Mon Teachers Await Salary Increases

THURSDAY, 28 AUGUST 2014 14:57 IMNA NEWS - INDEPENDENT MON NEWS AGENCY
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The Mon National Education Committee (MNEC) has been seeking to increase the monthly salary of Mon teachers by
30,000 kyat, but efforts have been hindered by budget constraints.
We would like to increase the teachers salaries, but the budget isnt large enough [to do so]. At a recent [MNEC]
meeting we werent able to make a decision on the pay-raise yet, said MNEC member Nai Aie Kon.
Nai Aie Kon continued that the MNEC is working hard to find a way to increase Mon teachers monthly salaries to
50,000 kyat from their current 20,000 kyat monthly amount.
Some Mon Buddhist monks who deliver Dharma talks abroad and receive donations from Buddhists created an
education fund for Mon teachers, and a group of Mons living in Australia donated 3 million kyat to this fund on
August 22nd.
We teachers receive 20,000 kyat per month from [the Mon] education department and two tins of rice from the
village. But now the price of rice has increased so we dont receive the rice anymore. With only 20,000 kyat we just
cant survive, said a Mon national primary school teacher in Ye Township.
The first Mon National School was established in 1972 and taught the Mon language at every grade level. In 1984, a
delegation for Mon national education was created, and today there are over 800 Mon teachers working at 156 Mon
National Schoolsincluding three high schoolsunder the administration of the Mon National Education Department.
The Mon National Education Committee was founded in 1993. According to the committees records, 15,000 students
are currently attending Mon National Schools and over 20,000 students are either studying Mon or taking other
subjects taught in Mon at government schools.