Teachers Go Unpaid in Southern Lao Province


2015.04.27
laos-teacher-jan-2012.jpg A mathematics class in Champassak province, Jan. 30, 2012.
Biosphoto

Lao primary and high school teachers in Savannakhet Province haven’t been paid in three months, according to one educator there, who said they are now urging the central government to issue their salaries.

The teacher, who declined to be identified, told RFA’s Lao Service that he and many other educators in the country’s largest province were experiencing financial difficulties because of the salary delays.

“I don’t know what to do,” he said. “They [the government] know that we teachers in all 15 districts such as Sepon, Nong, Vilabouly and Outhoumphon, haven’t gotten paid since February this year.”

Earlier, the teacher had asked many of his colleagues at a provincial meeting for educators if they had been paid their salaries but discovered none of them had.

“Now everybody is having difficult time,” he said. “They can’t make money anywhere else, and they can’t feed their families. Those who have debt are having a more difficult time because they are unable to pay the bank back.”

The average monthly salary for teachers in the Savannakhet Province is 800,000 kip-1.6 million kip (U.S. $100-$200).

At first, some teachers got together and went to local the provincial government’s finance department to ask about the salary delays, the teacher said.

But officials there said the delays were due to late paperwork because the district education departments may have not submitted the proper filings, he said.

Officials at the district education departments, however, told the teachers they had submitted all the necessary paperwork, the source said.

Teachers in all districts in the province usually receive their salaries via bank payments issued on the 25th of each month.

In the past, central government leaders in the one-party communist nation often have said that they must delay such salary payments because they have not collected enough taxes in the country’s provinces.

Reported by RFA’s Lao Service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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