23 Feb 2009Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Tola Ek
Click here to read the article in French
A school in Phnom Penh advertised a teaching position job offer, but only “white-skinned” people need apply.
“Native English and White-Skinned Speaker (Female is preferable)”. Some readers of the 21-22 Feb weekend edition of The Cambodia Daily must be surprised to read the job offer posted by a school in Phnom Penh. The requirements cannot be made clearer than this.
During a recruitment campaign, the Cambodia-Australia School is recruiting about a dozen teachers. The job offer involves two teaching positions for kindergarten and English classes.
When reached over the phone, a school official first hesitated to reply. Finally, he said: “This is not about racism. In the school, we have five or six black teachers, and after a survey we undertook, they (school) need white-skinned people.”
On the other end, Kevin Doyle, editor of The Cambodia Daily, explained that “this issue does not involve the newspaper editorial.” Officials at the newspaper involved in advertisement could not be reached.
Bernard Krisher, publisher of The Cambodia Daily, discovered the ad after the fact. He said that he was very affected by it. “This is a scandalous ad, and I wouldn’t have allowed it to be published if I saw such discrimination and such a violation of decency rules that we believe in.”
Bernard Krisher plans to present his apologies in the newspaper this week, and he calls on his readers not to apply for this job.
“Native English and White-Skinned Speaker (Female is preferable)”. Some readers of the 21-22 Feb weekend edition of The Cambodia Daily must be surprised to read the job offer posted by a school in Phnom Penh. The requirements cannot be made clearer than this.
During a recruitment campaign, the Cambodia-Australia School is recruiting about a dozen teachers. The job offer involves two teaching positions for kindergarten and English classes.
When reached over the phone, a school official first hesitated to reply. Finally, he said: “This is not about racism. In the school, we have five or six black teachers, and after a survey we undertook, they (school) need white-skinned people.”
On the other end, Kevin Doyle, editor of The Cambodia Daily, explained that “this issue does not involve the newspaper editorial.” Officials at the newspaper involved in advertisement could not be reached.
Bernard Krisher, publisher of The Cambodia Daily, discovered the ad after the fact. He said that he was very affected by it. “This is a scandalous ad, and I wouldn’t have allowed it to be published if I saw such discrimination and such a violation of decency rules that we believe in.”
Bernard Krisher plans to present his apologies in the newspaper this week, and he calls on his readers not to apply for this job.
