Unable to find the jobs as teachers, a lot of pedagogical school graduates have seen their knowledge buried in oblivion.

Vo Dong is now working as a security guard

There’s a vicious circle: teachers’ knowledge gets eroded because they cannot work as teachers, and since their knowledge is getting worse, they do not have more opportunities to find jobs in the future.

The Hue University of Education is the school which provides teachers to many provinces and cities in the central region and Central Highlands. About 1500 students graduate the school every year. However, only a few of them can find the jobs at local and nearby schools. Meanwhile, the remaining become redundant or they have to take in the jobs in the untrained fields.

Giving up the dream

Graduating the Hue City University of Education in 2011, Vo Dong once tried to apply for the job of physical exercise teacher, but he couldn’t. Dong realized that it is very difficult to find a teaching job, he has accepted to work as a security guard for Big C Hue Supermarket, which brings him the income of 1.4 million dong a month. Dong said that he dares not to cherish the hope of becoming a teacher any more.

Nguyen Thi Sau from Quang Binh province graduated from the Hue City University of Education in 2007 and became redundant for two years. Sau felt so happy when in 2009, she was accepted to work for the Bo Trach semi-state owned school in Bo Trach district of Quang Binh province. However, Sau has been laid off, because the school tried to cut down expenses.

After failing to look for jobs, Sau decided to get married and work on the rice field, while her knowledge has been lost gradually in the farm work.

The university degree cannot help Bui Thi Dung from Yen Thanh district of Nghe An province find a job in cities. Feeling disappointed, Dung has left her home village for Ea H’Leo district in Dak Lak province, where her brother lives. However, even in the remote area, Dung still has not found a job. Therefore, she has to accept to become a babysitter and pick coffee beans for coffee farms’ owners.

According to Dung, to date, only one of her classmates at the university has found a job of teaching, while others have given up the hope of becoming teachers.

The hard lot of pedagogical school students

“I have applied for a job at 16 grammar schools, the Dang and Thua Thien Hue education and training departments, but no one has accepted me,” said Le Thi Phuong Nhi from Danang City. Now she has to stay at home and do housework, so that her mother can have time to sell lottery tickets.

“We were so happy on the day when Nhi got the university degree. However, she has been staying redundant for the last two years,” Nhi’s father said.

Meanwhile, Le Thi To Nguyen, a pedagogical school graduate from Quang Nam province, is working for the Que Lam Secondary School in Quang Nam school just for 1.5 million dong a month. Nguyen said that she would rather to accept the low wage than seeing the knowledge lost gradually.

The story about three teachers “H”, “L” and “M” in Duy Tien district in Ha Nam province, has become well known among educators. The teachers had been working under the labor contracts signed with a school (they were not paid by the state budget, but by the school) for three years, until early 2011, when the school laid off them. Finally, they have to go working as workers in a nearby industrial zone.

Nguyen Van Khoat, Director of the Education and Training Department of the Ha Nam provincial people’s committee said that the teachers still have opportunities and that the local education department is trying to help them. However, he has admitted that he still cannot help right now, because the number of classes and students has been decreasing.