Here’s a tale of two schools, in a country where low pay has led to a school system that’s not quite so public anymore:
Toul Tumpong High School in Phnom Penh welcomed 20 new teachers last year, mostly from the provinces. There are so many teachers that many teach as little as six hours a week. But class sizes are still too large.
In contrast, at Hun Sen Sa’ang High School in Sa’ang district, Kandal province, mathematics instructor Rong Chhun teaches 23 hours of classes a week, which amounts to seven hours of overtime classwork every week. The school doesn’t have enough teachers in any subject, he said.
The two schools exemplify a sad trend: There is an absence of teachers in the provinces and a surplus in Phnom Penh. About 1,000 teachers transfer to the capital each year, said Um Hoeung, director of the Phnom Penh education department.
One reason is that many teachers, because of their low pay, take side jobs teaching students after school for about 500 riel ($0.13) a session. The best opportunities are in Phnom Penh, teachers say.
At popular schools, teachers end up both underworked and unsatisfied. High school teachers are normally assigned 16 hours of classes a week. But a physics teacher at Toul Tumpong said he is now teaching two classes for a total of six hours a week. His pay is the same, but he has fewer students that want to take after-school classes with him, he said.
“It hurts old teachers because all the newcomers go to schools in the middle of Phnom Penh,” the teacher said.
Teachers also focus on subjects for which their students are willing to pay. Toul Tumpong has too many science teachers, but just enough history and geography teachers, school Director Chet Yam said.
Teachers also flock to Phnom Penh to learn new skills. Rong Chhun has been trying to get to Phnom Penh since 1995. He wants to study foreign languages, computers and the law. He would also like to make more money teaching private courses.
But he has been stymied several times, most recently by a regulation, adopted last year, requiring teachers to stay in a location for seven years before they can move.
The increased numbers of teachers in Phnom Penh schools has not led to smaller classes because there are few classrooms. Despite the extra teachers, an average class at Toul Tumpong has 38 to 40 students, Chet Yam said. One class has more than 60 students.
A government expansion plan for 2000 called for high schools to add five to 10 classrooms, but the money was diverted to help flood victims. The plan is being proposed again.
