Cambodia's French-Khmer teachers quit due to financial shortage
- From: "Chim" <ChimS1@xxxxxxx>
- Date: 3 Apr 2007 06:28:37 -0700
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UPDATED: 17:45, April 03, 2007
Cambodia's French-Khmer teachers quit due to financial shortage
Teachers of bilingual classes of French and Khmer across Cambodia
halted work on March 30, but will resume work if the government pays
them the promised salaries, local media reported on Tuesday.
"It will be regrettable if the bilingual classes will vanish from
Cambodia due to financial problems," said a complaint filed by staff
members and teachers of French-Khmer bilingual classes in Phnom Penh
to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, French- language
newspaper the Cambodge Soir reported on Tuesday.
"Both the teachers and the pedagogical advisors can't work without a
salary," it said.
Staff members and teachers for the classes in Battambang province
complained that "pedagogical assistants and advisors in six districts
(that offer bilingual classes) have not received any salary since
January 2007, while teachers and management in four schools have not
been paid from March 2007 onwards."
"We would like to remind (the ministry) that up until now staff
members and teachers of bilingual classes have collected their first-
trimester salaries from the French Embassy and second- trimester from
students' parents, and now it is time for the Ministry of Education,
Youth and Sport," reported Cambodian newspaper the Samleng Yuvechun
Khmer, quoting the statement.
Last July, the ministry signed an agreement agreeing to be responsible
for a third of the budget for French-Khmer classes, which include a
general curriculum alongside language classes, while the French
Development Agency and students' parents paid equally for the
remaining two thirds, it said.
Parents of a student needed to pay 15 U.S. dollars to attend the
course, it added.
"It is the fault of the ministry, which has not respected its own
promise. The ministry may have signed (the agreement) just to maintain
its honor and pretend to be serious in front of French- speaking
countries," the Cambodge Soir quoted a teacher as saying.
The teachers' decision to stop working on March 30 will not
immediately affect students as it is currently a vacation period, the
paper said.
The ministry still has time to find solutions until the start of Khmer
New Year, which falls in mid-April, it added.
French is one of Cambodia's social languages. The country was
colonized by France for almost 80 years from 1863 to 1942.
Source: Xinhua
.
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