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I pay for my stepdaughter to attend a reasonable private school in Phnom Penh. She has just entered year 11, the beginning of the final two years at school.
She said she had to get extra coaching outside school hours, to make sure she can pass the big year 12 national exam. Her teachers told her this. This tuition costs more money.
When I asked why the normal school hours couldn’t cover all the teaching required, she said it was normal practice to get extra tuition. It is her same teachers giving the extra tuition that teach her during normal school hours.
But it is allegedly more sinister than that. It appears that these Government certified teachers deliberately don’t teach enough subject material during school hours, so that the students are forced to pay for the extra tuition and the teachers make a lot more money. I checked with a couple of khmer friends and they confirmed this.
Welcome to Cambodia, where creative minds seize every opportunity to make an extra dollar...



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I think the smart kids are a bit neglected as the teachers have to spend a disproportionate amount of energy on the slower kids to try and get them up to speed.

This is common at state schools. I wouldn't send my kid to a private school that tolerated this behaviour. Did you complain to the admin? What was the response?

jah steu wrote: ↑Mon Sep 23, 2019 11:55 am I pay for my stepdaughter to attend a reasonable private school in Phnom Penh. She has just entered year 11, the beginning of the final two years at school.
She said she had to get extra coaching outside school hours, to make sure she can pass the big year 12 national exam. Her teachers told her this. This tuition costs more money.
When I asked why the normal school hours couldn’t cover all the teaching required, she said it was normal practice to get extra tuition. It is her same teachers giving the extra tuition that teach her during normal school hours.
But it is allegedly more sinister than that. It appears that these Government certified teachers deliberately don’t teach enough subject material during school hours, so that the students are forced to pay for the extra tuition and the teachers make a lot more money. I checked with a couple of khmer friends and they confirmed this.
Welcome to Cambodia, where creative minds seize every opportunity to make an extra dollar...



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm seeing the same situation with the second eldest girl in my family. My big question is after all this education will more education be needed for them to go onward to becoming a brain surgeon or nuclear scientist or will they end up in one of the most popular jobs undertaken by females in Cambodia.
I know how important it is for them to get a opportunity of a good education but they must want to learn as it's impossible for teachers to make them learn if they dont want to.
Cambodians are competing in a world market for qualified workers from Philippines , India and many more other countries so who are you going to hire for the job .

ali baba wrote: ↑Mon Sep 23, 2019 12:13 pm This is common at state schools. I wouldn't send my kid to a private school that tolerated this behaviour. Did you complain to the admin? What was the response?

^ exactly this OP. In private schools this should not be tolerated and some teachers may try behind the management's back. Ask for a meeting with the director, or the head of department of your kid and ask them to solve the matter.

I too have a kid in school. (I have seven in total ranging from 35 years old to just 3)

About schools here, they all lack discipline regarding the hours.

Many parents bring their kids late and so the classroom environment is extremely disruptive and tough on the teachers.

In addition - long holidays, hammocks and mango time - the list goes on.

The lost hours can only be covered by extra tuition, and sure it is the school's fault. They have to adapt to paying parents who fund the school, so they are understandably nervous about giving people grief over 'time' - it's just not done.

For your situation you can only imbue your step-daughter with a love of learning over and above her social life, creating a home environment where learning is encouraged and rewarded (can be difficult if you are busy or cannot read khmer) - daughter bribes in short.

And of course a private tutor with a good reputation is essential.

I'm happy to hear you have the same problems as me in Cambodia.

Mishmash wrote:For your situation you can only imbue your step-daughter with a love of learning over and above her social life, creating a home environment where learning is encouraged and rewarded (can be difficult if you are busy or cannot read khmer) - daughter bribes in short.

And of course a private tutor with a good reputation is essential.

This stepdaughter is ranked second or third in her class in all subjects in her school. She has a desire to learn. But her teachers say that without extra tuition she will not pass the exam. It seems outrageous to me. And of course the teachers insist that they themselves are the best tutors for the extra coaching.


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I see why you are dubious.

Along with you, I am proud of your daughter's achievements it made me happy to hear them.

When I was at school in the UK I DID do extra lessons by the teachers during holidays and lunch-times and as a result I did get the top grades.

I owe it to them, but unlike here they did it out of love and not cash dollar.

Maybe you could strike up a good relationship with the key teachers and strike a deal acceptable all round.

It's a tough one - and it's hard to say no to daughters..

I would be happy to hear the results of your decisions as it will impact me also in the not too distant future

I’ve just got back to Cambodia after far too many weeks away in Europe, and am immediately faced with the same problems as before, along with some new stuff. A proper ‘fuck me’ moment.

Name and Shame, time. Sovanaphumi school.

When I interviewed the school and staff to get an idea of their capabilities, I was at least confident that the teachers would be capable of teaching English.
A Khmer teacher, who is married to an expat (Brit or yank, I don’t recall)
An Argentinian. A Spanish accent, but no issues at all with their English.

From week one, the school day that was supposedly from 7:30am until 4pm was actually misquoted, and should have read 7:00 until 10:30, unless you want to pay twice.
The teachers were reassigned, and in their place two characters with a very different capability.
One barely speaks English, as I found today. A simple question received three completely different answers.
The other has such an attitude about her that required a meeting with the head teacher to at least get her to address the lad by his name- either his full name, or family colloquial/short name. In her arrogance, she had elected to creat a very different name, and then complained that he never responded in class.

Lessons with errors. A few examples...
1. Letter changes.
A fairly complicated (for basic kindergarden level kids) lesson- change one letter in a three letter word to get a completely new word, helped by pictures. The lesson failed half way through by changing the wrong letter in the sequence. Thus reinforcing an error

2. Learning the basic senses.
They are-
Taste, smell, hear, see, touch and tap, apparently.
Aided by pictures

Taste=tongue
Smell= nose
Touch/tap = picture of a water tap. (Faucet for those of a colonial background)

3. Learning the word flower.
Picture of a rose, title of the lesson/task FLAWER

Curriculum
This month, we are learning about body parts. 1st item, FLAWER, misspelled

It’s no surprise that the main expectation of 8years at school will be that they might leave able to read and write, possibly count.

It comes as no surprise that the shortfall is patched up with extra curricular teaching.

Yeah Sovanaphumi or however you spell it.

Named and shamed by me too. Terrible.

I took my son out of there - forget it - he is around 2 to 3 years behind modern education

He goes the local one now - just walk across the road but I guess we have to home school much more.

I just use the books we use in the UK, and educational software online, spelling and how to find what you want with Google and You Tube

Can't help much the Khmer side and the Khmer exams sadly - but in the end the content should be the same whatever language.