When Savon was ten years old, she remembered that her second sister, then just graduated from Grade Nine, was a dedicated student and especially enjoyed practicing French at home. But then, the rainy season came. The family, with three younger school-age daughters and one infant son, did not have enough manpower to prepare the fields for the new crop.
The sister understood the family’s difficult situation. For days, she observed her oldest sister (already out of school) working in the field. One time, she saw her big sister dragging some heavy equipment and all of a sudden, she lost balance and fell hard on the ground. She cried, cried and cried. That very next day, the second sister decided that she should help in the field. She told her parents that she wanted to leave school.
Multiple Barriers to Education
While this story took place in a small farming village in Cambodia’s Takeo province, the plot is not new at all to many agricultural communities in the country. In fact, every year, many young children drop out from school as a result of either urges from the family or personal decision. In the case of SAVON’s second sister, her joining of the workforce was influenced by a number of factors: poverty, peer pressure from neighbours, cultural bias against girls’ education and the lack of public awareness on the value of education.
Most families in rural Cambodia are subsistence farmers lacking in skills and capital to improve their lands. As a result, their small scattered plots often bring low yields. For Savon’s family of eight, in particular, rice from their own fields may not be enough to feed everyone. To squeeze money for food, many parents in similar situations have no choice but to eliminate non-essential spending on books, uniforms and transportation.
SAVON’s recalled vividly that the neighbours also pressured her parents to stop their daughter’s education. “They came and told us that their fields were already prepared… but that ours were not,” she said. Many of these neighbours have already pulled their daughters out of school. SAVON’s parents hence had long seen how dropped-out children contributed to farm work. In need of food and manpower, past experiences shared by their close friends and relatives certainly would influence the parents’ position.
Working against rural girls as well were traditional gender biases. In the past, only boys could go to school at the pagodas. Girls had to stay at home to do chores or take care of siblings. Although most schools now accept both boys and girls, deep-seated perceptions (especially in rural areas) often undermine girls’ education prospects. Very often, even the nine years of basic education would be considered too much.
Furthermore, daughters are seen as “less valuable” than sons. They have less strength to carry out farm work and often get married by 16 or 18 years old. In fact, when daughters marry in the rural areas, the bride’s family often pay more money and contribute more land than the bridegroom’s side. In sum, in the parents’ minds, investment in girls’ education is not commensurate to future gains (losses, to be more accurate).
As Savon delivered the story of her sisters, I can sense bitterness about the country’s poverty and frustration towards the barriers for accessing education. She is now a university student at the Royal University of Phnom Penh and her academic achievements are exceptional compared to many of her peers. When asked about how she reached tertiary education, peer pressure and cultural biases, she commented that her commitment to education and stronger public awareness have moved her parents.
In some parts of Cambodia, commitments from students and teachers have served to break the vicious cycle of low education and low productivity. As a high school student, Savon was consistently the top of her class. She also worked hard to obtain vocational training certificates (e.g. secretarial skills, agriculture, etc.). To showcase the students’ efforts and academic progress, teachers initiated award-giving or certificate-granting ceremonies where all parents and villagers would be invited. These awards often came with verbal compliments and certificates, and sometimes book, stationary and monetary gifts as well. Instantly, bright students became the “famous people” of the village. Parents, now feel proud of their children’s achievements, thus became more willing to finance education.
Is There a Straight-Forward Solution?
The experiences of Savon and many other young girls in Cambodia remind me that education is long-term investment and a luxury for poor people who struggle to fill their stomachs every day. In effect, the $20 to $30 a month which a young daughter can earn by working a field worker, domestic helper or souvenir-seller bring more tangible benefits and satisfy urgent needs. A poor household cannot afford to have no income from their children despite the fact that a daughter with a university degree can earn more than $200 a month in the future.
Since access to education is closely linked with a myriad of economic, cultural and social issues, many development agencies have adopted a multi-pronged approach to increase enrolment and attendance. On the one hand, some donors and NGOs have focused on the supply side of education, namely the quality of teachers. Curriculum development and the design of teaching materials are also key issues to attract children to school. Some active agencies in this area include USAID, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
On the other hand, others have focused on the demand side of education. To reduce the financial burden posed by sponsoring children’s education, some agencies have started to train families on income generation activities, such as more productive farming methodologies, or to engage adults and youth in labour-intensive infrastructural projects, such as improving roads and building bridges. The government, together with donor agencies, have started conditional cash transfer programmes (CCTs). Participating households can get monetary awards for making pre-specified investments in the education and health of their children. One such prominent example in Cambodia would be the World Bank’s Cambodia Education Sector Support Project (CESSP) Scholarship Programme where a number of $45 and $60 scholarships are given to lower secondary school students in participating schools.
A LAST TWIST – While most development specialists would agree that poverty is the single biggest obstacle to education, a World Bank study published July 2009 showed more scholarships would not necessarily translate into higher attendance and better test scores. Using the CESSP Scholarship Programme as an example, researchers found that the enrolment rates of recipients and non-recipients differed by 16.2 percentage points between February 2006 and June 2007. However, the first $45 is more “cost-effective” in boosting school attendance than the next $15. Researchers also designed a mathematical model to measure the relationship between the size of the scholarship and test scores. The results showed no significant differences (not better, not worse) between the test scores of scholarship recipients and non-recipients. These recent findings may suggest that accessing education is far more complex than giving scholarships and income generation activities. There may be underlying socioeconomic factors, such as the parents’ education background, the family’s means of livelihood and the living environment, etc., which hinder academic progress.
I wonder what has happened since that fateful day when Savon’s second sister decided to leave school. Without adequate schooling, there are few choices of occupation. With two children, her sister has to find more money for the family’s livelihood. Recently, she started selling vegetables in Phnom Penh. Revenues from her small business, net of fees and rental for her apartment and stall space in the city, leave just a small amount to be sent home. Making a living is still a problem, apparently.
As for Savon, a university degree does not guarantee success. Like many students, she now faces the gloomy labour market where youth are often left out from productive employment.
References
Deon Filmer, and Novert Schady, “Are There Diminishing Returns to Transfer Size in Conditional Cash Transfers?” World Bank Impact Evaluation Series, July 2009
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