The truth behind a viral video — poverty and dysfunctional education system in Cambodia
By: Mags Huang
Tags: Education, Cambodia, Poverty, Viral Video, Education Reform

Learning center of CTEP in Siem Reap Province (Image by Huiyu Huang)

Remember the Cambodia boy selling souvenirs at Angkor Wat who speaks sixteen languages? Thuch Salik’s life has dramatically changed after a video of him peddling souvenirs while making conversation with a tourist in different languages went viral. Donations come from all over the world and he is now sponsored to study in China with a full-ride scholarship. When the Internet was amazed by his language skills, what is behind this lifestyle and why this little boy had to acquire such skill to impress, or amuse tourists, into buying cheap souvenirs is often overlooked.

Thuch was only one of the thousands of kids who dropped out of school for selling souvenirs at tourist spots to support their families. As you walk in Angkor Archaeological Park, you will undoubtedly be petitioned by children to buy postcards, magnets, or other handcrafted souvenirs. They often approach with the question of where you are from and start making conversation, usually persuading you buying things from them, in your language, that’s how kids like Thuch make their livings. However, visitors who buy from street children, or simply give them money, might perpetuate a system that keeps the children out of school.

Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines (%) (Source: World Bank)

Cambodia’s poverty and loan crisis

According to Asian Development Bank Statistics, 12.9% of the population lives below the national poverty line of US$0.93 per capita per day in 2018. Almost 8.27% of employees are paid below US$1.9 for their daily wages, which is far below the Cambodian living wage of 761200 KHR (US$190) per month. With many families struggling to make ends meet, they have no choice but to turn to microfinance — a financial unit with high interest, to make living. From the record of the Cambodian Microfinance Association, almost 2.2 million adult Cambodians of the total population of 16 million have a microcredit loan with an average debt is $3,320 — roughly twice the country’s annual GDP per person. This has caused a vicious circle and makes Cambodia the country with the highest debt rate in Southeastern Asia.

Such a burden falls on the shoulders of all family members. Parents in rural Cambodia are not aware of the importance of their kids receiving education, as they have a bigger reality to worried about — the next meal. In the Cambodian primary system, students only need to attend half-day in class and spend the other half-day helping with family finance. Some help on the farm while some sell stuff to tourists on the streets.

A fundamental fragility in the education sector

Children ages 7–14 in employment, study, and work (%) (Source: World Bank)

Children selling souvenirs at tourist spots make way more money than adult employees, as tourists tend to buy a souvenir from street kids rather than adult vendors, and some even give them money out of sympathy. This makes Cambodian parents send their kids to sell things or beg from tourists instead of sending them to school.

Despite the data shows most of the children are documented as “part-timers,” Net Channarith, education manager of CTEP, a local NGO, pointed out that most kids are taught by their parents to tell tourists and NGO workers that they are receiving education just to get out of trouble. Many NGOs have been offering after-school education for those who want to improve other skills, for instance, English or French, or computer, however, from their observation, the drop-out rate remains very high as the same problem compulsory education institution is facing.

Population of official entering age for primary school and the actual enroll number (Source: World Bank)

Cambodians are deeply wounded in various aspects after Khmer Rouge. Since Pol Pot declared 1975 as “Year Zero” in the country. He resettled hundreds of thousands of the country’s city-dwellers to labor camps in the countryside and abolish the country’s currency, aiming to push Cambodia to an extrema Communism. The intellectuals were brutally murdered, and children are forcing out of school. The regime resulted in the deaths of nearly a quarter of Cambodia and was ended as the Vietnamese Army invaded Cambodia in 1979.

A typical Cambodian classroom in Battambong Province (Image by Huiyu Huang)

With no proper education for school kids and the low survival rate of educated Cambodians, the country’s education level was set back almost decades only within four years. After Khmer Rouge, enrollment peaked in 1980, showing that children at school age gradually going back to school. However, the life of Cambodians didn’t go back to peace but remain chaotic. After the Khmer Rouge regime was overthrown, the country experienced political turbulence between the current prime minister Hun Sen and Norodom Ranariddh, the half brother of the current king. United Nations took over the administration of Cambodia as a peacekeeping operation from 1992 to 1993, until the new government was elected. This war-ridden kingdom has since receiving foreign aids from International organizations up until today. The local community largely depends on foreign aids for every sector of social development.

Improvements and ways forwards

According to statistics, there are about 3500 registered NGOs in Cambodia, which is the second-highest number of NGOs per capita in the world, after only Rwanda.

Drop-out rate of primary education, both sexes (%) (Source: World Bank)

After years of reconstruction by International institutions and NGOs, Cambodia has been getting back on its feet. The dropout rate of primary education has steadily decreased and enrollment number at the official age is reaching a plateau. However, the gross enrolment ratio is still low in comparison to other Southeastern Asian countries. There is still a long way to go for this kingdom nation, and its government should take up the responsibility in maintaining the country on its own, rather than heavily depending on foreign organizations to fill up the gaps in the government’s social and economic policies.