By Kantarawaddy Times
The Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF) and Karenni State’s Interim Executive Council (IEC) will provide monthly financial support to over 3,500 teachers from over 400 schools in Karenni State for the upcoming 2024-2025 academic year, according to IEC’s Deputy Secretary, U Banyar.
“We started providing stipends to teachers in the last quarter (3 months duration) of the 2023-2024 academic year through the IEC’s Education Department. We will continue to support them this year as well,” U Banyar stated.
The IEC, which has been managing the interim administration for over three years since the military coup, started providing stipend to educational staff near the end of the 2023-2024 academic year.
The IEC will continue to support schools that were already listed in previous academic years, while collecting data on teachers from newly opened schools during the current academic year. It is also reported that the number of schools may change depending on the military situation.
A teacher, serving at a displaced camp, explained that teachers in self-reliant schools face difficulties due to rising commodity prices, including the need to cover school expenses and transportation costs.
Most self-reliant schools rely on donations to pay their teachers’ stipend. With the IEC’s support, teachers are more optimistic about their monthly income.
“We have to consider travel expenses, food, and other costs. The expenses are really high which can only covers for an individual needs. Therefore, families still have many needs that require sufficient income. However, we understand that they are doing their best to support us, which is certainly an improvement from the lack of support we experienced in the past. The situation is somewhat more manageable now, and we hope they will continue to provide support,” she shared,” she shared.
U Banyar also mentioned that providing monthly support to teachers from over 400 schools across the state evenly is challenging due to the fluctuating number of teachers.
