Teachers to Get a Pay Raise

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Teachers to Get a Pay Raise

The government and the ruling Millennium Democratic Party said Monday that policy measures to improve teachers' benefits - including raising their salaries to be on par with the corporate sector - will be announced soon.

Kim Joong-kwon, the ruling party chairman, mentioned the upcoming policy announcement while visiting Changcheon Elementary School in Seoul.

He said the government plans to invest 4.3 trillion won ($3.3 billion) through 2004 to bring teachers' wages up to a level comparable to those at medium-sized companies in the private sector.

The plan also calls for spending 1.25 trillion won through 2004 on recruiting 22,000 more teachers for the nation's elementary, middle and high schools.

Under the plan, teachers with 15 years or more of experience will be eligible to receive 70 percent of their basic wage and additional financial assistance should they take a leave of absence to study at domestic educational institutions. Starting next year, teachers with a certain level of experience will be encouraged to go abroad for up to two years of study.

Government and party officials said that the plan is based in part on suggestions to strengthen public education by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

However, the tentative an-nouncement from the government and the ruling party did not address several outstanding demands of teachers. The teachers have long demanded that the government allow schools to adopt a system which would not require them to assume administrative responsibilities. They also want to raise the mandatory retirement age from 63 to 65.

Male teachers have also sought to be exempted from military service if they work at schools in remote rural regions or islands.

The Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations, which has said it will endorse - and blacklist - candidates in elections next year, has not yet commented on the plan.



by Kang Hong-jun

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