Solutions needed to address teacher shortages in mountainous and remote areas

ĐBP - The shortage of teachers at many public preschool and secondary schools in the province presents a significant challenge to the education sector. To address this issue, Điện Biên province has directed relevant departments and local authorities to urgently assess, recruit, and allocate teachers to meet the teaching needs for the 2025-2026 school year.

In the 2025-2026 academic year, Sính Phình Semi-Boarding Secondary School is expected to run 16 classes with a total of 645 students. On average, each class will have 43 students, with Grade 6 having five classes, Grade 7 four classes, Grade 8 four classes, and Grade 9 three classes. The large number of students means increasing pressure on teaching and management, while the current staff is insufficient to meet the demand.

Adding teachers, especially in remote areas, helps ensure educational equity across different regions.

The school currently has 35 staff members, including two school administrators, 27 teachers, and six support staff. Although this temporary team meets the current needs for management, teaching, and educational activities, the number of teachers is inadequate relative to the workload. The school administration has proposed to the Sính Phình commune People’s Committee to supplement 11 more staff, including one manager, two math teachers, one language teacher, one English teacher, one history-geography teacher, two science teachers (specializing in chemistry and physics), one art teacher, one music teacher, and one physical education teacher.

Pham Van Loi, the school principal, shared: “Currently, our teachers have to take on multiple subjects and classes. If we are not supplemented in time, the workload will become overwhelming, negatively impacting teaching quality. With the large number of students and diverse learning needs, increasing the number of teachers is essential to ensure students’ rights to education and improve the quality of education locally.”

Currently, many schools lack teachers for specialized subjects such as English and Information Technology, which impacts the quality of education.

For the 2025-2026 school year, Sử Lư Semi-Boarding Primary and Secondary School (Xa Dung commune) has a total of 45 teachers, which is sufficient for most class requirements. However, the school still faces challenges due to the lack of a specialized English teacher for the primary level.

Nguyen Xuan Thang, the school’s principal, said: “We are currently only lacking an English teacher for the primary school. The school has repeatedly requested an English teacher, but this has not been addressed. As a temporary solution, we have proposed online classes for Grades 3 and 4, and for Grade 5, we invited a teacher from another school. However, this is only a temporary fix, and in the long term, we need a dedicated teacher on site.”

To address the teacher shortage, the provincial People’s Committee issued Document No.4174/UBND-NC on August 11, 2025, regarding the recruitment of teaching staff for public preschools and secondary schools under local authority management. This is an effort to quickly supplement the workforce for the 2025-2026 academic year, particularly for specialized subjects. Local authorities are responsible for thoroughly reviewing the teacher staff in their education facilities, determining the number and structure of teachers needed for each subject and grade level, and submitting this information to the Department of Education and Training and the Department of Home Affairs by August 18, 2025.

Facing the shortage of human resources, teachers across the province continuously learn from experience and improve their professional capacity to meet the demands of the academic year.

The Department of Education and Training will coordinate with local authorities to develop a recruitment plan for the 2025-2026 school year. After being reviewed and approved by the Department of Home Affairs, the recruitment will be conducted through exams or assessments, following legal regulations. The recruitment process is expected to be completed by October 2025.

With specific and decisive direction, the provincial People’s Committee expects that this year’s teacher recruitment process will be effectively implemented, helping to resolve the teacher shortage at many education facilities, particularly in remote areas, ensuring quality teaching and learning in the future.

The addition of teachers to education facilities in need is crucial for reducing pressure on the existing staff and ensuring high-quality education, particularly in specialized subjects. Therefore, relevant departments and local authorities must strengthen efforts to address these challenges and supplement the education sector’s workforce, creating an equitable educational environment across regions and ensuring that all students can access knowledge according to the new curriculum.

Quang Hưng
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