Quality Basic Education for All
Central to the Cambodia Government’s strategy to promote new and sustainable sources of economic growth and improve living standards are the diversification and deeping of the low human resource base, and it is recognized that the foundation for this will be the provision of quality basic education for all.
The Government’s education sector program has two key objectives. The first is to achieve universal enrollment and completion of primary education and expand access to and completion of lower secondary schooling. The second is to improve all nine years of basic education. The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) sought participation from the World Bank and other international partners and NGOs as it revised its Education Strategy Plan (ESP) 2004-2008. The Bank has produced the report Quality Basic Education for All as its contribution to the discussion. (This report should be seen in the context of other Bank studied and projects: Civil Service and Improvement Project.)
Even though almost nine out of 10 children spend some time in primary school, 55 percent drop out before completing primary school. This drop-out is severest among children from households in the poorest two quintiles; and worse for girls and for those in rural areas.
Late school entry is widespread, and is associated with high dropout rates: children who begin school a young age are likely to stay in school longer. Overage enrollment is pervasive, and is due either to late school entry or slow progress through the school (with grade-repetition or dropout and subsequent re-entry both endemic). According to the Cambodian Child Labor Survey (CCLS) only 30 percent ofchildren began school by the age of 6; the most common entry age was 7 and 40 percent entered at 8 or older. This overage continued right through the school years: the average age of an upper secondary student is 18.1. School participation peaks amongchildren aged 12 to 14, then declines significantly.
Surveys suggest that policies that attract children to school at the right age, and a fostering school environment, are the keys to reducing primary school dropout rates.
Efforts are needed to assure the school-readiness of children through the provision of pre-school education. The primary school environment must be conductive to learning (a library is important) and be healthy (providing drinking water and latrines).
The school must offer the full primary education: schools that do not go all the way to grade 6 are associated with high dropout. The presence in an area of a lower secondary school provides expectation of schooling opportunities and has been shown to increase early entry to school and reduce dropout.
The quality of teachers is a key to retaining children primary school: teachers’ educational background and pre-service training is very diverse and unevenly distributed across Cambodia; the quality of pre-service training is low and opportunities for professional development limited.
Child labor, ill-health and stunting through poor nutrition have been identified as external causes of overage entry among children from the poorest two quintiles, and similarly associated with high dropout rates later. For the poor, in particular, the private costs of schooling (transport, pocket-money, fees both formal and “informal”, supplementary tutoring) may be prohibitive. (Supplementary tutoring, which can consist of the same teacher lecturing the same pupils in the same seats on the core curriculum for private fees outside school hours is also touched on in theWorld Bank discussion on corruption.) School incentive schemes that provided cash or in-kind subsidies to poor children and were conditional on school attendance might encourage early enrollment and reduce dropout rates.
(Source: World Bank Group in Cambodia: Working for a Cambodia Free of Poverty, 2005)
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