King Norodom Sihanouk and the president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers’ Association, Rong Chhun, on Wednesday called on the government to follow the recent pay hike for members of the judiciary with a salary increase for teachers.
King Sihanouk jotted his comments in the margins of a Cambodge Soir story on the judges’ pay leap that was faxed to media outlets on Wednesday.
“I hope the government and our parliament will be good enough, and have the fairness to also improve the lot of the members of our teaching body,” the King wrote.
CITA President Rong Chhun commended the King’s comments and said that raising salaries in only one institution pits civil servants against each other. The association last week wrote to the King asking for his support on the issue.
Chroeung Limsry, deputy chief of the general education department at the Ministry of Education, said the government wants to raise the salaries of the nation’s 90,000 teachers, but does not have the funds.
“If the parents do not have the money, we have to wait,” he said. “The government will solve it step by step.
“If the teachers go on strike, the students will lose a lot of time [in the classroom]. Rong Chhun will fail because there are only a small number of members,” Chroeung Limsry said.
CITA is demanding that the average salary of teachers—between $20 and $35 a month—be increased to a new figure of $100, association officials said.
Cambodian judges and prosecutors will this month take home pay checks ranging from $300 to $640, depending on seniority.
Corruption in the classroom is blamed on low teachers’ wages, with some teachers demanding daily payments from students and others who are willing to fix exam results—at all levels—for cash.
If the government refuses to follow the pay raise for judges with an increase for teachers, the association has promised a nationwide teachers strike from Feb 1 to Feb 15, Rong Chhun said.
(Additional reporting by Michelle Vachon)
