Cambodia's higher education dreams confront reality [-A bleak future for Cambodian univeristy graduates]

Cambodian students are seen at the windows of a university in Phnom Penh

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — She has two years to go until graduation, but already Cambodian student Chhum Savorn is filled with a sense of dread.

The 21-year-old decided to major in finance, hoping she would acquire skills to help develop her country, which is one of the poorest in the world.

Instead, she thinks her education is nearly worthless -- classes are mostly packed with indifferent, cheating students and led by under-qualified professors.

"The low quality of my studies means that I can't help the country, and I'll even have a hard time getting a job that pays enough to help my family," she says.

A growing number of eager young Cambodians are finding themselves duped into a higher education system that suffers from weak management and teaching because it is geared more toward profit than learning.

As a result only one in ten recent graduates are finding work, a worrying figure in a country trying to rebuild after decades of civil war.

Cambodia's schools were obliterated under Khmer Rouge rule in the 1970s when the regime killed nearly two million people -- including most of the country's intellectuals -- as it emptied cities in its bid to forge a Communist utopia.

But as the country rebuilds and the economy grows, it is inundated with institutions peddling low-quality education.

In 2000, there were ten post-secondary institutions in Cambodia. Now there are 70 private and state-run universities.

Most programs offered by those institutions are dismal, says Mak Ngoy, deputy director general of higher education at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports.

"We are not yet satisfied with the current quality of our education," Mak Ngoy says.

"I think increasing the number of higher education institutions is a positive sign, but we are struggling with the hard task of strengthening quality," he adds.

Qualified university professors complain that many students rarely do their work and cheating is rampant.

A number of students are content to pay for a degree and do not realise the benefit of a good education, says Lav Chhiv Eav, rector of Royal University of Phnom Penh, the oldest and largest state-owned college.

"Some students are scared of studying hard and think what they need is any degree, not quality. The final result will be joblessness," he says.

Most of Cambodia's universities are small-scale institutions with limited of capital, poor facilities and little discipline.

So far, the education ministry has ordered the closing of four institutions that called themselves universities, but gave little education to students.

Five years ago there was an attempt to fix Cambodia's higher education institutions, with the formation of a national university accreditation committee.

The committee was formed to force institutions to adhere to strict education requirements, but the World Bank pulled its funding for the scheme when it became clear the body would not be independent from government control.

With little official oversight, the quality of many Cambodian universities has worsened, while the number of Cambodians seeking a diploma has shot up.

More than 135,000 Cambodians are currently enrolled in some form of higher education, says the education ministry, compared to just 25,000 eight years ago.

But only one in 10 recent university graduates have found work, according to the Economic Institute of Cambodia, as the country remains mired in poverty despite the double-digit economic growth.

Ma Sopheap, officer at the Asian Development Bank, says Cambodia will have trouble luring foreign investment if it does not start producing more qualified graduates.

"If the low quality of higher education continues, it will affect Cambodia's economic development," he says. "Then there is no way to reduce poverty."

Tribunal Confident US Will Find Funds [-Will the US fund a tribunal that lacks transparency?]

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
29 October 2007

A tribunal spokesman said Wednesday the courts were confident Washington would find a way to add money to an increasingly cash-strapped process, even as critics maintain the tribunal's administration lacks transparency.

US Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli said Monday the US was "seriously" considering direct funding. It currently does not support the tribunal.

Tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath told VOA that the US administration was changing its position.

"We hope that the US will change its heart, because at all times the US took part in the formation of the tribunal," he said. "But up to now, the US has not given any direct aid to the tribunal. Therefore, we understand that the US will change its heart to help the KRT directly. If the US will not help, the US will be late in finding justice for the Cambodian people directly."

The tribunal is seeking more than $8 million more to supplement its UN-supported $56.3 million budget. The UN side has so far come in about $3 million short on the budget, with the Cambodian side failing to post $5 million.

Foreign Minister Hor Nam Hong recently made a public appeal to foreign donors to help the budget, in a process that now could take as long as 2010.

Mussomeli said the US needed to make an assessment of the tribunal's administration before it would give direct assistance, to ensure the tribunal "is capable of meeting international standards."

Human Rights Party Vice President Keo Remy said the tribunal would have to show donors it is not corrupt if it expects to get more money.

The tribunal came under fire last year from allegations Cambodian judges had to pay kickbacks to government officials in order to sit in the courts.

Foreign Minister Seeks More Tribunal Money

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
25 October 2007

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong made an appeal to donor countries Thursday for more money to run the Khmer Rouge tribunal, saying the process was running "smoothly" but more funds were needed to keep things that way.

More arrests are imminent, Hor Namhong told reporters outside the Foreign Ministry, adding that the process could go through 2010, an extended time period for which no budget currently exists.

"The lack of funds is not so much, it is somewhat small, and I hope that the international community will contribute to the funds," he said.

Tribunal observers said earlier this week they expect a third Khmer Rouge leader to be brought before the tribunal courts in coming days, though the identity of the defendant has not been released.

Those widely suspected of being under tribunal investigation include Ieng Sary, the former foreign minister of Democratic Kampuchea, and Khieu Samphan, the former nominal head of the regime.

The tribunal struggled through its first year, failing to indict a single Khmer Rouge leader, as Cambodian jurists and their UN-appointed counterparts debated internal rules for the process. Critics have since warned the tribunal could exceed its own time-limit and budget. The tribunal has also come under fire from critics for a lack of transparency in its administration and staff hiring practices.

US Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli said Thursday the US would be reluctant to contribute to the tribunal if it is not made more transparent.

"We are now, in Washington and here, seriously assessing whether the United States should directly fund the Khmer [Rouge] tribunal," he said.

Hor Namhong said the tribunal was now moving forward, and he anticipated no further problems.

"I believe that in the future, there will be summons or the arrests of other top Khmer Rouge leaders, like Nuon Chea recently, so the procedure is going smoothly, and there will be no other problems," he said.

"The lack of funds is not important," Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, said. "The important thing is the court's implementation."

Donors were not happy with the misuse of funds and allegations around the administration of the courts, he said.

"All of this leads to delay, not the budget," he said.

If the tribunal carries forward more than its mandated years, international standards could be comprised, Hisham Mousar, a legal expert for the rights group Adhoc said. "It is a loss to the Khmer Rouge tribunal."

Dengue means death for many of Cambodia's children

Mothers line-up outside Phnom Penh's Kantha Bopha VI hospital to seek treatment for their children, of whom most are suffering from dengue fever, in this July 3, 2007 file photo. Dengue -- which causes fever, headaches and agonising muscle and joint pains -- has killed 389 people in Cambodia this year, nearly all of them children, in what is believed to be one of the worst outbreaks in years. (Chor Sokunthea/Files/Reuters)

A mother prays over her child, who is suffering from dengue fever, at Phnom Penh's Kantha Bopha VI hospital in this July 4, 2007 file photo. Dengue -- which causes fever, headaches and agonising muscle and joint pains -- has killed 389 people in Cambodia this year, nearly all of them children, in what is believed to be one of the worst outbreaks in years. There is no vaccine for dengue but even if a treatment existed, the Health Ministry, which has an annual budget of $3 for each of Cambodia's 13 million people, would struggle to afford it. To match feature DENGUE-CAMBODIA/ REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea/Files

Tue Oct 16, 2007
By Ek Madra

PHNOM PENH, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Dawn has not yet broken but already more than 1,000 sick children queue outside a hospital in Phnom Penh in a desperate wait to get treatment for dengue, a mosquito-borne disease taking a heavy toll on Cambodia's young.

Dengue -- which causes fever, headaches and agonising muscle and joint pains -- has killed 389 people in Cambodia this year, nearly all of them children, in what is believed to be one of the worst outbreaks in years. "Please help my grandson. He has had a fever for three days now," pleads 50-year-old Loung Neang, tears rolling down her cheeks as she cradles the listless body of an 18-month-old child outside the hospital before dawn.

She travelled 80 km (50 miles) the previous day from the eastern province of Kampong Cham, where medical facilities are nearly non-existent. But she arrived at the overcrowded hospital too late to have the child admitted and must wait another 24 hours for a bed to open up when patients are discharged.

Whether her grandson will live that long is another question.

Outside the hospital, waiting children lie on reed mats on the ground, their arms hooked up to saline drips hanging from the trees.

Dengue has infected more than 38,000 people in Cambodia so far this year, government figures show.

"Every day, every ten minutes, a child is arriving in shock, without a pulse and with no blood pressure," said Beat Richner, a Swiss doctor and founder of four donor-funded hospitals in the war-scarred Southeast Asian nation.

In all, his clinics can treat 900 infants, but it is not enough.

"More will die as the dengue continues to spread," he said.

SCARCE FUNDS

There is no vaccine for dengue but even if a treatment existed, the Health Ministry, which has an annual budget of $3 for each of Cambodia's 13 million people, would struggle to afford it.

Instead, the Health Ministry focuses its efforts on prevention, telling people in towns and villages to use mosquito nets, keep an eye on their children, burn rubbish and not allow pools of stagnant water, where the insects breed, to collect.

"We can change lots of things, but changing people's behaviour is hardest of all," said Ngan Chantha, head of the ministry's anti-dengue programme. "We tell them what to do, but as soon as we go away, they revert to their old habits."

Many people disagree, saying it is impossible to keep an eye on children when so many mothers and fathers have to work to provide for their families in what remains one of the poorest countries in Asia.

"I am poor and can't afford a private clinic. Where should I go now?" 43-year-old Pov Sokhom shouted at the policemen keeping order at the hospital gates as she covered her 7-month-old granddaughter with a wet cloth to keep her cool.

The child's mother is working in one of the many garment factories around Phnom Penh, leaving parental duties to grandparents.

"WORST EVER YEAR"

Even though dengue has always been a rainy season threat in the tropical Southeast Asian nation, Richner said this year appeared to be the worst yet despite government and World Health Organisation (WHO) campaigns.

He blamed the domestic and international authorities, which are responding to higher-than-normal levels of dengue across the region, for being slow to act even when it became clear in May that 2007 was going to be a bad year.

"That is very sad. It's a huge suffering for the children," he said.

The WHO, United Nations Development Programme, Asian Development Bank and International Red Cross have all chipped in to help provide pesticides to kill mosquito larvae.

Richner's Kantha Bopha hospitals, which offer advanced medical facilities to Cambodians for free, need $7 million a year to keep themselves afloat, but the size of the dengue outbreak is already causing them to eat into next year's budget.

Furthermore, raising cash is becoming harder because of Western preoccupation with diseases like bird flu, he said.

"Bird flu is a threat to the Western world, so they pour money and commitment into that," he said. "But dengue? There's no threat to the United States or Europe so nobody's interested."

Kem Sokha’s party almost out of funds during mid-course

Thursday, September 27, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

A source indicated the Kem Sokha’s fledgling Human Rights Party (HRP) is heading towards a lack of funds during mid-course. An anonymous source from the SRP told a local newspaper that the HRP is facing financial problems because those who promised to fund the party from overseas, did not provide the funds, but that they only made the verbal promises. The same source indicated that if this party still continues to face financial problems like right now, it is tantamount to car with a flat tire along the road. However, Pen Sovann, first HRP vice-president, rejected the information about his party lacking funds. Pen Sovann said that his HRP has a well defined goal, and its finance cannot be easily bankrupt during mid-course as claimed. Pen Sovann added that the criticisms leveled against the HRP, which is progressing better than any other parties, were done because others want to attack his party for their own gain.