A teacher and her students greet one another at Chaktomuk Primary School in the capital’s Daun Penh district. Heng Chivoan
In a move to uphold stability in education, district administrations across the country have begun implementing an inter-ministerial directive requiring them to ensure steady operation of kindergartens, primary schools and community learning centres by avoiding unauthorised transfer of educators within their regions.
Jointly signed last week by three ministries – Civil Service; Economy and Finance; Education, Youth and Sport; and Interior – the directive underscores staff retention, with the aim of ensuring consistent provision of salaries for and effective deployment of education personnel.
The instruction takes effect from January onward.
“Salaries for educators deployed to district administrations will be based on the civil service ministry’s payroll and the credit allocated by the finance ministry to the districts. This includes staff and teachers in kindergartens, primary schools and contract teachers under the district administrations,” the mandate said.
“The payroll shall be based on the education staff’s designated bank account, and no change of bank account is permitted,” it added.
The edict stated that district administrations are to announce receipt of educational staff deployed to their region. The confirmation shall align with the registration conditions set by the local education departments and approved by the local civil service departments, based on the actual situation of staff in kindergartens, primary schools, community learning centres or units under the local administrations.
Yong Kim Eng, president of the People’s Centre for Development and Peace (PDP), said that managing local educational staff by sub-national administration aims to foster independence in decision-making and development. This approach enables the mobilisation of resources to support the education sector in each locality.
“If all decisions come from the central administration, local authorities would be excluded from contributing to education reforms. This is a positive step, allowing local authorities to have more control and management,” he said.
Chhort Bunthong, head of the Culture, Education and Tourist Relations department at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said that the issuance of these inter-ministerial guidelines likely stems from obstacles, disagreements or delays in managing and paying salaries for deployed staff. Additionally, it signals leaders’ attention to this matter.
