Vietnam is anticipated to confront a shortage of more than 55,400 kindergarten educators by 2030, the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) announced on April 4.
In a session discussing the overhaul and enhancement of early childhood education through 2030, with a vision towards 2045, the ministry revealed that the education sector will have 54,900 vacancies for new preschool instructors by 2026.
The ministry highlighted the primary challenge in teacher recruitment, citing a significant exodus due to heavy workloads, prolonged hours, and inadequate remuneration.
Regarding infrastructure, to ensure universal enrollment of children aged 3-5 in kindergartens, Vietnam must invest in over 6,000 new classrooms and refurbish around 33,000 old ones, in addition to procuring new educational materials and tools. This endeavor is estimated to cost over VND32 trillion ($1.28 billion), equating to VND6.4 billion annually.
A resolution on social policies issued by the 13th Party Central Committee in November last year mandates that by 2030, all children aged 3-5 should have access to preschool education.
Presently, approximately 93.1% of children aged 3-5 are enrolled in preschool education, with a near-universal rate of 99.8% among five-year-olds.
For the 2022-2023 academic year, Vietnam boasted over 15,000 nurseries and kindergartens with an enrollment of over five million children. The period also saw over 372,000 kindergarten teachers employed. (VnExpress English [1])