Up to 70% of foreign teachers in Ha Noi lack valid licences

HA NOI — A recent survey reported that nearly 70 per cent of the foreigners working as teachers in the city’s language training centres have no working licence or professional certificates.

The municipal Department of Education and Training reported early this month that roughly 110 of the more than 300 foreign teachers in these centres have the necessary papers issued by Vietnamese authorities.

For example, only two individuals in the staff of 10 teachers at ILA Vietnam, a foreign-invested education and training centre, have been licensed to teach in Viet Nam.

Language Link employs 101 foreign teachers, but only 25 of them have been certified. Cleverlearn English Language Centre has only one certified teacher out of their total 18 instructors.

Head of the department’s foreign-invested education and training management office Nguyen Quoc Bao, said that the hiring of foreign teachers had caused several problems at the city’s language training centres.

"Most of foreigners stay in Viet Nam and work at centres for a short time, about three to six months, while the procedures for granting working licences for foreigners requires a lot of time and effort," Bao said.

According to Nguyen Thi Tuat, headmistress of the Japanese-invested Sakura Hoa Anh Dao Kindergarten, most of foreigners use their tourist visas or visas designated for individuals visiting family, instead of getting proper working licences when they apply for teaching jobs.

Tuat said that individuals who are not using proper working licences could be fined up to VND20 million (US$1,100) if they are discovered.

Decree 34/2008/ND-CP issued by the Government stipulates that foreigners who wish to work for enterprises or organisations in Viet Nam are required to supply legal documents, which includes professional certificates, medical certificates and other legal papers to the local authorities where they work within 20 days before they begin their jobs.

"The department, together with relevant authorities, will conduct regular checks on these foreign language centres in Ha Noi," Bao said.

Those who are found to be unlicensed will be given warnings or forced to stop teaching, and the centres would be forced to suspend their operations if necessary, he said.

The ministry’s Department of International Co-operation vice head Nguyen Thanh Huyen said the department would work with the Ministry of Public Security’s Immigration Department to refuse to grant visas for those who are found working without the required licences. — VNS