The government has issued a decision allowing certain ministries and institutions to recruit 6,106 new civil servants for 2021.

Two per cent of the new hires need to be reserved for candidates with disabilities and between 20 and 50 per cent of the new government employees need to be women.

In a letter dated November 4, Minister of Civil Service Prum Sokha said ministries and institutions that already recruited staff before recruitment was suspended in 2020 could not take part in the 2021 recruitment surge.

In April this year, the civil service ministry announced a temporary recruitment suspension due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Three ministries and institution – the ministries of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction; Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation; and the Royal Academy of Cambodia under the Office of the Council of Ministers – have already implemented the selection process, so they cannot select new officials in 2021.

“Other ministries and institutions must only implement [recruitment] plans that were suspended in 2020,” the letter said.

Sokha said recruitment can start from January 2021 and must follow Ministry of Health guidelines to fight Covid-19.

He said leaders of ministries and institutions need to request civil service ministry officials to participate in the examination process before setting up a committee to organise the examination so that the ministry can cooperate from the first stage.

Those eligible to recruit new staff are the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (3,600); the health ministry (1,300); the Ministry of Justice (178); the Ministry of Interior (170); the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (133); and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (133).