that guides the implementation of the decree has not been issued yet; therefore, relevant branches still cannot implement the policy.

Van Cong Sang, Head of the Personnel Division of the HCM City Education and Training Department, has reassured the public that teachers will surely get the allowances in accordance with the government’s decree. If the money comes late for three months, teachers would get three-month’ back pay.

However, a problem still exists that it is still unclear when the circular would come out. 465,000 dong proves to be a small sum of money in big cities, but it really has much significance to the teachers in remote and difficult areas that helps them cover their daily basic needs.

Tien phong has quoted its sources as saying that teachers would still have to wait and wait. The competent agency is still drafting the circular. Meanwhile, local education departments said they offered suggestions to the draft circular already in written documents that were submitted in October 2011 already. However, it’s still unclear when the official document would come out.

The regulation that the allowances are only applied to the working teachers has raised controversy. Hoang Mai, an official of the Lao Cai provincial education and Training Department said that it is unfair that management officers cannot enjoy the allowances.

“The new policy on allowances will make it more difficult to find qualified management officers for the provincial education department, because there is a discriminatory treatment between the educators who teach at classes and the ones, who take management works,” she said.

The HCM City Education and Training Department has also proposed to apply an allowance mechanism for the officers of education departments and sub-departments. These are the teachers with long service length and high qualification, while they cannot enjoy good allowances.

It is estimated that there are about 500 people of this kind. With the current regulations, after leaving schools for education departments, their income has decreased by 2-2.5 million dong a month.

Source: Tien phong