Circular Joint No. 55/TT-LB guiding the implementation of Circular No. 195/TTg dated May 17, 1961 of the Prime Minister on the issue of organizing and leading extracurricular cultural education work at enterprises, construction sites, agricultural farms, and forestry farms.

 JOINT CIRCULAR
Guidelines for implementing Circular No. 195/TTg dated May 17, 1961 of the Prime Minister on the issue of organization and leadership of cultural education outside working hours at factories, construction sites, agricultural farms, and forest farms.
To implement the current revolutionary tasks of socialism, the requirement for learning culture and technology has become an urgent and essential need for our cadres and people.
Particularly in factories, construction sites, agricultural farms, and forest farms, supplementary cultural work must be a key component of the overall work of production units, closely linking cultural study with the improvement of scientific and technical skills among cadres and workers. However, up to now, the movement has not developed evenly and has not met the timely needs of increasingly developing production.
In addition to insufficient understanding of the primary mission of supplementary cultural work among leading cadres, one of the factors negatively impacting the movement is that the organization and leadership of cultural education outside working hours have not been specifically defined. 

Circular No. 195/TTg dated May 17, 1961 of the Prime Minister initially sets out some issues regarding the organization and leadership of cultural education outside working hours for factories, construction sites, agricultural farms, and forest farms.

The Joint Ministries provide necessary guidance to ensure uniform implementation across sectors and levels.

I. ON LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION

The Circular emphasizes that the heads of factories, construction sites, agricultural farms, and forest farms must bear primary responsibility for organizing and leading cultural studies for cadres, workers, and staff within their production units.

The task of the Trade Union is to mobilize and organize participants to attend classes, supervise the implementation of established policies and systems, and propose rewards. For the supplementary cultural movement to develop strongly and steadily, unit heads must actively engage in organizing and implementing cultural study plans for their units, arranging study locations, and enforcing systems for specialized or part-time staff responsible for supplementary cultural work. Unit heads should schedule study times for cadres, workers, and staff in accordance with the production situation within the unit and respect study schedules. In production facilities operating on shift schedules, study sessions should be organized according to shifts.

For cadres, workers, and staff who are frequently mobile, monthly leave days should be arranged to allow them time for study.

To ensure effective organization and leadership of supplementary cultural classes, the Government's Circular specifies the number of teachers and specialized staff for supplementary cultural work.

Specialized staff have the duty to assist unit heads in leading the supplementary cultural movement in factories, construction sites, agricultural farms, and forest farms, including:

- Organizing and directing the movement: establishing schools and classes, planning study programs, training and nurturing teachers for supplementary cultural work, implementing prescribed study systems, work systems, and benefits for supplementary cultural staff, integrating supplementary cultural work closely with other activities, ensuring continuous and quality study for cadres and workers.

- Directing professional work: providing professional guidance, monitoring program implementation, conducting inspections, organizing professional training for supplementary cultural teachers.

Specialized teachers have the duty to teach certain hours, train part-time teachers in professional matters, prepare teaching materials, and assist leadership in tutoring.

Regarding the number of specialized staff and teachers, the Prime Minister's Circular stipulates:

Places with 500 to 1,000 cadres, workers, and staff should have one full-time teacher for supplementary cultural work; places with 1,000 to 1,500 should have one additional specialized staff member in addition to the full-time teacher. Where there are many secondary and tertiary level classes and additional full-time teachers are needed, the relevant agency should propose to the principal ministry for approval.

Below the specified number of cadres and workers, the Joint Ministries suggest that places with 300 to 500 cadres and workers, facing significant difficulties, may have one full-time teacher responsible for both technical and cultural education; below 300, supplementary cultural work can be handled by the Trade Union.

Regarding the curriculum and textbooks, the Ministry of Education will develop a general supplementary cultural curriculum and compile basic textbooks. Each sector will independently develop curricula and textbooks based on production requirements and cadre training needs to achieve the principle of "learning what is needed."

As the supplementary cultural movement grows stronger, the demand for teachers and specialized staff increases, necessitating the responsibility of training and nurturing these personnel by the principal ministries and production units. The Ministry of Education will provide professional support.

If principal ministries and sectors require full-time teachers for secondary and tertiary level classes trained in regular teacher colleges, they must plan ahead with the Ministry of Education and obtain approval from the State Planning Commission.

II. REMUNERATION REGIME FOR STAFF AND TEACHERS

The Prime Minister's Circular stipulates:

- Full-time and part-time staff and teachers enjoy all current benefits as cadres and workers, managed and utilized by factories, construction sites, agricultural farms, and forest farms.

- Part-time staff and teachers who work while also teaching should be given sufficient time to prepare lessons and grade assignments.

Specifically: For professional and general education teachers dispatched or transferred by regional, provincial, or departmental education authorities to factories, construction sites, agricultural farms, and forest farms for supplementary cultural work, or those recruited by factories, construction sites, agricultural farms, and forest farms, they should enjoy the same benefits as general education teachers at various levels, funded by the budget of the principal ministry, such as work systems, summer vacation, annual leave, political and cultural training benefits, etc.

The Circular of the Government stipulates:

- Full-time officials and teachers, as well as part-time teachers, shall enjoy all current benefits as officials, employees, and workers managed and utilized by enterprises, construction sites, agricultural farms, and forestry farms.

- Part-time officials and teachers who work and teach simultaneously must be allocated sufficient time for preparing lessons and grading assignments.

Specifically: For professional and general education teachers dispatched or transferred by Zones, Departments, or Bureaus of Education to enterprises, construction sites, agricultural farms, and forestry farms for supplementary cultural work, or for professional teachers hired by enterprises, construction sites, agricultural farms, and forestry farms, they shall enjoy other benefits similar to those of general education teachers at all levels, funded by the budget of the main managing Ministry, such as working conditions, summer vacation, leave, political and cultural training programs, etc...

For part-time cultural supplementary officers, production units shall allocate a certain number of working hours for cultural supplementary work, the number of which is determined by the competent Ministry according to the workload, but at least one session per week.

For teachers holding concurrent positions who are compensated according to the following rates:

Level I: 0.30 dong per hour

Level II: 0.40 dong to 0.60 dong per hour, Level III: 0.60 dong to 0.80 dong per hour.

Production units shall base their regulations on the above guidance levels, taking into account specific circumstances and the contribution capacity of students, as well as the specific capabilities of their own unit, to ensure appropriate measures that guarantee the movement and teaching quality.

The cultural supplementary movement is a mass movement, requiring conditions to be created so that everyone can participate in it. Party committees at all levels must make cadres, workers, and employees with higher educational levels aware of their responsibility to teach those with lower educational levels, and they must enthusiastically accept assignments from their units. The allowances mentioned above are only for extra hours.

In places where conditions for compensating concurrently held teacher positions have not been resolved, time should be arranged for teachers to compensate for preparation and grading, equivalent to the number of teaching hours.

III. EXPENSES

The Directive of the Prime Minister's Office clearly states that the implementation of cultural supplementary work must rely on the masses and receive appropriate attention from the State (1).

(1) Expenses for cultural supplementary activities have been supplemented in Directive No. 115/TTg dated December 12, 1963, of the Government Chairman regarding accounting methods for certain expenses arising during the production and business operations of enterprises as follows:

"Expenses for cultural supplementary activities shall be handled according to Directive No. 195/TTg dated May 17, 1961, of the Government Chairman; specifically, the salary of full-time cultural supplementary teachers shall be covered by the competent Ministry of the enterprise as stipulated in Directive No. 195/TTg."

Specifically, the amount allocated for full-time staff and teachers is recorded annually in the budget of the Ministry under the public service fund. Expenses for compensating concurrently held teachers, materials for teaching, and equipment for classes are funded by student contributions. Enterprises, construction sites, agricultural farms, and forest farms provide facilities such as desks, chairs, blackboards, and lighting based on this basis.

Tuition fees will be proposed by production units and approved by the competent Ministry. The tuition fund will be managed and supervised by the management agency and the Trade Union.

For production units with few people, after organizing combined classes with other units, if the contributions of students are insufficient to cover costs, the difference will be covered from the enterprise fund; where there is no enterprise fund, the Trade Union will cover it.

The above is a guide to some points in the Prime Minister's Directive for the competent Ministries, construction sites, agricultural farms, forest farms, and enterprises to implement. During the implementation process, any issues requiring changes or additional proposals should be reported by the competent Ministries to the Joint Ministries for study and submission to the Government Chairman.