Ministry of Education rectifies teacher promotion review process

The Ministry of Education is urging localities to review teacher promotions, as some areas have neglected this process for ten years, impacting teachers' salaries and allowances.

The Ministry of Education and Training announced on 27/11 that it has requested localities to review and continue with teacher promotion evaluations.

This directive comes in response to ongoing issues with the process. For instance, some provinces have not organized teacher promotions for the past ten years (2016-2025). Other provinces have developed plans for the 2024-2025 academic year but have yet to implement them, while some have failed to uniformly apply the process across different educational levels.

Currently, Vietnam has 1.05 million preschool and general education teachers whose salaries are funded by the state budget. Teachers are categorized into ranks I, II, and III, from highest to lowest, which determines their salaries and allowances. Each rank typically comprises 8-10 salary grades. Teachers usually advance one grade every three years of service. The difference between adjacent salary grades is approximately 700,000-800,000 VND per month.

Current teacher salary scale, excluding allowances

For many years, the promotion process has been a source of concern for teachers. Complications arose from changing policies regarding eligibility criteria and certificate requirements. The prolonged absence of promotion examinations in many localities meant some teachers, despite being eligible, were still in rank III—the lowest—even as they approached retirement.

Circular 13, issued in late 2024 by the Ministry of Education and Training, replaced promotion examinations with a review process. Eligibility now requires teachers to meet professional, ethical, and political qualifications, as well as a specified number of years in service.

For example, a rank III high school teacher, the lowest rank, must have held that rank for at least nine years and achieved "good performance" or higher for three consecutive years to be considered for rank II. Additionally, they must be able to adapt teaching plans to practical conditions and have the capacity to evaluate or guide colleagues in applied educational research.

Regarding IT and foreign language proficiency, the Ministry previously mandated certificates for promotion reviews but removed this requirement in 2021. Instead, teachers are now required to demonstrate the "ability" to use foreign languages and IT in their assigned tasks. The Ministry recognized that the old regulations had shortcomings, leading to the accumulation and issuance of invalid certificates, causing public frustration.