May-07-2008
Tuoi Tre

Vo Thi Tuyet Nga, a baby-sitter at Dong Da Primary School in Binh Thanh district in HCM City, cannot imagine that one day she will have a motorbike to replace her old bicycle. The salary she gets for the job of a teacher, it not enough to feed her mouth, and if she has a motorbike, she would have no money to buy petrol to run it.

How to earna living? Get extra work
Nga is the main money earner in her family. Now she earns VND700,000 a month for the job of baby-sitter at Dong Da Primary School, and VND100,000 more for extra work (washing clothes and cleaning rooms). On VND800,000 a month, Nga has to support her 60-year old mother and 82-year old sick maternal grandmother.

While commodity prices are skyrocketing, salaries remain unchanged. Nga and her colleagues are trying to do extra work to earn their living. After working hours at school, Nga makes clothes for her relatives to get VND100-200,000 more a month, which she spends on food.

For the last many months, Nguyen Thi Kim Hong, a history teacher at Do Van Day Secondary School in Hoc Mon district, has had to struggle with the price storm. Hong said that the low salaries for her and her husband are not enough to feed the family. The 4-year old sickly son alone costs her VND1mil a month in school fees, meals and medicine.

Now Hong also makes votive objectives to sell to wholesalers at markets. Everyday, she gets up at 4 am and stays up till late to make ‘anything that can bring money’, but life remains very hard.

Two teachers, Ngo Thi Kieu Linh (1986) and Le Thi My Huong (1978), go to Kim Dong Kindergarten every morning by bicycle, though the kindergarten is 4 km from their home. When crossing Nhi Thien Duong Bridge, Linh and Huong have to get off their bicycles and walk.

Linh said that she gets VND1,050,000 a month as a teacher at Kim Dong school. She keeps VND200,000 for her, while the remaining money she gives to her mother for food. Previously, VND100,000 was enough for meals for 3-4 days, while the same sum of money is now just enough for two days.

Not only young teachers who have just graduated from universities, but experienced teachers having worked for a long time also complain that they are facing a lot of difficulties in the context of price increases.

Mai Thao, a Geography Teacher at Chi Lang Secondary School in district 4, HCM City, said that VND500,000 is just enough for several days of living. She related that many teachers teach in the morning on empty stomachs.

Thao said that previously, she had 3 or 4 dishes for every meal, but now she has 2 dishes only. She does not go to festivals, weddings these days, where she knows she would have to spend a lot of money.

A recent survey conducted by Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon shows that the average total income of a teacher in the Cuu Long River Delta is VND1.8-2mil a month, while the figure is VND2.48mil for a teacher in HCM City.

Answering the question if their total income is enough for their lives, 52% of polled teachers said “not enough”; 42% “enough”; only 2% said they were able to save money.