The Cambodian Independent Teachers Association (CITA) demanded in a letter sent on Monday to the Ministry of Education that all Cambodian secondary schools be paid their full yearly program budget after complaints were lodged by some teachers that the funds had not yet been received.

CITA delivered the letter after teachers from lower (grade 7 to 9) and upper (grade 10 to 12) secondary schools in Takeo, Kampot, Kandal and Phnom Penh relayed the ministry’s alleged neglect.

“Some teachers have said that they still haven’t received their program budget, which is used as payment to refit windows, fix tables, chairs and pay for administrative fees like photocopying examinations and other after-school activities like sports,” CITA president Rong Chhun said.

The Koky School in Kandal province’s Kien Svay district is one of the schools affected, a teacher there said yesterday.

“We usually receive the program budget by the first or second month of the school year but it still has not come,” teacher May Sopheap said.

According to Sopheap, teachers have been paying out of pocket for exam photocopies, while broken tables and windows have remain untouched due to the lack of funding.

In the past, he added, they have been handed program budgets that are only 65 per cent of the original earmarked amount.

CITA plans to commence a survey to determine the number of schools that have yet to receive their program budget.

Officials at the Education Ministry could not be reached.