Question 4: What are the gaps between education policy and practice that may impede the effective operationalization of education as a tool for development in Cambodia?
This particular research question led to the identification of barriers to education and how to address them. Helping poor children to break barriers to education will ultimately help them to break the cycle of poverty. The question about the gaps between education policy and practice helped identify gaps which may be referred to as ‘inequitable educational administration’. Gaps between education policy and its consistent application may negatively affect students’ ability to remain in formal education. The application of discretionary fees can potentially disadvantage poor students. Some participants in the research suggested that some students, especially those from impoverished backgrounds, may have dropped out of school as a result of their families’ inability to pay these informal fees.
Another barrier to education identified was a lack of educational infrastructure. As presented in section 6.4.1, since the defeat of the Khmer Rouge in 1979, the Cambodian government has made remarkable progress in terms of building schools. However, many students, especially those who live in rural and remote areas, still drop out because they live far away from school. The high drop-out rate at the secondary level was found to have been caused largely by the long distances between homes and schools.
As previously discussed, there are many barriers to education, but poverty is arguably one of the most significant. Poverty as a barrier to education can be discussed from two aspects. The first is that poor people cannot afford to send their children to school. Many Cambodian children have quit education because their families could not afford the unofficial costs. Many poor families cannot afford the informal fees and other related expenses. The second aspect is that poverty is related to child labour. Poverty has led some parents to stop their children from pursuing an education in order to work to help support their families. Some parents were observed by development experts to have traded off their children’s education for the small incomes that their children could produce from their labour.
Taken in their totality, the data from this research suggest that education helps the poor to escape from poverty. It follows that helping the poor to break down barriers to education is key to breaking the cycle of poverty. There are three main mechanisms that are essential to helping poor children break the cycle of poverty. As discussed in section 6.4.1 government support plays an important role. The Cambodian education system is much improved compared to its state when it was reinstalled after the collapse of the Khmer Rouge in 1979, and the Cambodian government deserves the credit for that improvement. However, for the future, it is very important for the government to offer more support in terms of reinforcement of educational policy implementation in order to help Cambodian children, especially poor children, to receive equitable education. In regards to the role the government, development expert, Streeten (1993, p. 1283) in particular, argued that “government has special role in promoting development of human resources”.
In section 6.4.2, the important roles of family and community support in helping poor children to succeed in education were presented. Support from the government could contribute to education being available and accessible to every child, but children also need financial, emotional and material support from their families and their communities in order to be able to go through the long and arduous academic journey.
Each student’s individual commitment is also a determinant of educational success, as presented in section 6.4.3. With strong commitment, students may be more likely to be successful in their education, even when support from the government and the family are limited. There is also literature which support the findings about the importance of family support and students’ commitment to their educational attainment and success. For example, Janigan (2008) who conducted a study in Eritrea where girls’ education is unpopular found that many Eritrean adolescents, especially girls, have managed to overcome obstacles and complete high school because of three main factors: their parents’ educational achievement, their family resources, and their own personalities and personal attributes. With all these three mechanisms, poor children are more likely to attain educational success. It can also be concluded that these three mechanisms help education to fulfill its role as a breaker of the cycle of poverty. Figure 7.3 on page 89 provides a summary of this discussion.
7.6. Summary
This research supports the findings of others who have undertaken similar research on the role of education in development supporting the conclusion that education has and continues to make a significant contribution to Cambodia’s progressive social changes and is a mechanism for breaking the cycle of poverty. As suggested by this research, formal education has contributed to a skilled and resilient workforce which is necessary for development. Educational policy has been used to respond to the economic need for a skilled workforce and, moreover, education has fostered positive social changes such as better work conditions, social equality, more employment opportunities, and ultimately a decrease in poverty. All of these social changes lead to a better quality of life for the people of Cambodia.
The fact that education has produced positive outcomes in the context of development is no longer in question. However, the question that remains is how to help children, especially poor children, to succeed in education. The discussion in earlier sections shows that poor children are able to receive and succeed in education when three mechanisms are in place concurrently. With an absence of any one of these mechanisms, poor children are at risk of continuing to be left out of school or to drop out early.
Figure 7.3:The Two Direction Connection between Education and Poverty [Ways out of The Poverty Cycle] Education attainment Out of school/ Dropping out Strong
competency Poverty competency Weak
- Government support - Family and community support - Students’ determination and commitment - Low income - Higher risk of basic health problems Escape from poverty - High income - Lower risk to basic health problems Stro ng Poor