The Ministry of Education announced plans yesterday to introduce a ranking system and increase salaries for teachers nationwide, to encourage and motivate them in their vocation.
Director General of the Teacher Training Department of the Ministry of Education, Dr Mithong Souvanvixay, said yesterday that a ranking system for teachers would be similar to that used for police and military officers, but with different titles.
“We will have different ranks including ordinary teachers, lecturers, associate professors, and professors,” he said after the opening ceremony of the Teacher Education Strategy 2006-2010 Dissemination Conference, held yesterday in Vientiane .
“We have observed this system in other countries, and we hope that introducing ranks and raising salaries will increase the motivation of teachers.”
He explained that ranking teachers at different levels would enhance their perceived role in society, and encourage more respect for the profession.
Higher rankings would also become associated with larger salaries.
Dr Mithong said the introduction of the ranking system was one of the projects outlined in the Teacher Education Strategy for 2006-2010, and that the ministry fully intended to implement the strategy during the given period. This means teachers would be awarded their designated rankings before 2010.
The rankings would be based on individual educational and teaching experience, he said.
Head of the Administration Office of the Teacher Training Department, Mr Laocher Kiatoukaysy, said that at present teachers were generally lacking the motivation to teach to the best of their abilities. He said he believed that if the situation continued, the standard of education in Laos would never improve.
In fact, teachers receive the same salaries as other public servants, but Mr Laocher said teachers were not in a position to exploit sources of income other than teaching.
Furthermore, because of the low standing of teachers in society, many students who graduate from the Faculty of Education in the National University of Laos opt to take other, higher paying jobs.
Mr Laocher said that in the rural areas there was a significant shortage of teachers because not many new graduates wanted to teach in these places. Most choose to stay in the city where they have more opportunities to teach extra classes after regular hours and earn more money.
He said the ministry had tried to stipulate that students who received government scholarships to study teaching must return to their birthplace to work, but could not enforce this regulation for fear of causing rifts in society.
Dr Mythong said the government had recognised the problems faced by teachers, and had tried many ways of encouraging them to be more productive. An increase in salary had seemed to be the most effective option to motivate teachers, and will come into effect in October.
