Ethnic language teachers unpaid for more than a month

July 14, 2022

HURFOM: Since the opening of school in June, 2022, ethnic language teachers in Mon State have not received their salaries, despite having performed their duties for more than a month.

“None of the ethnic language teachers have received their salary. Other (full-time) teachers have been paid monthly. The ethnic teachers asked the school authorities for a reason, but officials say the issue is not their responsibility. The Mon Literature and Culture Committee, says the government has the responsibility,” said a Mon language teacher from Kyaikmayaw Township.

Government schools have appointed two types of ethnic language teachers – Language Teacher – (LT) and Teaching Assistant – (TA) who both teach ethnic language courses. The salary of an LT teacher is 60,000 Kyat and a TA teacher is 130,000 Kyat.

“The Literature and Culture Committee can do nothing even if the teachers brought this issue to their attention. It’s the duty of the government. The government might have a budget problem, perhaps there is a delay in paying salaries to the ethnic teachers. For example, in previous academic years, ethnic teachers were sometimes paid quarterly or biannually,” said an official from the Kyaikmayaw Mon Literature and Culture Committee.

In the 2021-22 academic year, there were about 600 government schools which offered ethnic language courses and about 1,200 ethnic language teachers. There are about 500 Mon language teachers.

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