Cambodia Education
Define Cambodia from a
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Education
Visitors to Cambodia may get the pleasure of being involved in a volunteer school at some stage - and there are many of these operating, run by good organisations such as Ponheary Ly Foundation (PLF), SCC of the UK and others. (This writer works with Savong's School near Siem Reap.
In Cambodia, education used to be at a high level, and in the 20th Century was modelled on the French system. Teachers were highly paid (one estimate is that by 1970 they received 10 times more salary - inflation adjusted - than they do today) and the nation produced many graduates.
One of the things that Pol Pot systematically dismantled was the education system - persecuting teachers (many were executed) and academics. It is beleived that of 20,000 secondary school teachers, only 200 survived this holocaust. Of all the university academics, less than 100 - some say fewer than 60 - survived.
Today's education system has had to pick itself off the floor. While education gets around 12% of Government spending, this isn't very much money and it is spread very thin. Teachers earn around $50 per month.
At secondary school level student attendance is low, but rising. UN estimates indicate that around 30% of teenagers complete high school - and other estimates suggest that on any given day only a third of those eligible for secondary education are actually attending school. Figures vary, but the core truth remains: attendance is far from 100%.
This has three main reasons. One is family: the demands on young people to 'help on the farm.' A second reason is affordability. While secondary education is nominally free, the low wages have caused the widespread practice of teachers charging a little to offer extra tuition. Worse, there is widespread bribery and a going rate of several hundred dollars, this writer has heard, for apssing the national examinations. Many families cannot afford even the small tuition charges, or for that matter, the cost of school uniforms for all their children.
A third reason for non-attendance is distance. In remote areas many families are simply out of practicable transport distance - cycle or foot. Phnom Penh is the exception: being a comparatively wealthy area, quite different to the rest of Cambodia.
These factors together make a whole bundle of challenges for young people who hope to have a future. Consider that half the population is under age 19 or 20 - and that a burgeoning number will enter the jobs market in the next few years - only a third with high school qualifications.
Today in Cambodia around 1% of the population have university degrees, and new universities of varying quality, have sprung up in the past 6 years. While fees are low the barriers to entry are the same as those for high schoolers: family demands, financial as well as transport. Right now these contribute to a widening disparity between city families and rural families.
In Cambodia, education used to be at a high level, and in the 20th Century was modelled on the French system. Teachers were highly paid (one estimate is that by 1970 they received 10 times more salary - inflation adjusted - than they do today) and the nation produced many graduates.
One of the things that Pol Pot systematically dismantled was the education system - persecuting teachers (many were executed) and academics. It is beleived that of 20,000 secondary school teachers, only 200 survived this holocaust. Of all the university academics, less than 100 - some say fewer than 60 - survived.
Today's education system has had to pick itself off the floor. While education gets around 12% of Government spending, this isn't very much money and it is spread very thin. Teachers earn around $50 per month.
At secondary school level student attendance is low, but rising. UN estimates indicate that around 30% of teenagers complete high school - and other estimates suggest that on any given day only a third of those eligible for secondary education are actually attending school. Figures vary, but the core truth remains: attendance is far from 100%.
This has three main reasons. One is family: the demands on young people to 'help on the farm.' A second reason is affordability. While secondary education is nominally free, the low wages have caused the widespread practice of teachers charging a little to offer extra tuition. Worse, there is widespread bribery and a going rate of several hundred dollars, this writer has heard, for apssing the national examinations. Many families cannot afford even the small tuition charges, or for that matter, the cost of school uniforms for all their children.
A third reason for non-attendance is distance. In remote areas many families are simply out of practicable transport distance - cycle or foot. Phnom Penh is the exception: being a comparatively wealthy area, quite different to the rest of Cambodia.
These factors together make a whole bundle of challenges for young people who hope to have a future. Consider that half the population is under age 19 or 20 - and that a burgeoning number will enter the jobs market in the next few years - only a third with high school qualifications.
Today in Cambodia around 1% of the population have university degrees, and new universities of varying quality, have sprung up in the past 6 years. While fees are low the barriers to entry are the same as those for high schoolers: family demands, financial as well as transport. Right now these contribute to a widening disparity between city families and rural families.
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