: The article presents the basic information about the Education system in Cambodia and the most frequent issues connected with the educational support from Non – Governmental Organizations operating in Cambodia. It introduces the project Komar Chlad (Smart Children) and explains some of the decisions which have to be made to fulfill the aim of successful study of the supported recipients. The article also includes the results of survey dedicated to the Impact of the Intervention of Non - Governmental Organisations in Andong community, Cambodia, slum situated close to the capital city Phnom Penh.
INTRODUCTION
Cambodia is located in Southeast Asia, where more than 13 million people live. It borders Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, and in the southwest it has access to the Gulf of Thailand, in the Pacific Ocean. The country is among the poorest in the region, especially due to the genocidal civil war triggered by the Khmer Rouge in 1975–1979, when about a quarter of the then population was killed and that regime had far-reaching consequences for all areas of the population’s life. The educational system in the country is still developing. Besides a lack of professionalism and teachers, its progress is also slowed by widespread corruption, which complicates implementation of established plans, as well as the work of non-governmental organizations in the country. This paper should at least partly present the situation in education in this developing country and point to the need for support of education among the poorer part of the population, thereby giving it a chance to develop in other areas of life. It also presents results from research conducted in a primary school in a poor slum part of Phnom Penh.
EDUCATION IN CAMBODIA
At one time, education was traditionally provided in monasteries – pagodas (Wat) by Buddhist monks, who provided education exclusively to the male population. In 1917, the French colonial government adopted the Education Law and introduced primary schooling in the lower and upper basic cycles based on the French model. This system, however, was elitist and reached only a small percentage of the population. It primarily served civil servants who worked throughout Indochina. After independence, a universal education system was introduced. Cambodia had no higher education institution until the 1960s, when the Khmer Royal University was founded. In 1975, after a regime change, the Khmer Rouge banned education, systematically destroying teaching materials, scripts, and publishing houses. Schools and universities were closed, and many qualified teachers, researchers and technicians either left the country or were killed. (i) After the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia depended on an inflow of educated people from abroad. The government took necessary steps to improve the situation. It decentralized education and prepared a Strategic Plan for Education. The Cambodian constitution declares free nine-year education and guarantees a universal right to basic education. (ii) This area is one of the most discussed issues in the country because it determines the future of the country and its population. Many international organizations pressure the government to improve conditions in education and children's access to learning. Nevertheless, education is still a scarce commodity. Children, mainly from rural areas, do not receive quality study opportunities. They often have to walk several kilometers to school, teachers are unqualified, undervalued and lack significant motivation. In education, low teacher salaries persist, together with related fee collection, known as "všímné". The unofficial monthly fee in the first cycle is 3,500 riels (1 USD = 4,000 riels) and 8,000 riels (2 USD) in lower secondary; at higher secondary it can reach 10,200 riels (about 2.5 USD). These fees do not include costs for uniforms, school supplies, etc. For this reason, as statistics show, poor children usually attend school only in the first cycle, up to sixth grade. In higher secondary and universities, students are mostly from wealthy families. (iii) Cambodia’s future depends on its population and its ability to adapt to high global standards. Increasing educational attainment means increasing the population’s competitiveness and thereby improving quality of life. Cambodia needs specialists from its own population in every field. That is why many NGOs are involved in supporting education, whether as a primary or secondary part of their work. For example, this includes raising awareness about HIV/AIDS, drug-dependency prevention, child rights, prevention of domestic violence, and so on.
Private schools also operate in Cambodia today and provide services for a fee. Tuition varies depending on the school and location. Schools in the capital, Phnom Penh, are usually more expensive than in other cities. Sponsors are often international organizations from the USA, UK, Korea, Australia, France, and others. The quality of teaching is generally much better, the number of students per class is lower, and teachers’ educational level and interest in children are higher. Yet only children from wealthier families can attend private schools, while children from the poorest households do not even attend public school due to lack of funds for school materials, or because they are needed at home or must work.
In the following table you can see data on the highest educational attainment of the population from the latest census in 2008.
Table No. 1 Highest attained education (2008)
| Category | Count | % |
| No education | 4,338,688 | 32.39 |
| Incomplete primary level | 4,688,366 | 35.00 |
| Primary (primary) | 2,560,657 | 19.12 |
| Lower secondary | 1,524,592 | 11.38 |
| Secondary/technical schools | 79,714 | 0.60 |
| Higher education | 196,758 | 1.47 |
| Other education | 6,342 | 0.05 |
| Total | 13,395,117 | 0.05 |
(Cambodia General Population Census 2008, 2010) (iv)
EDUCATION SUPPORT – THE PROJECT IN PRACTICE
The Komar Chlad project (read as koma člád) is one of many projects of the St. Elizabeth School of Health and Social Work in Bratislava. It belongs to the Faculty of Missionary Work and Tropical Medicine of John Paul II and was founded in December 2008. The project’s purpose is to support the education of poor children and to provide one hot meal per day to a supported child, as well as social counseling to the child’s family. At the beginning, the project supported 5 children from the slum area Andong, near the capital Phnom Penh. At present, the project supports 15 children and has expanded its scope to include instruction in English and computer skills. The primary goal is to support children’s education, especially to bridge the gap between the first and second levels so that their chances in the job market increase in the future. The project is guided by the Social Worker Code of Ethics and its own principles, such as protecting personal data of the child and family, confidentiality of social counseling, supporting only one child per family, preventing dependence of the family on external assistance, and the non-dependence of the supported child and family on the donor. Students show good to very good school performance and high motivation to study, which contributes to more active cooperation in solving family problems and to the likelihood of successful study in higher grades as well. Project funding is based on voluntary donations. A donor provides financial or other help to the project—that is, a group of children—and supports the project’s activities, not a specific child. In this way it guarantees that the supported child benefits under the principles mentioned above. (v)
EDUCATION SUPPORT AND ITS EFFECTIVENESS
When providing help to socially disadvantaged persons, it is important to address questions about the effectiveness of that help. Good intentions are sometimes not enough to reach goals successfully. It is important to know for whom, why, and under what conditions this support will be provided. In other words, who the target group is, since in developing countries the potential recipients of social support are often many times more than available resources. It is therefore necessary to determine the most vulnerable groups, a clear goal that is achievable in those conditions, and clear rules for both recipients and providers of social services. A survey conducted in the Andong community, a slum in the capital Phnom Penh, showed several interesting findings worth considering in practice. In a sample of 227 students from a public primary school, we attempted to demonstrate the impact of support/intervention by NGOs in Andong. As the most appropriate indicator, we chose school attendance and tried to confirm or disprove certain claims. We managed to show a statistically significant difference in attendance between supported and unsupported children.
Table No. 2 Non-parametric correlation (Support, missed days in total)
We used Spearman’s non-parametric correlation for analysis, which was more suitable for our parameter distribution. The relationship between the observed parameters is low and negative, meaning that as support for the student increases, the number of missed days decreases. Based on the results of the testing, we can state that at a significance level of 0.01 the correlation is weak but statistically significant. (vi)
We also found that supported girls have fewer missed days, and we assume that with their support NGOs are able to keep a greater number of girls in the educational process. The largest number of students leaves in the 5th grade, therefore we assume that financial pressure felt by the family, together with the increasing age of the child and the amount of the “všímné”, reaches a critical point precisely in the 5th grade, when the child is sufficiently developed for some kind of work and already has basic knowledge such as reading and writing, but lacks the sense of proximity to completing basic education, which we assume is strongest in the 6th grade and is linked to the decision to end started education. Therefore, we consider it important not only to support the child continuously in education from a young age, but also to catch students in the 5th grade, with special emphasis on girls’ education.
Table No. 3 Correlation – 5th Grade
The correlation coefficient is moderately strong and negative, meaning there is a moderately strong dependency between the variables support and missed days. It follows that supported students in 5th grade have fewer missed days, with statistical significance at the 0.01 level. (vii)
From the survey data we further found that the number of girls in education is significantly lower than that of boys. Of the total 183 students who attended the full school year 2009/2010, only 37% were girls, which makes them a more vulnerable group and it is therefore appropriate for NGOs to focus on them. This finding is also supported by UNICEF Cambodia’s statement (2005) that girls are a more at-risk group than boys in terms of obtaining full education.
CONCLUSION
The survey was carried out on the basis of analysis of available documents, information from people working in the area, and was supported by study of available literature sources. It provided data on the effectiveness of educational support, the target groups for this support, and the attainability of goals such as completion of the educational process in primary school for supported children and the possibility of successfully making the transition from primary to secondary education, as successfully achieved in the Komar Chlad project, where all children from 6th grade entered 7th grade at secondary school. It is also important to note that financial assistance to students is not the only condition for successful educational support of children; part of it must also be work with the child’s family and high-quality social counseling, which gives the child support while preparing for a better future.
(i)Cambodia Cultural Profile. 2005. [online]. Education. [Accessed 30. 11. 2010]. Available at: (ii)Ibid. (iii) Education for All National Plan 2003-2015. 2003. [online]. Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. [Accessed 9.11. 2010]. Available at: (iv)Cambodia Demographics Profile 2010. 2010. [online]. [Accessed 3. 9. 2010]. Available at: (v) Internal materials of the St. Elizabeth School of Health and Social Work.2011.Komar Chlad.Bratislava.2011 (vi) Sláviková,P.2011. Impact of Intervention of Non-Governmental Organizations in Andong community, Cambodia. Rigorózna Thesis. St. Elizabeth School of Health and Social Work. Bratislava. 2011. 80s. (vii) Ibid.
Phnom Penh, Cambodia: