PHNOM PENH, Thursday 19 August 2010 (AFP) - Standing in front of a school in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh, Than Vichea read out answers over his mobile telephone to his sister who was taking national exams inside.
He was not alone. Even the police deployed outside schools to stop relatives providing answers to the more than 100,000 students who sat the tests last month could not prevent cheating in many of the exam centres.
"What would happen if they fail?" asked Than Vichea. "We have to think about our expenses for schooling, part-time studies and fuel costs, and especially our time."
Several students interviewed by AFP said they had bribed teachers to allow them to check notes they had smuggled into the exams, or answer sheets allegedly sold in advance by teachers outside the schools.
One said he had paid about 30 dollars to teachers during two and a half days of exams so they would turn a blind eye to cheating and keep watch for school inspectors.
Others said they had bribed teachers to allow them to use their mobiles to phone relatives for help during the exams, the results of which will be announced on August 20.
"Besides copying answers from each other, candidates in my room could even make a phone call outside during the exams to get answers," said a female student who asked to remain anonymous.
"And when there was only one correct answer sheet, it was hard to pass from one to another. So those who use modern phones took a photo of that sheet and then sent it to each other via the Internet on their phones," she said.
After decades of civil war and the mass killing of educated people and intellectuals by the communist Khmer Rouge regime in the late 1970s, Cambodia is trying to restore its educational system. But it is a slow process.
"Our country was severely destroyed during the Khmer Rouge, so, as a child, we have started rebuilding," said Mak Vann, a senior official with the Ministry of Education.
"We have trained more teachers and up to now it's still not enough. We still lack educational tools, and more teachers need to be trained as well."
Cambodia's schools were obliterated under Khmer Rouge rule. The regime killed nearly two million people -- including many teachers -- as it emptied cities in its bid to forge a Communist utopia.
School buildings, documents and other educational resources were destroyed.
More than three decades later, a lack of infrastructure, human resources and educational tools, as well as low wages for teachers, are hindering efforts to improve standards in schools.
Not all students interviewed said there had been cheating in their exam rooms.
"In my room, it was very strict. We could not even look at each other during the exams. No cellphones were allowed," said one, Bun Keo Voleak.
But the apparent acceptance of bribes by many teachers reflects rampant corruption in general in Cambodia that is seen by many as a growing barrier to quality in human resources for the Southeast Asian nation.
Cheating and paying bribes are common during exams, but Rong Chhun, head of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association, said the problem appeared to have worsened this year.
"Weakness in the educational system cannot help our country to develop," he said.
Cambodia was ranked 158th out of 180 countries in anti-graft organisation Transparency International's index of perceived public sector corruption in 2009.
It was also ranked the second most corrupt Southeast Asian nation after Indonesia in an annual poll by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy.
"Corruption exists and sometimes it seems to be open, such as teachers collecting money from students even in public class," said In Samrithy, executive director of NGO Education Partnership.
He said Cambodia was lagging behind neighbouring countries in terms of the quality of education.
"Allowing students to cheat is dangerous for their future because what they write for their teachers is not their real knowledge, so when they face a real situation, especially in a competitive job market, they will have problems."
He was not alone. Even the police deployed outside schools to stop relatives providing answers to the more than 100,000 students who sat the tests last month could not prevent cheating in many of the exam centres.
"What would happen if they fail?" asked Than Vichea. "We have to think about our expenses for schooling, part-time studies and fuel costs, and especially our time."
Several students interviewed by AFP said they had bribed teachers to allow them to check notes they had smuggled into the exams, or answer sheets allegedly sold in advance by teachers outside the schools.
One said he had paid about 30 dollars to teachers during two and a half days of exams so they would turn a blind eye to cheating and keep watch for school inspectors.
Others said they had bribed teachers to allow them to use their mobiles to phone relatives for help during the exams, the results of which will be announced on August 20.
"Besides copying answers from each other, candidates in my room could even make a phone call outside during the exams to get answers," said a female student who asked to remain anonymous.
"And when there was only one correct answer sheet, it was hard to pass from one to another. So those who use modern phones took a photo of that sheet and then sent it to each other via the Internet on their phones," she said.
After decades of civil war and the mass killing of educated people and intellectuals by the communist Khmer Rouge regime in the late 1970s, Cambodia is trying to restore its educational system. But it is a slow process.
"Our country was severely destroyed during the Khmer Rouge, so, as a child, we have started rebuilding," said Mak Vann, a senior official with the Ministry of Education.
"We have trained more teachers and up to now it's still not enough. We still lack educational tools, and more teachers need to be trained as well."
Cambodia's schools were obliterated under Khmer Rouge rule. The regime killed nearly two million people -- including many teachers -- as it emptied cities in its bid to forge a Communist utopia.
School buildings, documents and other educational resources were destroyed.
More than three decades later, a lack of infrastructure, human resources and educational tools, as well as low wages for teachers, are hindering efforts to improve standards in schools.
Not all students interviewed said there had been cheating in their exam rooms.
"In my room, it was very strict. We could not even look at each other during the exams. No cellphones were allowed," said one, Bun Keo Voleak.
But the apparent acceptance of bribes by many teachers reflects rampant corruption in general in Cambodia that is seen by many as a growing barrier to quality in human resources for the Southeast Asian nation.
Cheating and paying bribes are common during exams, but Rong Chhun, head of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association, said the problem appeared to have worsened this year.
"Weakness in the educational system cannot help our country to develop," he said.
Cambodia was ranked 158th out of 180 countries in anti-graft organisation Transparency International's index of perceived public sector corruption in 2009.
It was also ranked the second most corrupt Southeast Asian nation after Indonesia in an annual poll by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy.
"Corruption exists and sometimes it seems to be open, such as teachers collecting money from students even in public class," said In Samrithy, executive director of NGO Education Partnership.
He said Cambodia was lagging behind neighbouring countries in terms of the quality of education.
"Allowing students to cheat is dangerous for their future because what they write for their teachers is not their real knowledge, so when they face a real situation, especially in a competitive job market, they will have problems."
13 comments:
Becareful you won't learn anything from cheating. You have to have authentic/true knowledge to face up with the real world. So, if you are one of the cheaters, you are likely to hurt yourself in the end. The challenges are;whether you have your ability to perform at the end of the day! If you can't then, what is the purpose of cheating?...the answer is true wisdom comes from within by having the ability to move forward and not being afraid of anything. like you want something done, do it, not necessarily highly interlactual, e.g. go to the churches or temples to feed the poor or create and organisation to help the poor etc, like Samaley Mam, Wisdom
working for the three monkeys, you don't need education at all. just learn to take orders from them and you will be fine.
Right here in the US, recently I heard a friend told me that some students who are the sons or daughters of some rich parents in Cambodia, coming here to study, but they choose to have more fun outside schools, they then hire someone to do the study on line for them.
Education is a joke in Cambodia, students dont study days and nights like here in the US. THere they have much free time drinking, etc. They said they can't prevent cheating? How hard is that? All they have to do is set a rule on cell phone in exam room and kick them out if caught. How hard is that?
This the good way for cambodian students to cheat on exams...CELL PHONE! i urge authority stop them from using cell phone in classroom...period!
Authority or School staffs must strip down all student who bring cell phone to class or to school! they will cheat on daily exams...
This is why cambodia is weak country? a lot of people cheating on exams by cell phone..? damn man! i find that alot people getting a jobs in cambodia, usually paid money or bribe money to get that jobs or position...and that person knew nothing? or have no education within that position?????? its like you hire ox card drive to be a pilot?
Yep, it's like you hire an ox-cart driver to drive to be pilot..? this is fuck up man..
Do you think pilot is better of driving an ox cart!
good luck with the bull, pilot!!! LOL!!!!
what you expect? information technology is catching up in cambodia fast! maybe they should ban cell phone use during exam hour, really!
Hun Sen cheated the votes to win every terms. he trained his officials down to the students learning how to cheat.The leader is the cheater; and the rest are cheaters too.All these people knew how to cheat,if they did not know how to cheat they learn how to cheat.The evil people do not care about anything.If someone went to visit Cambodia knowing it. I went to visit Cambodia a dozen times knowing from my friends,my relatives;but all these are none of business. I am not living there; I am just a visitor.
It's gooder if we chain Hun Xen and drag him to take a 7th grade test, to see how good he hoes.
5:14am, i think you the first person who fail 5 grader moron..! go to cambodia and do better jobs than Hun Sen, don't sitting here running your big mouth asshole..!!
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