EDUCATION
Cambodia is a lower middle income country in East Asia and Pacific. It ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In 2015 the country committed to support delivery of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and the pledge to leave no one behind.
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SOURCES
Save the Children
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Education. For every child, quality education and life skills.
All children have the right to learn, whatever their circumstances. Adequate support to learning is crucial for them to develop to their full potential. However, in Cambodia many girls and boys are falling behind, particularly those who live in poor rural and urban areas.
Cambodia has made terrific progress in educating its children. Since 2007, the number of children enrolled in preschool programmes has more than doubled. The number of children enrolled in primary education has increased from 82 per cent in 1997 to over 97 per cent in school year 2017/18.
While progress is tangible, children in Cambodia are still failing to reach learning standards appropriate for their age. At the primary level, nearly 25 per cent of children in Grade 3 cannot write a single word in a dictation test. Only 27 per cent of 3- to 5-year-olds are developmentally on track in literacy and numeracy, and by the time they are 17 years old, 55 per cent of adolescents will have dropped out of school.
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Cambodian children continue to fall behind in school for a number of reasons, including not being adequately prepared for school, experiencing poor quality teaching and learning, and attending school irregularly. This eventually leads to many of them dropping out altogether.
Inadequate learning in the early years of life, coupled with insufficient nutrition, leaves children developmentally behind. There are not enough qualified teachers, and the quality of learning environments is poor. There is a lack of basic infrastructure, such as water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities, which particularly impacts adolescent girls and children with disabilities. Violence is a problem in schools, with teachers using corporal punishment. Children with disabilities still experience discrimination. Many parents cannot understand the value of education and most cannot afford to send their children to school, particularly in rural and deprived areas.
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SOURCES
UNICEF Cambodia
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Youth on the Move Cambodia
Current statistics indicate that approximately 60% of Cambodia’s total population is under 30, and project that youth (those aged 15-29) will make up a least a quarter of the population until 2020 and beyond. Faced with a dearth of employment prospects in their local communities, many of those Cambodian youth must choose between underemployment and the risky path of migration to seek work in urban areas or abroad. (National Institute of Statistics 2015; KAPE 2015)
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Coupled with this challenging economic reality is the low quality of education in Cambodia, where a recent World Bank assessment revealed very low levels of reading proficiency (World Bank, 2012). Upper secondary school (Grade 10-12) completion rates, as reported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, hover around 20% nationwide (MoEYS Education Statistics and Indicators, 2015), and a recent report on the Bac II Examination, the national graduation exam, revealed that, when restrictions were put in place to prevent cheating, only 26% of test takers were able to achieve passing scores (The Guardian, 2014).
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SOURCES
MoEYS, 2015
National Institute of Statistics, 2015.
Kampuchean Action for Primary Education. March 2014. Empowering Youth in Cambodia Today
The Guardian. 2014. http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/sep/02/cambodia-corruption-crackdown-exam-cheats
World Bank. 2012. Final report: early grade reading assessment test results for 2010 and 2012, Phnom Penh: MoEYS.
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Save the Children report
Despite some progress made in Cambodia over the last three years (2019-2021), the problems affecting children persist, and in some cases have been further aggravated. This is largely due to the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 and the increasing effects of climate change and environmental degradation, which disproportionately affect vulnerable and poor households (particularly orphans, indigenous minorities, and persons living with disabilities).
In 2021, UNDP estimated that the poverty rate in Cambodia had almost doubled – climbing to 17.6% of its 16.7 million country population, as families lose sources of income and take up loans.
Children and youth are not empowered to express their voice at local and national levels and meaningful child participation is lacking within government decision-making. This is particularly the case for girls and children with diverse sexual orientations.
Poverty drives child rights violations including accessing education and health services, child labour, trafficking, abuse, and vulnerability to hazards. Almost half of Cambodians living in poverty are 19 years old or younger. The situation was further exacerbated with COVID-19; SC’s own Assessment of the impact of COVID-19 in 2020 revealed that 84% of surveyed households are having trouble paying for essential items, while children have less dietary diversity and access to food due to high prices and income loss.
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In Cambodia, 35% of the population is living in poverty, of which 45% are 19 years old or younger. Recently, the pandemic has highlighted existing inequalities and it was found that 84% of households have been struggling to pay for household items as a result of COVID-19.
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Safe and continuous education is still not a guarantee here in Cambodia, particularly for marginalized children, adolescents, and youth - 56% of children with disabilities have either never attended or never completed primary school and only 1 in 3 male third graders are proficient in the Khmer language, compared to 48% of their female peers.
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SOURCES
Save the Children
4
Education and Child Protection
With a 97% primary net enrollment rate in 2020, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) is close to achieving universal access to primary education. Cambodia has also strengthened female enrollment and achieved gender parity (0.98) in primary education. The government demonstrated its commitment by allocating 18% of the national budget to education (2021). While MoEYS has introduced rigorous reforms to the national curriculum, teacher training, and school governance, Cambodia still struggles to maintain national, equitable student learning outcomes. Recent assessments show that only 8% of 15-year-old students achieved the minimum level of reading proficiency, while just 10 percent achieved minimum proficiency in mathematics. Drop-out rates in secondary schools remain high.
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SOURCES
USAID