• Editorials

Teachers’ Attendance Scrutinized through an App

• By Cambodianess
• April 16, 2023 10:00 AM

During the annual conference of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, it was announced that an application would be put in operation to keep track of not only students’ but also teachers’ attendance. Because, according to Minister of Education Hang Chuon Naron, 20 percent of the students and teachers arrive late to class, which of course affects the performance of the education system in terms of knowledge acquisition.  

This, adding to the fact that students would only be spending an average of four hours in class per workday, which is absolutely inadequate, according to the minister, to cover the program. And, as if it was necessary to add anything else, exceptional situations will come up and reduce the duration of the school year such as COVID-19 over the last few years or the 32nd Southeast Asian Games 2023 this year.  

The teachers’ lack of punctuality or absence is more problematic than that of students since all the children and teenagers end up being penalized because of this. Students who are late or absent only harm themselves. But a teacher who is late or absent for no valid reason discredits himself as a teacher among young people and devalues his teaching.  

Each year, the Ministry of Education recruits 3,000 new teachers. But at the same time, it loses 2,000 teachers. There are of course those retiring but also—and this is the most concerning—those leaving due to job dissatisfaction and getting into other professions.    

The public education system is therefore affected by a chronic shortage of teachers, which is an indication that the profession lacks attractiveness. Many seem to practice it while waiting for something better, which might explain this well-known lack of punctuality. While an app might help manage one another's lateness or absence, it will hardly contribute to motivating the teachers who would not happen to be.