Another looming crisis in the educational system is the nationwide shortage of elementary and high school teachers. In a 1994 speech to educators and students in the teaching fields, the minister of education and development, Mr. Tran Hong Quan, revealed that in 1992-93 school year alone, there was a shortage of 40,000 elementary teachers . This number increased to 60,000 by the next year. The key reason for this shortage is a lack of students willing to enter the field of education. According to Mr. Tran, social pressure is to blame.
Bright students are reluctant to enter a profession with such limited earning potential.
Therefore, the pool of students making up future teachers tend to be mediocre, leading naturally to mediocre educators and a decrease in the quality of education as a whole. Mr. Tran went on to say that in many instances, students in more senior classes are used to teach younger ones because of the teacher shortage. The teacher shortage is worsen by the ongoing loss of career teachers who quit to pursue more profitable jobs in the tourism, finance, or business sectors. This is partly due to the fact that the Vietnam's youths today take formal education lightly. There is no reason for them to remain in school when they see government officials and illicit businessmen amass wealth without the benefit of any high-level education.