Education_In_Relation to Child Labor

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# 54, Street 306, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Tel: (855) 23 215 590, Tel/Fax: (855) 23 211 723, P.O. Box 1120, e-mail:[email protected]

The Education System in Cambodia and its

Relationship with Child Labor

Laura Emily Robson

June-August 2010


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The Cambodian Education System and its relationship with Child Labor

This Report was prepared for:

The Community Legal Education Center (CLEC)

Office: #54, Street 306Sangkat Boeung Keng Kang 1Khan Chamkar MornP.O Box 1120Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Tel/Fax: (855) 23 211 723

www.clec.org.kh

Authors Acknowledgements and Disclaimer

This document is for informational purposes only and is not intended to reflect anyprofessional legal advice pertaining to labor codes and standards for the Educationsystem in Cambodia.

CLEC, NGOs, stakeholders, government ministries and individuals mentioned in thisdocument may or may not support the viewpoints of the author.

This document may be used by CLEC for their labor training and strategic planningprogrammes.

This document may not be solicited.

The findings from this report are the result of two months of field research and interviewswith various stakeholders, individuals, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) inCambodia. I would like to that the CLEC team in Phnom Penh for their kind supportthroughout this project.

I would like to particularly express my gratitude to the CLEC/Labor Program Unit, (Mr.Tola Moeun and Mr. Pich Svann Huy and other team members) for their constant helpand guidance, as well as teaching me so much about their country.

Lastly I would like to thank my father, who has always valued education above all else,and my mother, who has been a teacher all her life.


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INDEX

1) Introduction to the Issue: Child Labor and Education..p.6

2) Historical and Cultural Contextp.7.3) Education as a Human Rightp.8

4) Current Situation: Overview.p.12

5) CITA and the Rights of Teachers..p.13

6) The link between Child Labor and Education...p.16

7) Progression onto Higher Education...p.18

8) Conclusionsp.19

9) Recommendations..p.20

10) Appendices...p.21


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Map of Cambodia


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1) Introduction to the Issue: Child Labor and Education

Education is a key element in the prevention of child labor; at the same time, child laboris one of the main obstacles to Education for All (EFA). Understanding the interplaybetween education and child labor is therefore critical to achieving both EFA and

child labor elimination goals. Child labor in any form, but most especially thehazardous physical labor that children in the rural areas and factories often undertake,severely harms a childs ability to firstly enter, and subsequently to survive once in theeducation system. Furthermore, working in either a family or non-family environmentwhilst also attempting to regularly attend school means that the child who is trying tocombine both work and study and will benefit far less from the academic instructionavailable to him or her resulting in a higher risk of leaving school early.

This report aims to illustrate how child labor impedes a childs ability to enter andsurvive in the school system, and makes it more difficult for a child to derive educationalbenefit from school once in the system. With regard to the link between educationprovision and child labor, the research conducted for this report hopes to convey theseverity of the detrimental role of inadequate schooling in keeping children out of theclassroom and in work. There is evidence to suggest that both the quality and access toschooling are primary factors in household decisions concerning whether to invest inchildrens human capital by sending them to school.

The international communitys efforts to achieve Education for All (EFA), which is aUNESCO program that consists of six internationally agreed education goals aimed tomeet the learning needs of children, youth and adults by 2015 and the progressiveelimination of child labor are inextricably linked. There is a broad acknowledgement thatone of the most effective and full-proof ways to prevent school-aged children fromentering the work force is to improve access to education. That way, the families that upuntil now need their children to work in order to survive financially will instead be ableto invest in their childrens education and eventually see that the results of such aninvestment are far more beneficial in the long run than those associated with child labor.

It must be also noted that essentially, child labor is the main obstacle to fully achievingthe goal of EFA as work is in direct competition with education. Child labor is the majorobstacle to secure education for all: there is simply not enough time to do both, andmoreover, the physical and emotional strain on children due to their work in theagricultural or business sector is a severe hindrance to their ability to performacademically. Furthermore, high levels of child labor translate on a general basis intolarge numbers of out-of-school children which in turn means lower overall attendancerates and a slower process in attaining basic education for all. Child labor thereforeadversely affects the academic achievement of the considerable number of children whocombine work and school, often resulting in these children leaving school prematurelyand entering into work for want of money.


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By examining the relationship between school non-enrolment and child labor, the UCWreport on Child Labor and Education for All uses a very useful description to explain thetwo main reasons why children are often led into the workforce rather than the classroom.To cite the report, the direction of causality is not always apparent. In some cases,

children are pushed into work by poor quality, irrelevant or inaccessible schools, whilein other cases children are pulled from school and into work by household poverty orother economic motives. The policy implications of this distinction are clear: wherepush factors prevail, supply-side policy measures targeting the school system holdparticular promise for reducing child labor; where pull factors are relevant, demand-side policy measures targeting the household are also needed for an effective response tochild labor.

2) Historical Context & Cultural Background

In an attempt to rebuild a new Cambodia with new revolutionary men and women, the

Khmer Rouge set out to eradicate the old elements of Cambodias society, including theold education system. Like their Maoist counterparts in China, the Khmer Rouge leadersemphasized manual labor and political correctness over knowledge. They claimed "ricefields were books, and hoes were pencils." As such, Cambodia did not need aneducational system. The Khmer Rouge leaders deliberately destroyed the foundations of amodern education. People with higher education such as doctors, lawyers, teachers,professors, and former college students were killed or forced to work in labor camps. TheKhmer Rouge also engaged in the physical destruction of institutional infrastructure forhigher education such as books, buildings, and other educational resources.It is estimatedthat by the end of the Khmer Rouge time, between 75 and 80 percent of Cambodian

educators either were killed, died of overwork, or left the country. At least half of the

written material available in the Khmer language was destroyed.

After coming to power with Vietnamese help in 1979, the government of the PRKattempted to redevelop the education system. Although significant progress was made,the process of educational redevelopment was hampered by war and lack of resources,human as well as material. The PRK government undertook a massive rehabilitationprogram aimed at enrolling as many students as possible. The slogan of the time was"those who know more teach those who know less." Those with almost any level ofeducation were encouraged to work as teachers, and efforts were made to identify andencourage formers teachers, professors, and bureaucrats in the field of education toparticipate in this difficult endeavor. Potential teachers were given short-term training forone month, three weeks or even two weeks and then assigned teaching jobs. With manybuildings destroyed, classes were taught in shacks made of leaves with dirt floors or insome places instruction was given outside under the trees. Given the enormity ofdestruction caused by the Khmer Rouge regime, one could see significant progress in thefield of education during the 1980s. From an empty handed position, the PRKgovernment was able to reestablish a semblance of an educational system from pre-school to university. A number of students were offered scholarships by host countries inthe former Soviet block to pursue higher education.


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Because the PRK government was engaged in fighting a civil war with the Khmer Rougeand other two non-communist resistant movements the field of education was not givenmuch priority. With budgetary constraints, the need for manpower to serve in the army,and a centrally planned economy, the PRK government set limits on the number ofstudents who could enter into upper secondary school, and universities. Such restrictions

generated widespread corruption, favoritism, and nepotism within the educational systemas wealthy and influential parents either paid bribes or used their political power to secureseats for their children in these institutions. Such practices, compounded by low skilllevel of educators, significantly slowed the development of the educational system. 1

Under this system that emphasized quantity over quality, and given the destruction of theDK regime, it is easy to understand why literacy rates for Cambodia are quite low. Newresearch conducted in 2000, which actually administered writing exercises rather thanallowing self-identification as readers, found that literacy levels for the country werelower than previously estimated. The report divided the respondents into three groups:the complete illiterate (36.3 %), the semi-literate (26.6 %) and the literate (37.1 %). The

latter were further divided into those with a basic level of literacy (11.3 %), with amedium level (64 %) and a self-learning level (those who read all kinds of materials insearch of new knowledge) (24.7 %). Combining the first two categories of illiterate andsemi-literate, this means that 62.9 percent of the adult population of Cambodia, or 6.5million people, are basically illiterate (MEYS 2000). Low levels of literacy, andeducation in general, can impede the economic development of a country in the current

rapidly changing, technology-driven world.

3) Education as a Human Right

The Childs right to an education is universal and indisputable thanks to several key

pieces of legislation. Being deprived of this right is one of the most important factors thatperpetuates the cycle of child labor.

Education is a fundamental human right: every child is entitled to it. It is critical to ourdevelopment as individuals and as societies, and it helps pave the way to a successful andproductive future. By ensuring that children have access to a rights-based, qualityeducation that is rooted in gender equality, a ripple effect of opportunity is created thatimpacts generations to come. It ends generational cycles of poverty and disease andprovides a foundation for sustainable development.

Moreover, a quality basic education better equips girls and boys with the knowledge andskills necessary to adopt healthy lifestyles and take an active role in social, economic andpolitical decision-making as they transition from adolescence to adulthood. Educatedadults are more likely to have fewer children, to be informed about appropriate child-rearing practices and to ensure that their children start school on time and are ready tolearn. In addition, a rights-based approach to education can address some of societiesdeeply rooted inequalities. These inequalities condemn millions of children, particularly

1 Education in Cambodia, Retrieved from http://www.seasite.niu.edu/khmer/Ledgerwood/education.htm


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girls, to a life without quality education and, therefore, to a life of missedopportunities.2

In 1989, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights ofthe Child (CRC). The CRC is a universally agreed set of non-negotiable standards and

obligations relating to human rights, especially for children. According to the UNConvention on the rights of the Child, children (persons from the age of 18 and below)are entitled to a variety of specific rights that are particular to them as they fall under acategory deemed especially in need of extra protection. Along with education, manyadvocates of childrens rights recognize that the child has the right to nutrition, protectionand development. Several important aspects of the convention are stipulated below.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child

Some of the highlights of the Convention include:

A childs right to life; Decisions that affect children should be based on their best interests; Protection for children from physical or mental harm and neglect; A childs right to the highest attainable standard of health; Free and compulsory education for all children; Children shall have time to rest and play and equal opportunities for cultural and

artistic activities; Protection for children from economic exploitation; All efforts shall be made to eliminate the abduction and trafficking of children; No child under 15 shall take any part in hostilities or conflict; and children of

minority and indigenous populations shall freely enjoy their own culture, religion

and language.

3

Since the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights ratified the Conventionon the Rights of the Child in 1989, there has been considerable progress made withregards to securing a basic education for all children on a global scale. There are, nonethe less, problems that still remain to hinder progress, particularly in countries that sufferfrom extreme poverty or economic challenges. Cambodia is one of those countries.Unfortunately, however, this convention was not enough to illicit any real change frommany of the countries that were most in need of it.

UNESCO provided technical assistance to the national authorities of Cambodia increating the Draft Education Law of Cambodia. Modifications were introduced in linewith international legal obligations following UNESCO recommendations and keepingEFA (Education for All) as a priority. Following a comprehensive review, improvementsin the draft were suggested including sections on the principles and norms of the right toeducation and rights and responsibilities of teachers, parents, learners and the community.

2 UNICEF HQ, 12 May 2010, http://www.unicef.org/girlseducation/index.php.3 A Guide to Childrens Rights: Rights of the Child Including Education, Nutrition and Development,Retrieved from http://childrens-rights.suite 101.com


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Technical and vocational education, non-formal education and literacy for empowermentwere also covered. Emphasis was placed upon quality basic education and equality ofeducational opportunity including providing basic education for street children, ensuringgender equity and positive measures in favor of marginalized groups, ethnic communitiesand children from poor households.4

Child Labor has recently become an extremely sensitive issue for Cambodia. Theexploitation of children under the age of 18 for economic gain is prevalent still, in spiteof numerous attempts from the government, stakeholders, Non-GovernmentalOrganizations (NGOs) and the United Nations to try to quell the rising tide of underageyouths being forced for financial and social reasons into dangerous and dead-endemployment.

The sensitivity of the issue lies in the conflict of interest between employers of workingchildren and advocates of the ILO Convention 182. Thus, any attempt to visit or to askdirectly about the number of child workers on specific sites is likely to face negative

reactions from those employers who favored child labor. The number of children actuallyseen is likely to underestimate the reality as child workers may be warned in advance notto come. The non-cooperation from employers is not unexpected, but it does howeverrender investigating the extent to which child labor is still practiced in Cambodia moredifficult to carry out with complete accuracy.

UNESCO provided technical assistance to the national authorities of Cambodia increating the Draft Education Law of Cambodia. Modifications were introduced in linewith international legal obligations following UNESCO recommendations and keepingEFA (Education for All) as a priority. Following a comprehensive review, improvementsin the draft were suggested including sections on the principles and norms of the right to

education and rights and responsibilities of teachers, parents, learners and the community.Technical and vocational education, non-formal education and literacy for empowermentwere also covered. Emphasis was placed upon quality basic education and equality ofeducational opportunity including providing basic education for street children, ensuringgender equity and positive measures in favor of marginalized groups, ethnic communitiesand children from poor households.

5

Children in Cambodia continue to work in exploitive plantations, in salt production, infish processing, as porters, in brick making, in the service sector and as garbage pickers.They also work in occupations that are determined by the Government (under theguidelines of the Convention 132) as being hazardous, including processing sea products,such as shrimp; breaking, quarrying or collecting stones; working in gem and coalmining; working in garment factories; working in restaurants; and making handicrafts.Children work as domestic servants; most child domestics are girls of 15-17 years, whowork between 6 and 16 hours per day.6

4 http://www.unesco.org/en/right-to-education/support-and-cooperation/technical-assistance/5 http://www.unesco.org/en/right-to-education/support-and-cooperation/technical-assistance/6 US Department of Laborss 2008 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, US Department ofInternational Affaires, Washington DC 2008, pp.35.


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Moreover, the Cambodian Labor Law sets the minimum age for wage employment at 15years. However, it also concedes that children are permitted to do light work from theage of 12 on the condition that the work is not hazardous to their health or mental andphysical development and will not affect their regular school attendance or vocational

training approved by a competent authority. This is reinforced by the ILO Convention138 that states that children under the age of 18 are not permitted to work in dangerousenvironments.7 This declaration apparently sets limits on the working hours of childrenfrom the age of 12-15 years: 7 hours maximum on non-school days and 4 hours on schooldays between the hours of 6 and 8pm. Considering the fact that child labor is still todayubiquitous in Cambodia, one must question to what extend these measures are effective.

Furthermore, Convention 182 calls for the prohibition and elimination of the worst formsof child labor, as well as child labor that violates rights to a childs development.Among other things, the Convention recognized that child labor is to a great extentcaused by poverty and that the long-term solution lies in sustained economic growth

leading to social progress, in particular poverty alleviation and universal education. Italso makes a point of recalling the Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted by theUnited Nations General Assembly on 20 November 1989. In Article 3, the Conventionalso specified the term, "the worst forms of child labor" which goes as follows:

(a) all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking ofchildren, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labor, including forced orcompulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict;

(b) the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production ofpornography or for pornographic performances;

(c) the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for theproduction and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties;

(d) work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely toharm the health, safety or morals of children.

Furthermore, in Section C of Article 7, the Convention states that each member must,ensure access to free basic education, and, wherever possible and appropriate, vocationaltraining, for all children removed from the worst forms of child labor which is a step theILO deem crucial for the ending of Child labor.

4) Current Situation Overview:

AT present, the vast majority of child workers in Asia work on family-owned farms inthe rural areas, although child labor can be found in many other sectors of the economy

7 ILO Convention 138, Article 3, The minimum age for admission to any type of employment or workwhich by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out is likely to jeopardize the health, safety ormorals of young persons shall not be less than 18 years.


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as well. Indeed, children in Cambodia, as well as other parts of Asia, can be found invirtually every type of occupation - begging, scavenging for recyclables, baggage-carrying (porters), rickshaw driving, garment manufacture, carpet weaving, mining,commercial sex, fishing, brick-making, and construction work.

In the 1990s, after the Paris Agreements and the UN sponsored elections, there were significantchanges in the education system. As part of the countrys new election campaigning, many newschool buildings were constructed. The percentage of the national budget for education hasincreased, reaching 7.7 percent in 2000 and 15.67 percent in 2001 (GAD/C 2002). More materialsbecame available through donor funding. For example, in 1993-94 the expenditures on bookswere about 50 riel (about .02 US) per pupil or the equivalent of supplying one book per studentevery 20 years. Seven or eight students were sharing one book (UNESCO 1998). Since then newcurricula, teachers manuals and student textbooks have been developed for grades 1-9. Thesenew books have been printed in sufficient numbers for one book for every child in every subject.A 1998 UNESCO report notes that for many children this is the first book they will ever own(1998:19).

According to the United Nations Development Program, 80% of Cambodians attendprimary school; however, only 19% continue on to secondary. The estimated literacylevels in Cambodia vary, depending on survey methodology and definition of literacy. Aliteracy survey (UNESCO/UNDP,2000) estimated that only 36% of the population isliterate in terms of being able to use their literacy skills for everyday life and incomegeneration with another 35% of the population (approx. 2.6 million adults) are illiterateand 27% are semi-illiterate (1.9 million adults). Combining these two figures indicatesthat 63% of the populations literacy skills are below the functional level. 63% of14,000,000, the approximate number of people living in Cambodia, is approximately 8.8million. Hence, since the beginning of the new millennium, nearly 9 million people inCambodia are in need on literacy instruction.8

The modern national education system in Cambodia of twelve years primary andsecondary education started as recently as 1996-7. It is meant to be free and compulsory,which is not the case today. There are also several key problems that result in anineffective national education system, such as lack of funding from the Government.

According to UNESCO, Cambodia only spends 1.6% of GDP on education. In contrast,governments around the world spend much more: East Asia and the Pacific (2.8%);Central Asia (2.8%); Central and Eastern Europe (4.2%); Latin America and theCaribbean (4.4%); sub-Saharan Africa (4.5%); the Arab States (4.9%); North Americaand Western Europe (5.6%).9 A study by Mark Bray (1998) documented the high costs ofeducation placed on Cambodian parents. This survey of 77 schools in 11 provinces andPhnom Penh found that families and communities pay 74.8 percent of the costs ofprimary education, with the government paying only 12.9 percent. This is one of thelowest government contributions to primary education in the world (cited in UNESCO2000:23). For many rural families who live by subsistence agriculture, education costs

8 Rosenburg, J., 2004, February, Adult Literacy in Cambodia, pp.3..9 Costello, B., Cambodias impoverished education system, The Borneo Post, Retrieved fromhttp://www.theborneopost.com/?p=29135, 28/06/2010.


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are the highest expense they face annually. Often they cannot afford to educate all of theirchildren and will have to choose certain children to attend.

The lack of funding is also responsible for the shortage of supplies and teaching materials thatplague the state education institutions. It means that they lack appropriate facilities such as sportsgrounds and catering, as attested to by the Director of the Royal University of Phnom PenhsDepartment of Media and Communication, Tieng Sopheak Vichea, who acknowledges that hisdepartment is in spite of its shortages still exceptionally well of by comparison to other stateschools. The lack of funding is one of the main reasons for the low teachers salaries10 thatdiscourage Cambodian youths from wanting to become educators and mean that the quality ofteaching remains poor. It is also one of the prime contributors to the poor transportation and

delivery of education to rural areas. This results in a flagrant disparity between rural andurban schooling.

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5) CITA and the Rights of Teachers.

According to World Bank figures there are on average 50 students per teacher in

Cambodian classrooms. The Cambodian Independent Teachers Association (CITA) waslaunched in March 2000 and following international pressure on the Cambodian Government,was formally recognized by the Ministry of the Interior in July 2001. CITA is one of the onlyindependent trade unions in Cambodia and works to protect and promote the rights of teachers.The most pervasive problems stem from the low wages teachers receive. Because teacherssalaries start from US$50 per month, teachers often have to supplement their income to survive.Many take second jobs which limits the amount of time available to prepare lesson plans andteach at school. While public education is supposed to be free, many teachers charge theirstudents informal fees for attending class. Daily bribes cost roughly US$0.20 per day. Thus,

poorer students receive less of an education and often end up dropping out.12

Teachers are being given additional training, but the educational level of teachers remains

rather low over all. Six percent of Cambodias teachers have a primary education, 77percent have attended lower secondary school, 14 percent upper secondary school andonly 3 percent have a tertiary education (Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport1998).CITA aims primarily to improve the quality and education in Cambodia andachieve education for all whilst improving teachers standard of living an fostering theirprofessional development through teacher training programs.

The US Embassy in Phnom Penh notes on its website on of its most recent speecheswhich is worth quoting here for as it is an illustration of the support given to the CITA byinternational sources, Cambodia's population is young, and I think we all agree that thedevelopment of this countrys youth is also the development of its future. The foundation

for this is education and associated knowledge and skills to help oneself with this

10 Teachers are paid as little as ten dollars per month. Since they cannot live on such wages, they mustsupplement their income with other jobs, which often cuts into class times. In addition, the teachers mustalso charge students fees to attend their classes, or offer additional for-fee classes outside the regular classtimes. This means that the poorest students are often locked out of classes where the real teaching occurs.Education in Cambodia, Retreived from http://www.seasite.niu.edu/khmer/Ledgerwood/education.htm.11 See Table 1.12 Costello, B., Cambodias impoverished education system,


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comes long-term economic strength and stability. There is simply no more importantwork than education, and I applaud all of you - and CITA for supporting you - in thiseffort to improve Cambodias future.13

However, in spite of this support, on a day to day basis at ground level, things are much

less than ideal for the CITAs members. A recent example of the type of harassment andpressuring that members of the CITA are subjected to by the Government is epitomizedin a recent court case that involved its Director. The Prey Veng provincial court foundNeak Loeung Secondary School teacher Chin Rithy guilty of defaming the school'sprincipal following a land dispute. On November 11, 2009, the decision imposed a fine of5 million riels (USD$1250) and ordered Chin Rithy to pay 5 million riel in compensationto the principal, Youen Sovuthy.

The defamation charge stemmed from a complaint filed by Chin Rithy to the ProvincialEducation Department on April 30, 2009, accusing Yoeun Sovuthy of selling school landto fellow teacher Pang Samet. The 3-hour trial was attended by 15 CITA members,

including CITA president, Rong Chhun, and other NGOs supporting Chin Rithy. Theillegal selling of public stand land, such as school grounds, remains a serious issue whichshould be dealt with.14

And yet, in a recent report dated 22 June of this year, (2010), The Phnom Penh Postrevealed suspicions of bribery and corruption within the current education system. Thepresident of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association Rong Chhun claimed thatbrokers acting on behalf of education officials had been collecting as much as US$35from parents and teachers hoping to influence the results of exams scheduled to start intwo weeks. It spoils the quality of education when corruption occurs, he said. TouchSam Oeun, director of the Education Department in Kandal province, where Rong Chhun

said bribery was rampant, rejected claims that brokers were collecting bribes.

15

This isnot the first time that the CITA, which is traditionally affiliated with the main oppositionSam Rainsy Party, have come under attack from the government in recent years:

On October 5, 2009, riot police dispersed a peaceful march of 70 CITA members inPhnom Penh marking World Teacher Day. The teachers were displaying banners callingfor increases in teacher salaries, which currently range between 280,000 to 300,000 riel($70 to $75) a month.

In January 2009, Treal Secondary School Teacher (Kompong Thom province)and CITA member, Sun Thun was forcibly transferred from his position after hespoke out about alleged corrupt practices undertaken by his fellow teachers.

On June 21, 2006, Wat Mohamontrey Primary School teacher and CITA member,Em Pun Ny, suffered head injuries after being beaten with a stone. She had beendistributing information regarding a proposed CITA strike to demand increased

13 http://cambodia.usembassy.gov/sp_122909.html, December 29, 2009.14 2009, December 8, Cambodian Teacher convicted of defamation in Land Dispute with SchoolPrinciple. Retrieved from: http://www.licadho-cambodia.org/articles/20091208/102/index.html.15 2010, 22 June, City Urges action on Exam Bribery, The Phnom Penh Post, Yuthana, K.


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salaries and improved working conditions. Em Pun Ny claimed that she wasattacked by Yim Sokha, deputy director of the District Education Department, andfiled a complaint to the Phnom Penh municipal court. To date, no progress hasbeen reported in the case.

In October 2005, CITA President Rong Chhun was arrested and charged with

defamation and incitement in connection with a press statement signed by himand three other members of the Cambodia Watchdog Council, a coalition of tradeunions and associations. The statement related to the Cambodian government'ssigning of the Cambodia-Vietnam border treaty. He was released on bail onJanuary 17, 2006.16

If teachers are unable to achieve a better quality life style, their professional position willbecome less and less desirable in the eyes of Cambodian youths. In light of the rathersevere shortage of teachers in Cambodia at present, anything but encouragement tobecome an educator is troubling. As Thong Roath, interviewed by CITA for their leafletsaid, I have been teaching at a primary school for 18 years. The main problem is the

poor standard of living for teachers who have to survive on $40 a month. My mainmessage to the government would be that Teaching salaries must be suitable ifstomachs are empty then teaching will be careless! How can children respect teachers ifthey have dirty clothes and come straight from the paddy fields? They need dignity to berespected role models.17

6) The link between Child Labor and Education:

THE 2008 US Department of Labor reported in the country profile of Cambodia, itappears that the state of the child labor situation, in spite of some progress in recent years,still remains one of the most desperate to persist into the 21

stCentury.

There are manifold reasons as to why children enter the work force from as early as 5years old. However, some of the more prominent reasons have been targeted by Dr PochBunnak, at the Center for Population Studies at the University of Phnom Penh in hisreport entitled, Child Labor in Brick Factories: Causes and Consequences. According toDr Bunnak, the primary reason for the early involvement of children in labor is due totheir parents need for their labor, in addition to the family economic hardship.

Dropouts: According to Dr. Bannaks report on the impact of child labor on education, hestates that compared to those with shorter work duration, child workers who workedlonger than two years exhibit a much higher rate of school dropouts (37% versus 7.7%,respectively), poor grades (52.6% versus 21.4%), school tardiness (47.4% versus 28.6%),and skipping classes (42.1% versus 7.1%). The interviewed parents also confirmed that,since starting to work, their children had developed negative attitudes towards theirschooling, irregular school attendance, and poorer grades than before. This is backed upby research from the World Bank, that show how working at a young age has aconsiderably negative impact on the childs ability to perform at school. World Bank

16 http://www.licadho-cambodia.org/articles/20091208/102/index.html17 Roath, Thong, The Cambodian Independent Teachers Association, CITA, pp. 6.


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(2005), using test score data from a nationally representative survey of primary schools inCambodia, reported that work had a significant detrimental effect on learningachievement, particularly among fourth-graders. Estimated models for literacy andnumeric test scores indicated that working every day before going to school reducedliteracy and numeric test scores of Cambodian fourth-graders both by about nine

percentage points. See Table 2.

18

Poverty has a strong, direct and bilateral link to childrens schooling. First, lack of moneyto pay school costs and school-related expenses can be a factor for engaging in childlabor, in an attempt to earn some money for continuing their schooling. In a study ofchild labor conducted for the WVC by the Center for Population Studies at RUPP (RoyalUniversity of Phnom Penh), 31.6% of scavengers visiting the WVC drop-in center, 31%of child workers in the fish industry and about 10% of brick workers entered into thelabor force for this reason, (WVC, 2006). Expecting the positive contribution of childlabor to the family well being, some parents force their children to work in order for themto help with the familys daily work, to help the family earn money to pay debts, or to

have a place to stay, (WVC. 2005: WVC 2006).

Additionally, child labor comes cheap. According to the CCLS 2001, the top third reasonfor establishments to employ children under the age of 18 was the absence of tradeunions (15.6%).19 Child workers are therefore entirely at the mercy of their employersand completely unprotected. They have little or no legal representation at the work placeto enforce and defend their rights and furthermore, they are at an even higher risk ofbeing victims of their employers exploitation, or of signing a contract of which they donot understand or appreciate the requirements and commitments due to their lack ofsufficient education or, in other words, the high rate of illiteracy.

In a further note, the negative impact of child labor on child health can have worrisomeconsequences on the mental development of children. Negative psychological aspectsincluded decreased school performance, decreased participation in extracurricular andsocial activities, increased use of alcohol, and a consistent pattern of inadequate sleep,(NIOSH, 1997).20

The Schooling Status of the Child Brick Workers as recorded by Dr. Bunnaks researchteam:

Schooling Status

Currently in school 25%Currently not in school 68.9%Never Attended school 6.1%Number of Child Workers 132

18 Guarcello, L., et al., Child Labor and Education For All: an issue paper, November 2006, UnderstandingChildrens Work Project Working Paper Series, UCW, p. 12.19 Table 8.2 in the National Institute of Statistics, 2002.20 NIOSH, 1997, Child Labor Research Needs: Recommendations from the National Institute forOccupational Safety and Health, US Department of Health and Human Services and CDC. Accessed onlineat http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/97-143a.html.


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These figures give a good indication that a fair number of students drop out of theireducation of whatever reason, often within two years of having begun work. Variousreasons are given by the children for this decision. For example, 12% of child workerswho quite school said that their families were too poor to afford their school fees, while

about 10% of child workers reported that they did not have transport to school. Overall,however, Dr. Bunnak concludes that the family economic hardships stand out to be theleading reason for child to work, at the expense of their education.21 Regardless of thevarying reasons for school dropout, the link between the full-time work these childrenperform and the rates and reasons for their discontinued attendance is highlighted andexemplified by this research.

The impact of working full-time on exhausting and dangerous worksites on a childsschool career is evident. The percent of school dropouts is higher among children withlonger working hours than their counterparts with short work duration, (37% versus7.7%, respectively). Moreover, it is reported that all children who work experience

school-related problems in some form or other, (see Dr. Banneks Child Labor Report,Table 7).

7) Progression onto Higher Education

It is crucial that children enter primary education at the appropriate age in order toprogress onto secondary education to complete a degree and become qualified to work inthe Global market. Secondary education had a little over one fourth of the eligiblechildren enrolled, and it drops even more on the university level with barely 1 percent ofthe university-age population enrolled in an institution of higher learning.

22One of the

major problems they face is that of skilled teachers "going private" and simply offeringtuition for a fee of perhaps $20 per month per student. These teachers may be earningfour or more times their state school counterparts, but the effect is to undermine the Statesystem, and also to widen the gap between rich and poor.23This practice creates an elitismthat some teachers condemn. However, some teachers believe this opens up more spacesin the state education system for students who cannot afford private school fees to studyin an institute of higher education.

The effects of work on school attendance can also take a more indirect form. Work canlead to late school entry, which, in turn, is often associated with early school drop out andlack of completion of a course of study. Research in Cambodia illustrates this, indicatingthat work tends to delay school entry (or prevent it altogether), reducing the probabilityof completing primary school (UCW, 2005b).This effect is strongest for economicactivities and for boys in Cambodia. Performing economic activity reduces theprobability of entering school (as measured by the probability of entering school by age

21 Bunnak, P., Dr., Child Labor in Brick Factories: Causes and Consequences, Center for PopulationStudies at Royal University of Phnom Penh, August 2007.22 http://www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/cambodia/pro-education.htm23 http://www.savong.com/Home/EducationFactsandFiguresCambodia/tabid/114/Default.aspx


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14) of boys by 25%, and the probability of entering by the official school entry age by17%. See Table 3. 24

Between the ages of ten and thirteen, 10% of Cambodian children are engaged in primarylevels of labor. Between the ages of fourteen and seventeen, the rate climbs to 42%. Only

5.4% of Cambodian villages have a lower secondary school. Only 2% have an uppersecondary. Students who want to attend secondary school must walk miles to reach thenearest school. In its Millennium Development Goals, two of the Cambodiangovernment's top major goals are to achieve universal primary education and to promotegender equality and empowerment of women.25

CONCLUSION:

Education and the childs right to a basic education is a delicate subject in Cambodia. Inthe wake of the destruction that the Khmer Rouge left behind them, as Cambodia tries torebuild itself economically and culturally, the education of its youngest generations is

being sadly overlooked. The importance of education is fully acknowledged, however, bymany of the higher authorities in the Cambodian government. To quote the UnitedNations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, (UNESCO) Providing theright to education is an obligation of governments and requires that they translate theirinternational commitments into national legislation. Yet the laws and regulations that aresupposedly used to ensure that each child receives a free and complete basic educationare not being implemented effectively.

As a result of the nations tragic loss of life during the Khmer Rouge period andfollowing civil wars, it must be carefully noted when summing up that Cambodia is anextremely unique country demographically speaking. According to the 1998 Census, theage-related distribution and the sex-profile are particularly unusual and illustrate theeffect that the massacre of the intelligentsia and professionals in Cambodia has had on thecountrys make-up.26 This means that Cambodias youth is far larger than other countriesand gives Cambodia enormous potential to develop in the near future. However, at a timewhen much of Asia is on the rise, Cambodia is being left behind largely because itseducation system is unable to produce a skilled workforce. Cambodias currentpopulation is very young of Cambodia's 14.4 million people, half are under age 22.Education is crucial to Cambodias economic development and poverty reduction andthis has been recognized by both the Government of Cambodia and international donors.

The vicious cycle of poverty that leads to child labor, and consequently the denial of afull and quality education only revert back to a life of poverty for those who are trappedin the system, (Poverty Child Labor Lack of Education Poverty). By creating the

24 Guarcello, L., et al., Child Labor and Education For All: an issue paper, November 2006, UnderstandingChildrens Work Project Working Paper Series, UCW, p. 7.

25 http://www.roomtoread.org/Page.aspx?pid=30026 See Figure 1.


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opportunity for EFA and then actually putting that policy into practice, the continuationof child labor will no longer pose such a threat to the future of Cambodias children.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1) Efforts against child labor should make sure that child workers have equal chance toattend school, that they attend school, and that they stay in school to complete at leasttheir basic education. If they cannot attend school regularly, for whatever reasoncontinued education should be provided either at the work place or at a designated place.

2) Adult Education and NFE Programs: Effective adult basic education programs couldcontribute directly and powerfully to poverty reduction. They deliver crucial basicliteracy and numeric skills that equip disadvantaged individuals to improve theirlivelihoods and quality of life. Adult basic education also complements primaryschooling, not only giving a second chance to those who have been missed by primaryschooling, but also because parents who take adult basic education become moresupportive of primary education for their children.

27

3) Government funding: In spite of dramatic developments in the education sector inrecent years, admittedly just 1.6% of Cambodia's GDP (Gross Domestic Product)according to UNESCO is spent on education - ranking around 170th in the world. Mostwestern countries spend around 5.5% to 6.4% of GDP on education. Thus theGovernment needs to fulfill its constitutional requirement to provide a quality educationto its younger generations by funding the system appropriately in order for the level ofteaching and school facilities meet internationally approved standards.

4) The enactment of effective laws relating to child labor is an important element of theefforts to ensure children do not enter the workforce prematurely. Without adequateenforcement, child labor laws alone have little meaning. The government needs toenhance its legal framework regarding childrens rights and specifically educationalrights, as this will reinforce the measures taken to combat child labor.

5) Vocational Training should be made available for all as well as efforts made to focus onservices to parents in order that they become more likely to keep their children in schooland out of work.

6) Stop allowing Governments to bypass, ignore or manipulate current regulations,conventions and laws as this practice allows child labor and the deliverance of poorquality education to continue uncontested. There should be specific stipends by whicheach and every country must abide by and if there are extenuating circumstances leadingto a lessening or loosening of restrictions such an extension should be monitoredproperly and be a clear and finite time period to avoid such action being taken forgranted.

27 World Bank, Report: Reduction in Strategy Paper: A Sourcebook, Accessed in Rosenburgs ResearchReport, Adult Literacy in Cambodia pp. 2.


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Appendix 1.

Figure 1

28

Table 1) Estimated impact of childrens work on learning achievement, Cambodia.

Grade 4 Grade 6

Literacy Numeracy Literacy Numeracy

No School Effects -13.6* -16.2* -8.1* -9.3*

With School Effects -9.1* -8.5* -1.3 -1.1

Notes: (a) Reported figures measure the change in percentage points (on a 0 to 100 scale)in test scores resulting from working every day before going to school. *statisticallysignificant at 5% level

Source: World Bank (2005), Cambodia: Quality Basic Education For All.

28 https://reader009.{domain}/reader009/html5/0517/5afd69d65f5c8/5afd69e3a9612.jpg


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Table 1.Literacy Rates Among Population 15 years of Age and Above

Illiterate Semi-Literate Literate

Cambodia 66.6 26.6 37.1U.meanchey 41 25.6 33.3

Pailin 46.2 46.2 7.7

Kep 37.5 56.3 6.3

Takeo 36 24.1 40

Svay Reing 39.1 23.4 37.6

Stungtreng 28.8 23.9 47.8

Sihanouk V 44.9 24.7 10.3

Seimreap 69.9 13.3 17.8

Ratanakiry 85.2 7.4 7.4

Posat 41.3 32.5 26.2

Prey Veng 24.6 27.3 48.2Preahvihear 65.2 20.3 14.5

Phnom Penh 13.5 28.7 57.9

Moldolkin 63.6 21.1 15.3

Krati 26.5 33.8 39.7

Kohkong 31.8 31.6 36.8

Kandal 38.1 24.3 42.7

Kampot 33.7 27.4 38.9

K Thom 29.4 31.9 38.7

K Speu 46.4 22.2 31.5

K Chhnang 24.3 35.1 40.6

K Cham 37 30.5 32.5

Battambang 34.6 28.2 37.2

B meanchey 52.3 23 24.8

Table 2. 29

Overview of Action Taken by NGO Education Programs

Number of NGOs working in the field of literacy 38

Number of literacy classes in most recent year (2006) 2600

Number of classroom hours designated to achieve basic literacy 200

29 Rosenbloom, J., 2004, February,Adult Literacy in Cambodia: Research Report, Accessed online athttp://www.pactcambodia.org/Publications/WORTH_Education/Adult_Literacy_in_Cambodia.pdf


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Table 3. 30

Literacy and Economic Standards

Economic

Standard

Male Female

Illiterate Semi-Literate

Literate Illiterate Semi-Literate

Literate

HighIncome

16.3% 37.2% 46.5% 24.5% 18.9% 56.5%

MediumIncome

14.9% 27.5% 57.6% 31.1% 28.4% 40.5%

LowIncome

35.9% 27.7% 36.6% 58.2% 23.5% 18.2%

Appendix 2.

Interview Questions: Rong Chhun, Director of CITA

Interview by Laura E I Robson forCLEC (Cambodian Legal Education Center)

1st July 2010

1) Why is protecting teachers rights important for Cambodia?

- CITA was formed in 2000 as teachers rights were not protected by the government.Teachers have very poor working conditions and work for low wages...By uniting theyare empowered. This is the only way to ensure their rights and promote and upgrade theirfacilities.

2) What makes teachers a particularly vulnerable group?

- Teachers are powerless. They lack legal foundations and fear powerful people. They areaware of their rights but have not got the means to exercise these rights. They dont knowhow to approach the situation. Their wages are low and therefore they fear terminationand punishments like not being able to invigilate exams or bans on assignments. Alsothey may lose their benefits.

30 Rosenbloom, J., pp. 17.


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3) How will you encourage more teachers to join the CITA when many are afraid ofGovernment punishments if they do?

- CITA has to protect teachers rights and when members are punished they advocate and

send letters to the Government. They also educate the teachers in ways to protectthemselves. For example there is a peer-protection scheme in place where abuse can bereported and the victim receives support. CITA also works with partners, local andinternational NGOs and embassies to get their message out via the media.

4) Do you think the Government should provide more funding for schools andteacher training?

- In order to promote the education system, the remote and urban schools should befunded more. The wages in particular should be higher. The budget for teaching aid andmaterials and equipment should be larger and buildings need to be expanded and

improved upon.

5) What do you feel should be done about the children who work from a young ageinstead of going to school?

- CITA is very concerned about child workers and their future. Many children areworking on dumpsites, selling flowers, cart pulling, in brick factories or on saltfarms. They lack the opportunity to get to school. I recently spoke to a group ofchildren who were selling bird eggs. They had a manager who sent out childrenfrom the age of 7 to 10 at 10 or 11pm in the evening. They got 50,000 riel permonth but the money didnt go to them, it went to their parents. I consider thisabuse a form of trafficking. As far as I have seen ILO are trying to eliminate childlabor but in reality the project is very slow.

6) Do you think that the Education for All Program is possible?

- I recommend that in order to eliminate child labor there should be participationfrom all sides. Firstly there should be more efficient poverty reduction. Then thereshould be law enforcement; the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Interiormust work by themselves and take initiative to protect. They should also punishthose who benefit from child trafficking. In reality the institutions are not activeabout child labor. Therefore no, I dont think the EFAs targeted goals arepossible. It is 2010 and there is only 5 years left it isnt enough. It wont besuccessful as a development strategy. So the ministries report 95% of children goto primary school but only 31.9% pass. That means 67 or 68% dont make it.

7) Why is there such a high number of drop-outs?


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- There are many factors for this. But one of the main factors is poverty. The high-spending for schooling and parents who take them out of school to work for money meanthat some children reach grade 6 but are told my their family to leave school and aremade to work in a factory. Children also drop out because they are hopeless and dont seean education as good for the future when there is so much unemployment.

7) You said in your speech in 2009 at the ATL Conference that most primary schoolteachers only receive secondary education. Do you feel they should be morehighly qualified or receive teachers training?

- The more training teachers receive, the better.

8) Do you think parents should be legally required to send their children to schooland be punished if they do not?

- I think this is a good law. However it would be very controversial here inCambodia. But it is a good way to ensure parents send their children to school.

The Cambodian Government care less about child protection than in countrieslike England, where even poor people are cared for by the state.

9) Education in Cambodia is supposed to be compulsory and free. However, ThePhnom Penh Post reported on the 22 June of this year that a school in KandalProvence was accepting bribes. Do you believe it is possible to convict thoseinvolved and therefore eliminate this type of injustice within the educationsystem?

- Education has been compulsory and free since 2000. But in reality students haveto spend money to pay for lessons (about 500 700 riel).

10)You stated in your speech to the ATL conference that Education is crucial toreducing poverty. Could you elaborate on this or explain your reasons for thiscomment?

- Each country needs good human resource. Each country needs high qualityeducation system. So education is a crucial part of economic development andpoverty reduction because when people are capable of working for socio-economic development it helps their country. Especially when I visited England Ifound that the Government took care of the education system and of teachers andplaced education as a priority. Also the government in the UK takes care ofminorities and unlike Cambodia, people are allowed to speak freely.

11)How do you feel about the more wealthy students who go abroad to receive theireducation and about the privatization of education institutions in Cambodia?

- The private schools are an example that the Government officers are not confidentin their own system. This is a demonstration of the poor quality of the system.


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Government officers dont have enough salary to send children to expensiveprivate schools but they use money from bribes and cheating to put their kidsthere.

12)It seems that English is one of the most important subjects of students inCambodia to learn given its importance in the global economic and commercialmarkets and its prevalence in Universities as opposed to Khmer. Moreover, thevast majority of the countrys elite who go overseas to be educated return with theability to speak English and therefore maintain their position of power However,it doesnt seem to be given priority in Primary and Secondary education (just 1 or2 hours a week). Therefore how are students expected to progress into the modernworking world or higher education when daily transactions with foreign officeswill be in English and 90% of all University courses are conducted in English?

- The education system gives 2 languages priority: French and English. But most

students take English. English lessons are only 2 hours per week, which is toolittle. It is a big issue for Cambodia. The rich and powerful go abroad and canprotect their power with English. There is a family chain. The Ministry ofEducation should promote languages and promote equity for all.

13)Why are the University courses in English if Cambodian children do not learn itfor very long?

- It is one of the big problems. It is very hard because they have little instructions.Especially for children from the rural areas who may have never learnt English.They must learn it at university.

14) Child labor appears to be one of the major obstacles to EDUCATION FOR ALLin that children who are of schooling-age are instead working long hours inhazardous conditions. Do you have any comment on this, and how do you thinkCITA can help to reduce child labor?

-The CITA is active in child labor reduction. Over the next few weeks they will senda letter to the Ministry of Interior to investigate people who traffic children. TheCITA will push the Ministry of Education to publish documents that prove to parentsthe value of education. Then the CITA will also publish posters and leaflets toeducate the parents about how to get a better future for their children and themselves.There will also be a slogan about escaping poverty with education, and moreadvertisement about this.

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