During the genocide by the Khmer Rouge nearly two million Cambodians (25%of the total population) died as a result of disease, lack of medicines and medical services, starvation, execution, and exhaustion from overwork. Those who lived were severely traumatised by their experiences.⁷

^‍90%of all school buildings were destroyed. Libraries were gutted and their contents burned, and nearly all school laboratory equipment was smashed.⁸ 80% of teachers were killed.⁹ The education system, like the whole country, takes a very long time to rebuild post war.

Due to the Khmer Rouge and its aftermath most grandparents and parents of today’s children only have a grade 2-5 education. This includes many village leaders.

The law states the government must provide access to education, not that children must attend.

“The State shall provide free primary and secondary education to all citizens in public schools. Citizens shall receive education for at least 9 years.”¹⁰ – the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Therefore, rather than education being compulsory, it is somewhat optional. It’s expected where possible. If you live in a family with not enough money – for food, house repairs, or your family is struggling to pay off loans, it is acceptable for children to discontinue school and help parents earn money.

Since the law states the government must provide education until grade 9 most children have a primary and secondary school within cycling distance to their homes. High schools though (grades 10-12) are fewer and further between, and attending high school often requires the child/young person to move to another area, away from their family. This works for those young people who have a suitable extended family member ie an aunt or uncle living and working in a town or city with a high school, but for others attending high school it requires renting a share-room with other young people, and for those whose parents cannot afford that rent, it means the young person has to work to afford independent living – a tough call for a 15 year old!

Poverty is the biggest reason we have found for children discontinuing school. 35% of Cambodians live in multidimensional poverty.¹¹

^‍MoEYS and UNICEF found an increase in the likelihood of a child not completing school if they are from poorer and rural households, and that girls are more likely to be out of school in rural areas, whereas boys are more likely to be out of school in urban areas.¹² 46% of children who were not attending school stated the reason as having to work to contribute to household income.¹³

^‍Once Free To Shine had enrolled the first 200 girls onto our program we found getting girls into school was relatively easy, keeping them there was the hard part. They were perpetually at risk of discontinuing school despite being enrolled on our program. The main reasons were; not being able to afford the curriculum classes they needed to pass their exams, not enough food to eat, and wanting to leave school to work to help their parents repair their house, or pay back loans (often taken when an adult had fallen sick and lost work or incurred medical expenses). To keep girls in school, Free To Shine made the decision to help girls and their families achieve their basic human rights of safe drinking water, enough food, and adequate shelter.

Educated girls earn higher salaries. A single additional year of schooling can increase adult earnings by up to 20%.¹⁴ 420 million people around the world would be lifted out of poverty by achieving a secondary education. This would cut the number of people living in poverty by more than half.¹⁵

In Cambodia a student cannot progress to the next grade without passing their end of year exams. School is technically free, yet the school system only provides classes to cover part of the curriculum. If a student does not pay for additional curriculum classes, to learn the other part of the curriculum, he or she is highly unlikely to pass their end of year exams.

29% of students (those still studying) have reported needing to repeat at least one grade.¹⁶ This survey does not include those who discontinued school. Parents generally support their children after failing one grade, but if a child fails that grade again, or later fails another grade, parents in low-income families begin to consider how much extra it might cost to get this child through school. Knowing the child probably won’t make it to the end of school anyway, the sacrifice to the family to afford the additional costs associated with this child attending school are often considered not worth the added pressure upon the family. It’s often determined that the family would do better if that child worked, helping to bring in money instead of going to school.