Vietnam

One out of five in the state labor force of about 4,000,000 people is in the teaching profession. In 1995-1996, there were 298,407 teachers at the primary level, of whom 70.72 percent were females; 154,416 junior secondary level teachers, with 83.88 percent females; 39,398 senior secondary teachers, of whom 93.31 percent were females; 25,562 vocational education teachers, of whom 51.8 percent were females; and 34,117 college, university, and professional school faculty in higher education, of whom 19.4 percent were women.

Although the respect and the high social status of teachers has been steadily maintained by government and society in Vietnam, the teachers' salaries are not as high. The nation celebrates November 20 as "Vietnam Teachers' Day" with great enthusiasm. Teachers' Day is also appropriately used by the Ministry of Education as well as academic establishments at the provincial, district, and commune levels to bestow varied honors like "Outstanding Teacher" or "People's Teacher" or for distribution of badges recognizing the deserving teachers for their meritorious services. Because of the low salaries, however, the profession fails to attract the best minds particularly at the primary and lower secondary school levels. Moreover, the salaries, in general, have failed to keep up with the inflation rate. For instance, a university teacher's average salary in 1985 was equivalent to 191.4 pounds of rice (the staple food of the Vietnamese); by late 1991, it purchased only 74.8 pounds. Teachers often need to hold more than one job.

It is no wonder, therefore, that there is a shortage of teachers to the extent of 120,000 for preschool, primary, and secondary education in Vietnam. Among the teachers working in schools, there are large numbers of inadequately qualified and untrained teachers. Only one-third of primary school teachers have received training, and only about one-half of lower secondary school teachers are qualified to teach at that level. The requisite qualification for primary school teachers is graduation from senior secondary schools (twelfth grade) and 2 years of study in a teachers' training school or three years' training after graduation from lower secondary school (tenth grade). For lower secondary teachers, it is three years training after graduation from senior secondary school (twelfth grade). Teachers of senior secondary schools require four years in teacher's training college following the twelfth grade. Teachers in the infant schools and kindergartens are expected to undergo training for two years after graduation from junior secondary schools or for one year after finishing the senior secondary school.

Teacher training in Vietnam at the primary and lower secondary school levels is largely the responsibility of the provincial administration. Thus, there are 31 junior teacher training colleges in the provincial capitals, while there are only 8 colleges of that level run by the central government. Of the latter, three train teachers for the kindergarten and infant schools, one of the training of music and painting teachers and one for the training of sports and gymnastics teachers. Some of these facilities at the central and provincial levels are multi-level, training teachers from preschool to lower secondary levels. Teacher training at the senior secondary is normally the responsibility of the 10 national teacher training colleges or of the departments of education in the universities.