The government is aiming to fill a nationwide shortage of more than 1,000 substitute teachers for elementary and high schools, which start their new academic year on Friday, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said yesterday.
Openings for substitute teachers have not been filled in nearly all administrative regions, with Taipei short of 129 teachers, Taichung 92 and Kaohsiung 76.
Some schools are contacting retired teachers to “come to the rescue,” while some principals and directors are also to fill in for teachers, as some teachers would cover for colleagues exceeding the maximum teaching hours.
Photo: Rachel Lin, Taipei Times
Many children born in the Year of the Dragon are entering the first year of junior-high school, accounting for an increase of about 30,000 junior-high school students across the nation, Taichung Education Bureau Director Chiang Woei-min (蔣偉民) said.
That rise in enrollment increased the number of openings for full-time teachers, which in turn led to fewer people applying to become substitute teachers, Chiang said, adding that the bureau would try to fill the shortage before school starts.
More than 5,000 of Taiwan’s 30,854 substitute teachers have become formally employed at schools, Ministry of Education data showed.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, when schools were seeking many substitute teachers, the Control Yuan asked them to reduce the proportion of substitute teachers to no more than 8 percent of their total teachers, leading many substitutes to try to become formally employed, an educator said.
Outlying islands have always faced a teacher shortage, with several principals of elementary or junior-high schools saying that fewer transportation options on the islands and higher incentives and salaries from other jobs affect people’s willingness to become a teacher.
Many young substitute teachers would rather work in areas with lower living expenses than big cities, Taipei City Elementary and Secondary School Principals’ Association chairman Chen Ching-yi (陳清義) said.
Retired teachers cannot fill too many classes, because if they are paid more than NT$20,000 a month as a substitute, they would not be allowed to receive their pension for that month, Chen said.
National Federation of Teachers’ Unions president Hou Chun-liang (侯俊良) said the heavy workload and unfriendly working environment are the main causes of the teacher shortage.
The government should allow substitute teachers to become formally employed teachers, gradually reducing the percentage of substitutes, while also raising teachers’ salaries to match rising costs, or risk facing a shortage of full-time teachers, he said.
The Ministry of Education last year changed the regulations to allow substitute teachers to receive salaries for all 12 months of the year, instead of the previous 10-month limit. Those with a teacher certificate can also receive bonuses nearly as much as formally employed teachers, while those without can receive about 80 percent of those bonuses.
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