Eath Daravuth
The Mekong Times
Ninety-three percent of Cambodian children have access to education, according to a new report from UNESCO.
“The figure shows that Cambodia ranks 21st among 129 countries [where children] receive education,” said Chey Chab, undersecretary of state for the Ministry of Education, during a press conference held June 12 to mark the World Day Against Child Labor.
While he called on Cambodian teachers and parents to encourage their children to go to school, Chey Chab did not provide any supporting figures.
The claims go against a statement released to mark the occasion by Cambodian Independent Teacher’s Association (CITA) President Rong Chhun.
“[The number of] children who work and who do not receive education is nearly 2 million” he said. “This is caused by their families’ poor living conditions, and when the prices of goods on markers soar, many children are removed from schools by their parents to exploit their labor,” Rong Chhun claimed.
Rong Chhun pointed out that the more disturbing examples of child labor are found in brick kilns, rubber plantations, salt fields, fishing lots and restaurants. He said the ongoing problem of child labor is a result of the Cambodian government’s failure to implement poverty and corruption reduction strategies and to respect the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The CITA president is called on the government to regularly implement provisions stipulated in the UN convention so that children will hopefully receive an education. “Forcing children to do hard work can affect the national economy,” he said.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) said that approximately 75 million children are working in the world without access to education. “We … have to give them an education. They do not have the obligation to work to feed their families, but they have to receive high-quality education,” said ILO Director Juan Somavia.
According to the organization, every year 60 countries across the world organize a march to mark World Day Against Child Labor. This year approximately 300 children took part in a march carrying signs in Phnom Penh with such slogans such as “No child labor, no poverty” and “Parents send children to study not to work.”
“The figure shows that Cambodia ranks 21st among 129 countries [where children] receive education,” said Chey Chab, undersecretary of state for the Ministry of Education, during a press conference held June 12 to mark the World Day Against Child Labor.
While he called on Cambodian teachers and parents to encourage their children to go to school, Chey Chab did not provide any supporting figures.
The claims go against a statement released to mark the occasion by Cambodian Independent Teacher’s Association (CITA) President Rong Chhun.
“[The number of] children who work and who do not receive education is nearly 2 million” he said. “This is caused by their families’ poor living conditions, and when the prices of goods on markers soar, many children are removed from schools by their parents to exploit their labor,” Rong Chhun claimed.
Rong Chhun pointed out that the more disturbing examples of child labor are found in brick kilns, rubber plantations, salt fields, fishing lots and restaurants. He said the ongoing problem of child labor is a result of the Cambodian government’s failure to implement poverty and corruption reduction strategies and to respect the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The CITA president is called on the government to regularly implement provisions stipulated in the UN convention so that children will hopefully receive an education. “Forcing children to do hard work can affect the national economy,” he said.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) said that approximately 75 million children are working in the world without access to education. “We … have to give them an education. They do not have the obligation to work to feed their families, but they have to receive high-quality education,” said ILO Director Juan Somavia.
According to the organization, every year 60 countries across the world organize a march to mark World Day Against Child Labor. This year approximately 300 children took part in a march carrying signs in Phnom Penh with such slogans such as “No child labor, no poverty” and “Parents send children to study not to work.”
6 comments:
Number doesn't mean anything. The bottom line is how many people actually benefited from the program itself. Take the US for instance, even though 100% of the population have access to education, but virtually no Khmer benefited from it. Those gorillas will be gorillas forever.
My beloved Khmers!
Perhaps,because I am illiterate, furthermore, I don't completely understand this sentence, "93% of Cambodian children have access to education?"
Is it literally meants 93% of the rich and powerful Cambodian children have access to education?
I am undeniably agreed with Rong Chhun's observational confession of our beloved poor and miserable Cambodian children. Without any doubt, not only out in the countryside, but also the big city, Phnom Pehn and Battambang, attendance is languishly poor, because the kids have to work to support their families. In addition, I don't even mention about the homeless Cambodian children.
Forgive me for ashamedly and painfully saying this, the poor quality of public education in Srok Khmer has not yet become a growing concern, because the governments won't embark on a new push to modernize and creative better paying jobs.
To free up working and poor children to attend school, the Cambodian administration must have financially the number of grants to students...
The governments would also tighten requirements for teachers, introduce new ways to monitor their performance and mandate training for teachers in schools with poor scores on standardized tests.
In order to increasingly and potentially improve the Cambodian education is primarily and mainly depend on the government, the Cambodian economy, and how much money will the government be spent on education?
well, the goal of the gov't is to raise the literacy rate to 99% or 100% if possible. why not?
... and encourage all cambodians to be bilingual as that will be good to find jobs as cambodia changes.
My beloved 1:51AM!
Are ya firmly saying that Gov't is to raise the illiteracy rate to 99% or 110% if possible, why not? Therefore, ya are entirely correct!
'cause more educators, more headaches to CPP!
3:07 am, that kind of mentality for cambodia is bad. i hope you are not claiming to be a leader of cambodia with that kind of mentality thinking that the more education people become the harder for leaders to control them. what! get rid of that mentality, not good for cambodia, period! that kind of mentality is so outdated, if you ask me. don't be selfish and greedy, learn to share and love your own kind. thank you!
Post a Comment