Nation’s youngest lack teachers
Fewer and fewer primary schoolteachers are willing to cope with poor pay and the worst student-to-teacher ratio outside of Africa, government data shows.
Annual reports released by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport reveal that despite fervent recruitment efforts, every year since 2005 – when it began keeping track – the number of primary-school teachers has declined. …
In the 2005-06 school year, the Kingdom listed just 50,378 primary school teachers for more than 2.5 million students. Last year, the number of teachers dropped to 44,840.
The dearth of primary school teachers has created one of the worst pupil-to-instructor ratios in the world; with 48.5 students per primary school teacher last year, Cambodia had the 16th-highest ratio in all countries monitored by UNESCO. …
In contrast to the dwindling number of primary school educators, the number of secondary school teachers has steadily increased. Last year, the ministry reported 38,211 secondary school teachers (up from 25,520 in 2005) for just over 823,000 students, 21.5 pupil-per-teacher ratio less than half that of the primary classrooms. …
Laignee Barron and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/nation%E2%80%99s-youngest-lack-teachers
