Cost of "free" education

The latest Phnom Penh Post highlighted a report released on October 5 by NGO Education Partnership (NEP) showing that Cambodian families are being forced to pay a large portion of their monthly income in unofficial fees to public school teachers.

The study involved 210 families with children in grades 1-9. Families from Phnom Penh and three provinces were interviewed. The NEP study revealed that the average cost of sending one child to school is $108.2 per year, or 8.7% of the annual family income. Given that an average family had 3.6 children, almost a third of their income would need to be spent on education to keep all their kids in school. In Takeo province, the cost of sending only one child to grades 7-9 represented 23.7% of total family income. Families in Takeo averaged 4 children.

The report notes that teachers receive only US$30-40 per month. Parents don't blame teachers for taking fees for regular classes and "special extra classes". They blame the government for claiming to provide free public education.

No wonder families can't afford to send all their kids to secondary school.
No wonder girls are dropping out first.
No wonder my young, bright friends at uni would rather study business and accounting over education.