Investing in Cambodia’s Adolescent Girls

March 13, 2019
By Lim Siv Hong and James O'Keefe

Cambodia has a very high rate of labor migration to other countries, and a dramatically changing economic landscape. It also has very high drop-out rates in secondary schools. Cambodia’s state education system has been slowly but steadily improving under a set of ambitious, long-term reforms by the Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport. Many have worked hard to make these reforms a success, including the government, civil society, development partners, and the students themselves. Yet, despite the years of positive change, many young Cambodians still struggle to get an education and build the critical skills they will need in a rapidly changing country.

In remote, rural locations and provinces near the border with Thailand, pervasive poverty remains a powerful disincentive to education. Child labor and unsafe labor migration are widespread, and drop-out rates for rural secondary schools are high. No one is affected more than the country’s adolescent girls. Just one in three Cambodian girls has the opportunity to finish secondary school, and many students lack the support and the role models they need to imagine opportunities beyond their rural villages. As a result, young people in rural Cambodia often have very limited career aspirations that leave their true potential unrealized.

In 2017, The Asia Foundation launched Investing in Adolescent Girls Education in Cambodia: Pathways to a Brighter Future. IAGEC has two main objectives: (1) to lower drop-out rates in secondary schools and keep young people in school, eliminating one of the root causes of labor migration; and (2) to empower at-risk, adolescent girls to take leadership roles in school and imagine other education and career pathways that match Cambodia’s changing economic landscape.
https://asiafoundation.org/2019/03/13/i ... ent-girls/

Don't forget to focus on their parents too They believe no meaningful employment is possible without paying a chunk of money to a ksai(string)or connection. The parents think about empty stomachs and how their daughter's bride price is a temporary solution.

As someone who left school at the age of 15 and has won awards for being the most uneducated member on CEO I can appreciate the value of a good education even if it envolves certificates that are handed out like popcorn from the school.
With my 9 year old it has given her confidence in herself and she is heading for a great future.

Good Attitude Certificate
Perfect Attendance Award
Homework Award
Handwriting Award
Certificate of Completion

CEOCambodiaNews wrote: ↑Sat Mar 16, 2019 9:55 am Investing in Cambodia’s Adolescent Girls

March 13, 2019
By Lim Siv Hong and James O'Keefe

Cambodia has a very high rate of labor migration to other countries, and a dramatically changing economic landscape. It also has very high drop-out rates in secondary schools. ....

One of the problems is that the schools are run and staffed by morons, often arrogant and sadistic toward students.
They know nothing about real life and turn out students with the same ignorance but with the delusion of superiority.
Hold your nose when you walk by the French Institute.
Then the curriculum is cut-and-paste from the West, which is boring even there.

My Khmer girls have made amazing progress after 18 months. They read and speak fluently and are real leaders in their classes. The eldest just started high school and excels at maths, Japanese and dance.
They both want to be teachers but they would be so employable in Cambodia with their fluency in English and more importantly critical thinking skills.

newkidontheblock wrote: ↑Sun Mar 17, 2019 6:37 am

Multipox wrote:One of the problems is that the schools are run and staffed by morons, often arrogant and sadistic toward students.
They know nothing about real life and turn out students with the same ignorance but with the delusion of superiority.
Hold your nose when you walk by the French Institute.
Then the curriculum is cut-and-paste from the West, which is boring even there.

Despite the Pooh - Poohing of western education in general, several members of this board are shining examples of how kids can do excel, given the opportunity and support at home.

The deficiencies in education are well known in Cambodian. I’d rather try to encourage better education in the KOW.

I have always said that the best teachers are the mother and father,, but I have always failed to say they can also be the worst teachers. It's hard to break the bad habits that kids pick up off the parents when they see those bad habits every day.

Cambodia’s failing education system
Sheith Khidhir
1 May 2019
In December 2018, Cambodian Senate president Say Chhum had encouraged the country’s youth to study hard in order to become future leaders. He made the comment during the opening ceremony of the Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia congress at a hotel in Phnom Penh.

Chhum’s call certainly makes sense if one were to consider how young Cambodia’s population is. According to the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) World Factbook, 30.8 percent of Cambodia’s population is made up of people between the ages of zero to 14 years, 17.8 percent is made up of those between 15 to 24 years, and 41.1 percent is made up of those between the ages of 25 to 54 years. The median age in Cambodia is 25 years.

However, while Cambodia’s population is young, the youth in the country are facing challenges when it comes to acquiring useful talents and skills to cater to the demands of Industry 4.0 or the Fourth Industrial Revolution. To “study hard” in Cambodia is easier said than done.

Education in Cambodia

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), many young people drop out of school. Access to secondary education shows high inequalities across gender, location and socio-economic groups, with a total secondary net enrolment rate of only 27.7 percent in 2014.

The drop-out rate also gets high when it comes to secondary education, reaching 21 percent in lower secondary in 2014. Although rural and the poorest youth have an improved opportunity to enter higher grades, their rate of school enrolment is still low compared to urban and affluent youth.

Even though higher education remains far beyond the reach of most rural and female youth, the gross enrolment rate in tertiary education among youths aged between 18 and 22 has improved significantly over the last 10 years from 4.9 to 20 percent, including among the poorest households (from 0.2 to 2.6 percent) and women (3.3 to 17.4 percent).

“Both access and quality of education pose crucial issues and indicate a need for more relevant school curricula, sufficiently trained teachers, and more resources for school improvements,” the OECD said.

While the organisation cites figures from 2014, the more recent INSEAD 2018 Global Talent Competitiveness Index does not paint a pretty picture for Cambodia either. Out of 119 countries, Cambodia ranked 108 overall. It also ranked 111 for talent growth which includes aspects like formal education, and quality of management schools. It ranked 103 for retaining talent which includes aspects like brain retention; it ranked 113 for vocational and technical skills; and 113 for global knowledge skills.
https://theaseanpost.com/article/cambod ... ion-system