Education in Cambodia

I was talking with an educational expert from an American NGO (non-governmental organization).

He described the school system as being profoundly unfair. First, teachers are underpaid. Each earns about $90 a month. To make more money, almost all teachers tutor students after class. They typically tutor their own students, which leads to a conflict of interest. Many families think that if they don't get tutoring, the teacher will fail the student. Often this is the case.

Although schooling is mandatory, most kids don't go to class. Their labor is needed by the family, and tutoring is out of the question for all but the well off. Also almost everyone over a certain age is uneducated because the purges of the Khmer Rouge targeted educated people. Some families just don't see the value.

Cambodia is a country of young people. I saw school-aged kids everywhere who were certainly outside of the school system. Many of them were doing labor such as working market stalls, selling trinkets, and such. Others were just hanging around, not playing or doing much of anything.

The image below is of a girl at the Ta Prohm temple.