Narinjara News

 

Kyauk Pru, 9 June 2005

 

 

Villagers pay paddy to school teachers as salaries insufficient


Parents from
Kyauk Pru Township have had to pay paddy rice as extra income to village teachers due to the insufficiency of their government salaries.

If the parents do not pay any extra money, the teachers do not come to schools in time to teach the children, said a village chairman.

 

 “We paid at least 200 baskets of paddy, worth about 100,000 kyat, per teacher last year but we do not know how much we need to pay for this year,” he said.


As the government salary is insufficient for their families' basic survival, the teachers are forced to take on other jobs.


“We are going to Kyauk Pru tomorrow to look for our village teachers, where we have to negotiate with them about how much paddy to pay for this year's teaching fees,” he said.


It was learnt that the schools in Burma are now opened on 1st June after a two month long summer vacation, but some teachers are still absent to open their schools.


The government salary is only 10,000 kyat (equivalent to $10) a month in
Burma, an amount that can only buy one bag of rice. The teachers who are serving in rural areas are suffering the most with a salary insufficient to cover their basic survival.


“We are happy to pay our paddy to support the teachers," the village chairman said, adding that without any assistance from parents to the teachers, they are unable to take care of their own families.


All parents from rural areas of Arakan agreed upon the system of assistance to their village teachers for their children's education.


Now several villages from Kyauk Pru Township including Lan Kyauk, Chaung Gri Pya, Kyauk Gri Pron, Maw pya, Pron Chay, Kaung Bon, Tay Chung are collecting paddy and money from villagers as extra income to support the  teachers.#

 

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