Who is to Blame for the Problems in the Cambodian Elementary Education

Sothearith Im
Ohio University

The objective of Cambodian elementary education is not only to equip pupils with basic academic skills like reading, writing and arithmetic, but also to help shape their character and behavior. A Cambodian saying reads, “Shape the iron while it is hot and educate humans while they are young” meaning young humans are easily influenced and educated. Unfortunately, most Cambodian youngsters have been spoilt due to the fact that teachers at elementary schools not only have failed to perform their duties to meet the objective of Cambodian elementary education, but have provoked wrongdoing and acted as bad examples as well. Although most people tend to blame the government for these problems, all stakeholders: the teachers, the government, and pupils’ parents have the same responsibility to bring elementary education back to its mission.

To begin with, the serious problem in Cambodia elementary schools, especially those in the capital city Phnom Penh, is the behavior of teachers. Teachers are expected to act as good role models, but instead, they act as bad examples for pupils. Because of inadequate salaries, teachers collect money from pupils everyday, and they sometimes sell candies or cookies during the break in the class. These activities are seen by pupils from day to day; so, the pupils are obsessed with this behavior. Those students who fail to pay teaching fees will be ignored, given lower grades, or punished in many subtle ways. Because students are exposed to this behavior so often, they soon absorb these bad examples and lose respect for their teachers. As a result, students have performed many immoral acts such as cheating in front of teachers or proctors in examinations, or pointing handguns at teachers’ heads. Therefore, many other problems may also result from improper education.

Generally, teachers have a significant responsibility to be good role models for pupils, since pupils spend most of their time at schools, thus they may learn more from teachers and their peers than from their parents. All teachers know that they have to behave properly because they are seen and observed by pupils everyday. Moreover, everyone in Cambodia knows quite well that teachers cannot live on their government salary. So, if someone applies to be a teacher, he has to be committed, and if he has no commitment or does not like working with pupils, he had better quit the job and find another job rather than stay and spoil the school environment. Therefore, elementary teachers are partly responsible for initiating the problems in elementary school.

The government is also obliged to shoulder responsibilities for restructuring the elementary education so that it meets its objective. Since the primary purpose of elementary education is “to equip pupils with basic academic skills like reading, writing and arithmetic, and to help shape pupils’ character and behavior,” it is believed to play a very crucial role in equipping children with good morality and ethical behavior, so the government has to pay more attention to teachers’ living standard. The most effective solution to the problem is the teachers’ salaries. The problems mentioned above occur due to the fact that the teachers’ salaries do not meet their daily basic needs; so, teachers do not pay enough attention to educating pupils properly, since they need to do some extra work in order to survive. If the government does not raise teachers’ salaries or take any effective measures to improve teachers’ living standard, the Cambodian elementary education will not only fail to achieve its academic objectives, but will also continue to shape pupils’ characters in an unacceptable way.

In addition, pupils’ parents are also partly responsible for the problems Cambodian elementary education is encountering. Parents give money to their children to pay teachers, since they know that their children will be treated unsatisfactorily if they do not pay teachers. However, if no parents give money to their children, their children will have nothing to pay their teachers everyday. If parents are willing to solve the problems, they may approach school management to discuss possible solutions. Instead of pupils’ paying teachers directly everyday, if parents want to help schools, they should contribute money yearly or monthly to the administration so that the administration could manage the money accordingly. Parents should form a parent association so that they could talk with their local school principal effectively about how to deal with the problems. But, parents do nothing about the matter. Therefore, parents are partly responsible for the problems.

In short, these three stakeholders: the teachers, the government, and pupils’ parents should share responsibility for these problems. The Cambodian government should pay closer attention to teachers’ salaries. The government should increase the salary to meet the basic needs if possible; teachers should do their job responsibly; and parents should keep their eyes on all school activities and help give comment for improvement. These three stakeholders can be compared to three cooking stones, meaning the pot is never on without any one of them. Therefore, if the three stakeholders work cooperatively and responsibly, they will be able to solve the problems successfully.