Phan Ngoc Linh has been jobless since she graduated in pedagogy from Quang Nam University in June.

Phan Ngoc Linh is tending a buffalo in her hometown, Quang Nam Province. A graduate in pedagogy, she has remained unemployed for four months.

Four months ago she quit a teaching job at a local high school which paid her VND25,000 (USD1.2) a session, an amount that barely covered her fuel and lunch expenses, and has been tending buffalos for her mother since.

Pham Thi Thu is also out of work after graduating from the Da Nang University of Education.

“It was very hard for me to compete for a place at university. Now it turns out even harder to find a suitable job.”

Phan Thi Thanh Tam, who got a degree in education from a junior college in Quang Ngai Province a few months ago, says: “Many schools in both lowland and upland areas have turned me down, saying there are no ‘quotas’ at the moment.”

She now tutors to scrape a living while waiting for a job, a common ordeal in the province.

There are teaching graduates who work as a security guard, rice farmer, and even a waitress at a roadside restaurant.

Dr Pham Phuc Vinh, a lecturer at Dong Thap University, blames the education sector for failing to foresee demand and churning out too many teachers.

Thai Van Dong, director of the Quang Ngai Department of Education and Training, concurs, suggesting the Ministry of Education and Training should forecast the demand for teachers and order pedagogical schools to cap numbers accordingly.

There is indeed a big gap between supply and demand.

Dong Thap Province, for instance, received over 1,600 applications while it planned to recruit just 700 teachers in 2010-11.

Quang Ngai annually recruits 200 to 300 teachers whereas around 800 locals graduate from pedagogical schools in the same period.

It is looking for 80 high-school teachers this year but has received 500 applications so far.

The province has hundreds of jobless teaching graduates, according to its Department Education and Training.

Phan Van Son of the An Giang Department of Education and Training says the province will employ around 1,000 teachers this year but the number of applications has topped 1,300.