HCM City schools struggle to employ foreign teachers Many schools in HCM City are facing difficulties in employing foreign English teachers due to the obstacles of high payment, and a lack of teachers and textbooks.   April Gravette R. Miralles, an English teacher from the Philippines  Several schools are struggling to raise funding to pay USD2,000 per month to English teachers from the Philippines, while the number of recruited teachers is still much less than the demand. According to a plan drafted by the HCM City municipal Department of Education and Training, there should have been around 100 English teachers from the Philippines teaching at local primary and secondary schools by  the end of 2012. To date, they have only recruited 13 who are working and 26 who have agreed to work in early 2014. Under the plan, the municipal government would subsidise half of the funding and the rest would be covered by contributions by school fees. However, due to the lack of funding, schools now are forced to mobilise all the funding from students’ parents in order to pay a monthly salaries of USD2,000 to Filipino teachers each. In order to ensure payment for teachers, students are required to pay VND120,000 (USD5,67) per month. However, the mobilised funding is not enough due to the variable number of students at classes, forcing schools to offset costs through other sources. Hoa Lu Secondary School in District 9 has had to use part of their own salaries for regular English teachers to pay for Filipino teachers. Nguyen Thi Kim Chau, a teacher from Hoa Lu Secondary School, said that most of English teachers from the Philippines lack teaching skills suitable for secondary students. Many students said that they have difficulties with lectures by Filipino teachers due to their pronunciation. Many schools have to gather documents and prepare teaching programmes for the teachers, adding burdens to management. Some leaders of secondary schools have proposed that the municipal Department of Education and Training compile systematic curriculum for Filipino teachers for students from grade 6 to grade 9. The situation has forced several schools gather funding and share these teachers. Several schools in districts, including District 1, Phu Nhuan and Go Vap, have hesitated to hire Filipino teachers. Some other schools have been compelled to renew contracts with foreign English teachers at foreign language centres due to the lack of teachers from the Philippines. PL TPHCM