Vietnam Ministry Proposes Lowering Teacher Training Standards amid Shortage

The Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) has proposed lowering the teacher training standards from university to college to address the severe shortage of teachers in some new subjects, local media reported.

This proposal comes after MoET, in collaboration with the Ministry of Home Affairs, proposed to the Government to supplement preschool and general education teachers according to the roadmap until 2026 and has been assigned to supplement 65,980 teacher positions from 2022 to 2026. However, localities still fail to recruit enough teachers according to the assigned positions.

With the latest proposal, the ministry estimated localities to recruit approximately 10,000 teachers for some subjects to implement the 2018 General Education Program.

Under the proposal, some subjects such as History and Geography, Natural Sciences, Technology, Foreign Languages, Computer Science, and Arts (Music, Fine Arts) under the 2018 General Education Program at primary and lower secondary levels will be allowed to recruit those with college degrees.

The ministry estimated that in the academic year 2024-2025, primary schools will lack 6,621 computer science teachers and 5,780 foreign language teachers. For lower secondary schools, technology subjects will lack 11,598 teachers, natural science subjects will lack 2,366 teachers, and art subjects will lack 4,321 teachers. (ANTD)