Experience from developed countries shows that education is the foundation and important factor for national development. The success of many countries around the world has shown that, if you value and invest appropriately in education, it will bring great results and is the wisest investment.
The website of the Voice of Vietnam, on November 1, reported that the National Assembly delegate “Propose the highest teacher salary in the salary scale.”
Accordingly, discussed at the National Assembly on the morning of November 1, National Assembly member Ha Anh Phuong (from Phu Tho province) proposed stipulating the highest teacher salary in the administrative and career salary scale, with additional allowances based on job quality and region.
For the reason, according to Ms. Ha Anh Phuong, “… Over the past 10 years, teachers’ salaries and incomes are still low, some people cannot even cover family life… Many teachers have had to quit their jobs or do other jobs, so they are not fully dedicated to their job.”
One question is why the Communist Party of Vietnam always affirms that Vietnam always steadfastly follows the path of Socialism. One of the typical advantages of Socialism is the guarantee of free education and healthcare. Like Cuba and North Korea, to this day, even though they are poor countries, they continue to maintain free healthcare and education. On the contrary, Vietnam’s leadership is completely uninterested in the health and education sectors, but invest two much for the police forces.
According to budget expenditure estimates from the Ministry of Finance, for the last three consecutive years, spending on the Ministry of Public Security has always been the second highest, only behind that of the Ministry of National Defense, and more than ten times higher than that of the Ministry of Education and of the Ministry of Health.
For a specific example, the state budget for the Ministry of Public Security was VND95.5 trillion in 2022 and rose to nearly VND100 trillion in 2023. Meanwhile, the amount of money spent on education is only VND6.521 trillion in 2022, and VND6.526 billion for 2023.
This shows that the budget spent on the police forces is about 13 times the budget spent on education, and the budget spent on the health sector is in a similar situation. According to experts, this shows the unreasonable policy of the Vietnamese government, because there is excessive priority given to the “sword and shield” force.
That is common in authoritarian countries, such as China, Vietnam…, the government depends on the police and military to ensure the Party’s monopoly on power. Therefore, the state is forced to spend a lot of money on the police and military apparatus. Because the survival of the regime depends entirely on the repressive power of these two forces.
Through budget expenditure reports, as well as remuneration for the police and military, in recent years it has been shown that the biggest concern today of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the government is to maintain political security. Or in other words, maintain their unique position of leadership and management of the state and society.
More dangerously, the policy of giving too much priority to the police forces has turned these forces into a kind of “arrogance” that manipulates political and social life in Vietnam. To create a Police state and maintain a police regime, it also worsens the image of Vietnam in international eyes for a long time.
Investing in education will bring long-term benefits in all aspects and in all fields. That is the only way to help the young Vietnamese generation in the future have full ethics, knowledge and life skills to contribute to building the country. The saying, “For the benefit of ten years grow trees, for the benefit of a hundred years grow people“, confirms that.
Obviously, the biggest concern of the Communist Party of Vietnam today is to maintain political security, to maintain their unique position in leadership and management of state and society. But it absolutely does not come from the benefit of the country and the people. If it is truly a government of the people, by the people and for the people, it cannot do that.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
