Education problems in Cambodia are not limited to the quality of instruction, according to a school monitoring report by Checkmyschool Cambodia that was disseminated to communities in Phnom Penh and Kampong Cham province. Primary and lower secondary school students likewise face a shortage of toilets and clean water, traffic, and debilitating heat.
In some cases, the report said, students choose not to go to school because of temperatures of between 41 and 42 degrees Celsius because they cannot concentrate in class.
As a result of the report, Khmer Institute for National Development (KIND), ANSA Cambodia, Coalition for Integrity and Social Accountability (CISA), NGO Education Partnership (NEP) and Aide Et Action (AEA) co-organized a national workshop in late April to explore ways to address the problems besetting the education sector.
One hundred participants from the education ministry led by His Excellency Put Samith , development partners, non-government organizations, youth and communities attended the workshop called “Working Together for Better Education Quality.”
The workshop sought to establish a policy dialogue on education strategies and share the successes gained from the various interventions of civil society organizations.
ANSA Cambodia’s Executive Director, San Chey, called on the Education Ministry to address the current education problems in the long term by increasing the budget for schools from 20 percent to 25 percent of the ministry budget.