The government has approved in principle a new framework to recruit civil servants, contracted officers and teachers for this year, with two per cent being disabled candidates who have the ability to do the job.
Between 20 and 50 percent of the recruits will be women, said a Ministry of Civil Service notice signed by its minister, Pich Bun Thin on Wednesday.
The notification addressed to deputy prime ministers, senior ministers, ministers of all ministries and institutions said: “Prepare to recruit candidates who are qualified enough to work to fill the vacant positions and to meet the real need at national and sub-national institutions and municipal and provincial technical departments.”
Bun Thin said students and civil servants, ministries and institutions are to take a civil service exam, the results of which will be released no later than the end of September. Those who pass will have their salaries paid no later than one month after the ministry recognises the results.
The framework provisions for all ministries and institutions for this year include 5,996 civil servants; 18,292 contract officers; 7,996 contract teachers; 12,897 two-class-two-shift teachers (who teach two grades and two shifts); 2,598 combined-two-classes teachers (who teach a class combined from two classes); 120 combined-three-classes teachers (who teach a class combined from three classes); 2,472 contracted teachers for informal education; and 178 Cambodian-Muslim contracted teachers.
Ministry of Civil Service undersecretary of state Chut Monny said the government has annually recruited distinguished officers. After approval from the government, they are selected and placed in the ministries to replace retired officers.
“It is set in government regulations that when three officers enter retirement, they will be replaced by only one officer. Don’t misunderstand why it seems that so many officers are recruited, it isn’t so, it is merely regulation, which must see officers recruited each year. [We] must follow the procedure to maintain human resources. Some go out, some come in, that’s all,” he said.
Transparency International Cambodia executive director Preap Kol believes that there are currently too many officers and that many fail to be as efficient and competent as they should, meaning that they work for the state and also for private [companies to earn more money].
If the state requires their full-time devotion to the job and performs proper checks, there may be no need to recruit so many officers, he said.
“I think if there is a need for officers to fill the positions, there is no problem. But I did not receive any information showing that we have more new work available or increased need. We don’t have the information on what duties they will be given,” he said.
Affiliated Network for Social Accountability executive director San Chey said officers of both sexes should be sent to the grassroots level rather than at national level because the people need development, especially in remote areas.
“I have noticed that there are not enough sub-national officers for development work. However, [there is a need for an] increase in financial allocations to sub-national administrations, especially to fulfil the needs of the communes.”
According to the Draft Law on Finance for 2019 Management approved by the National Assembly on October 26, the national budget for this year entails more than 27.165 trillion riel ($7.067 billion). The national budget for this year increased by 11.4 per cent compared to last year with a national budget of 24.375 trillion riel.
