The Cambodian Independent Teachers Association (CITA) is the only independent teachers’ union in Cambodia. One World Action is supporting the union to improve the rights of teachers.
For more information about CITA please visit www.cita.org.kh
CITA are currently producing a range of research documents to inform future education policy: please find attached the first report on Teacher’s Salary Terms and Conditions.
On 5th October CITA marked World Teachers’ Day.
CITA were planning to organise a march to the National Assembly and Ministry of Education but this was prevented by the authorities.
CITA was granted permission to demonstrate at their office in Phnom Penh however the police set up a blockade outside of the office to try and prevent the event from happening.
Despite the police presence, more than 350 teachers gathered to demand higher salaries and a minimum wage (approx £150 per month), increased family benefits, an increase in overtime fees, better working conditions and improvements in teaching standards.
Mr. Rong Chhun, President of CITA, urged the Government to improve the status of teachers in Cambodia, and to acknowledge the role of teachers in building a better future for the country.
Teachers abandon their dignity to sell cookies in class. I would like to call for the government to consider teachers’ dignity. I do not want to live in worthless conditions. I want my pupils to have real knowledge. Teachers are not allowed to have two occupations, but if teachers have not enough food to eat, how can they teach students?
Teacher from the Preah Sihanouk province
A teacher is someone who creates human resource. If the government does not care about teachers, human resource will decrease. If the teacher is poor, social morality will decline.
Teacher from the Oddar Meancheay province
Ms. H.E. Mou Sokhou, (National Assembly of Cambodia) also attended the demonstration and said, ‘What you are demanding is fair y, to have better salaries, to have quality of education and to see Cambodian youths have a job.’ She noted that teachers’ demands must be heard to improve the quality of education.
In closing the demonstration Mr. Rong Chunn encouraged teachers across Cambodia to abandon their fear and to join CITA. He also noted that the Cambodian Government should consider the extremely low salaries of teachers in comparison to other countries and the impact that this is having on the quality of education in the country.
Read why the film screening of "Who Kill Chea Vichea?" was stopped by the Police on 17th November 2010 here.
In April 2009, Rong Chhun, President of CITA, visited the UK to raise awareness about the desperate working conditions currently facing teachers in Cambodia.
He gave a keynote address to teachers during the AGM of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) in Liverpool. Read the speech Rong Chhun's gave in Liverpool here and the full report of his visit here.
On World Teachers Day 2009 CITA members and teachers took to the streets of Phnom Penh, despite a government order forbidding them to do so. In a letter sent on 3rd October, the Phnom Penh municipal authorities informed CITA that its plans to mark the day in front of the Ministry of Education would not be allowed.
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The Free Trade Union Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTU) was established in 1996 and is Cambodia’s largest independent trade union, with a membership of around 81,000 garment workers. FTU staff and members experience daily harassment, threats and intimidation, and 3 FTU leaders have been assassinated in the last few years, including their President Chea Vichea in January 2004.
Despite this FTU continues to improve working conditions by forming unions in factories, raising awareness about codes of conduct with factory managers, lobbying for compliance with core labour standards and challenging violations. In May 2008, FTU successfully negotiated for a $6 monthly wage increase for all factory workers - the average monthly wage is around $60. In 2007 the FTU received the One World Action Sternberg Award for their outstanding commitment to human rights.
You can visit FTU's website here.
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The Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (COMFREL) monitors elections, lobbies for electoral reform and encourages citizens to participate in local and national politics. One World Action is working with COMFREL to implement a groundbreaking project to promote local governance in Cambodia and to develop ways to enable ordinary citizens to become involved in decision making – and in doing so develop new political relationships and attitudes and move democratisation and decentralisation forward.
Visit COMFREL's website here.
Read an Assessment of the First Term of Decentralisation in Cambodia here.
Read a Case Study on “Women in Politics in three communes of Banteay Meanchey" here.
OWA's Citizen Participation in Local Governance programme in Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Cambodia supported the implementation of decentralisation by increasing citizen's engagement in local politics and training local officials in participation and governance. In doing so it created a new form of politics - one that put people at the centre.
You can visit CPLG's website here.
Read the report "Pushing Local Democracy to a Crack: Grassroots Activism and Participatory Local Governance in Cambodia" here.
Read more about decentralisation in Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Cambodia here.
