Improving the capacity of commune-level education staff: Right person, right job

GD&TĐ - According to Document 4798/BGDĐT-NGCBQLGD, the Ministry of Education and Training requests localities to review and reasonably allocate civil servant staff at provincial and communal levels, ensuring sufficient quantity and quality.

At the same time, direct the People's Committee at the commune level to review the staff currently working at the Department of Culture and Society , ensuring the right people are assigned and meet the standards.

Solving difficulties for localities

In Ho Chi Minh City, when implementing a two-level local government, many experts previously from the Department of Education and Training were assigned to work in communes, wards, and special zones. However, some communes and wards in special zones do not have specialized experts in charge of education , leading to many problems arising related to recruitment, appointment, enrollment, budget, and operating expenses.

Ms. Tran Thi Dieu Thuy - Vice Chairwoman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee said that when kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools are under the management of the ward and commune levels, this change poses new requirements for the People's Committees at the commune level, especially civil servants in charge of education in the Departments of Culture and Society.

The advantage of the model is that the commune-level government understands the characteristics of the population, learning conditions and local educational needs, thereby making appropriate and timely decisions and plans. However, currently only about 50% of cultural and social officials have worked in the education sector, so there is still much confusion when approaching the task of educational management at the local level.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu - Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City said that the staff in charge of education at the Department of Culture and Society of wards, communes and special zones mostly approached new work areas. Some people were previously specialists of the Department of Education and Training or leaders of the Department of Education and Training, but were only in charge of a specific area; now when they come to the Department of Culture and Society, they are in charge of the entire field of education.

With more than 150 terms and tasks, the officers in charge of culture and society at the ward level have to approach nearly 60 items. The tasks previously assigned to the Department of Education and Training and the People's Committee of the district and commune are now assigned to the ward and commune level, with the Department of Culture and Society advising, so the pressure is enormous.

The Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City has worked and held many meetings with education officers in wards and communes to support and solve difficulties for the locality. The city's education sector has organized two conferences to exchange, train, and provide professional support for education officers. It is important that education officers in wards and communes must develop plans and content for implementation.

In particular, to support ward and commune officials to easily access their work, Ho Chi Minh City has compiled circulars, decrees, and guidance documents of the Ministry of Education and Training related to local authorities at two levels into a handbook. At the same time, the department organized training for 100% of education officials in 168 wards, communes, and special zones to prepare for the new school year. In parallel with the training, school principals continued to support officials from the Department of Culture and Society.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu emphasized: "The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education is considering a solution to assign managers of educational institutions to support staff at the Department of Culture and Society to update regulations, circulars, and instructions related to education.

Each ward, commune, and special zone will select a number of principals at each level of education, develop a specific regime, and support cultural and social officers in the field of education every week. Regarding the difficulties of officers in charge of education in the Cultural and Social Department of the ward, commune, and special zone, the department leaders of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City will respond in writing so that the wards, communes, and special zones have a basis for implementation.

Students of Dang Tran Con Primary School (Vinh Hoi, Ho Chi Minh City) return to school. Photo: NTCC

Model of conscription and mobilization

The Department of Culture and Society of Tra Tap Commune (Da Nang City) has 2 education management specialists, one from the Department of Internal Affairs of the old district and the other is a cultural and social specialist from the old commune. Mr. Le Trung Thuc - Chairman of the People's Committee of Tra Tap Commune said that because they do not come from the education sector, the work of managing schools, facilities, teachers, procedures... these specialists must read and study regulations, circulars, and decrees from the beginning, and cannot do it right away.

Similarly, Que Trung commune (Da Nang city) has two specialists from the old commune level transferred to the Department of Culture and Society and responsible for education management. Mr. Nguyen Minh Sy - Head of the Department of Culture and Society said that there are 13 schools from kindergarten to junior high school in the area. The commune has organized many school meetings for specialists to grasp the situation and get familiar with the work because at first there were too many surprises. In addition, schools must report and regularly advise specialists to resolve related work content before entering the new school year.

Meanwhile, education management specialists of Tra Doc commune (Da Nang city) were transferred from the previous Department of Internal Affairs, Ethnic Minorities and Religion of the District People's Committee. In order for specialists who are not from the Education sector to take on the job more conveniently and proactively, the commune must mobilize human resources from schools with capacity in education management and information technology to support and advise on the work. Tra Linh commune also mobilized 1 teacher on secondment to the Commune People's Committee to take on work related to the education sector.

In Avuong commune (Da Nang city), Mr. Alang ARay - Head of the Department of Culture and Society said that the department has 8 staff but no specialist in charge of education management. Currently, the work related to education in the commune is divided among the staff in the department and is not specialized.

“One of the difficulties of Avuong commune is the lack of education officials. Currently, I assign officers in charge of culture and sports to also do education management work. There is a lack of specialists, not to mention the number of personnel in the commune who are now assigned tasks at the district level, so they have to work and study at the same time,” Mr. Alang Aray informed.

In Noi Bai commune (Hanoi), Ms. Ta Thi Thanh Binh - Principal of Thanh Xuan Secondary School informed that some commune-level cadres were assigned to be in charge of and direct fields that were not in line with their previous training and work, so they encountered certain difficulties.

In the field of education, the Department of Culture and Society of Noi Bai commune has two specialists who previously worked at the Department of Education and Training of Soc Son district (1 preschool level, 1 primary level). The Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune was formerly the Head of the Department of Education and Training of the district and was in charge of the secondary school level, so the implementation and direction of the commune's educational work is scientific, rhythmic and smooth.

"To help schools in the area operate effectively, the Head of the Department of Culture and Society of the commune has summoned a number of principals, vice principals, teachers and staff of schools with good management and professional capacity to be core staff for the department, to advise and direct the educational tasks of the commune more conveniently", Ms. Ta Thi Thanh Binh informed and further explained that in order to calculate the staffing level to hand over the number of staff each year to the schools, the Department of Culture and Society has invited representatives of the school boards at each level to calculate and advise according to the circulars and instructions of the Ministry of Education and Training.

Regarding the work of universal education, the Department of Education and Training previously had a specialist in charge, but the new commune did not have one. However, with a proactive and creative spirit, the Department of Culture and Society of Noi Bai commune sent a number of leaders and specialists to attend training at the Department of Education and Training of Hanoi to return to the commune to guide, assist and direct this work for schools in the commune.

Teachers of Tra Nam Primary and Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities (Tra Linh, Da Nang) participate in online training to assess students' abilities through subjects. Photo: NTCC

Flexible solutions for reality

With 11 public kindergartens, primary schools, and secondary schools in the area, Ms. Trinh Dan Ly - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of O Cho Dua Ward (Hanoi) in charge of culture and society shared that the locality is seriously implementing the city's instructions, including professional activities in the field of education and training.

“We try to best consolidate the professional education force of the old Dong Da Department of Education and Training, closely connecting with the direction channel of the Department of Education and Training to maintain the quality of education. Actively advising on maintaining the staffing level of civil servants and teachers, training, reviewing and supplementing the team is extremely important, maximizing autonomy for schools,” Ms. Dan Ly shared.

According to Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung - Vice Chairman of Tay Mo Ward People's Committee (Hanoi), from July 1, the locality has completed its apparatus to operate stably; at the same time, it has resolutely directed the review of the ward's civil servants, especially in the education sector.

The Department of Culture and Society of Tay Mo Ward has many cadres who previously worked at the Department of Education and Training of Nam Tu Liem District (old) with solid professional experience, which is also an advantage when implementing tasks related to education in the area. At the same time, continue to advise the Department of Education and Training of Hanoi on organizing training to improve the expertise of managers and key teachers of schools in the coming time.

In Da Nang’s communes and wards, the biggest difficulty at present is the lack of human resources with expertise in education. According to statistics from the Department of Education and Training, currently less than 30% of commune-level education officials have professional qualifications or work experience in the education sector.

Not to mention the communes and wards where specialists previously worked in the Department of Education and Training, who were only in charge of each level of education, now only have 1-2 people in charge from preschool to secondary school, and concurrently hold some jobs in other fields. Meanwhile, education is a field that requires specific understanding, inheritance and practical experience.

In order not to interrupt educational activities, as soon as the two-level government model came into operation, Tra Doc commune (Da Nang city) mobilized human resources from schools with capacity in educational management and information technology to support and advise on work for specialists not from the education sector.

However, in the long term, Mr. Vo Dang Chin - Principal of Tra Nam Primary and Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities (Tra Linh Commune, Da Nang City) said that it is necessary to build a core team of staff from schools to support the work of education officials of communes and wards.

“For communes and wards with 1-2 specialists in charge of education with the right expertise, it is difficult to cover all 3 levels of education managed by the People's Committee of the commune or ward. In internal inspections or in organizing and supervising educational activities, competitions for excellent teachers... it is also impossible to evaluate and comment on everything. Forming a core council consisting of officials managing all levels of education to support and advise officials in charge of education in communes and wards is a model that is compact, flexible and makes full use of resources from schools,” Mr. Chin analyzed.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hung - Chairman of the People's Committee of Dai Thanh Commune (Hanoi), highly appreciated the policy of the Ministry of Education and Training with localities on the need to have appropriate solutions to mobilize civil servants who have worked at the Department of Education and Training before or receive and second educational managers and teachers at all levels with appropriate expertise and experience to arrange for positions in charge of education at the commune level if they meet the prescribed conditions.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/nang-cao-nang-luc-can-bo-giao-duc-cap-xa-dung-nguoi-dung-viec-post748229.html