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 Because the PRK government was engaged in fighting a civil war with the Khmer Rouge and other
two non-communist resistant movements the field of education was not given much priority. With budgetary constraints, the need for manpower to serve in the army, and a centrally planned economy, the PRK government
set limits on the number of students who could entered into upper secondary school, and universities. Such restrictions generated widespread corruption, favoritism, and nepotism within
the educational system as wealthy and influential parents either paid bribes or used their political power to secure seats for their children in these institutions. Such practices, compounded by low skill
level of educators, significantly slowed the development of the educational system.
Under this system that emphasized quantity over quality, and given the destruction of the DK regime,
it is easy to understand why literacy rates for Cambodia are quite low. New research conducted in 2000, which actually administered writing exercises rather than allowing self-identification as readers,
found that literacy levels for the country were lower than previously estimated. The report divided the respondents into three groups: the complete illiterate (36.3 %), the semi-literate (26.6 %) and the
literate (37.1 %). The latter were further divided into those with a basic level of literacy (11.3 %), with a medium level (64 %) and a self-learning level (those who read all kinds of materials in search
of new knowledge) (24.7 %). In all of these categories the rates were much lower for women with some 45.1 percent of women reported as completely illiterate and only 20 percent of the literate
women fell into the self-learning category. Combining the first two categories of illiterate and semi-literate, this means that 62.9 percent of the adult population of Cambodia, or 6.5 million
people, are basically illiterate (MEYS 2000).
 In the 1990s, after the Paris
Agreements and the UN sponsored elections, there were significant changes in the educational system. As part of the country’s new election campaigning, many new school buildings were constructed. The percentage
of the national budget for education has increased, reaching 7.7 percent in 2000 and 15.67 percent in 2001 (GAD/C 2002). More materials became available through donor funding. For
example, in 1993-94 the expenditures on books were about 50 riels (about .02 US) per pupil or the equivalent of supplying one book per student every 20 years. Seven or eight students were sharing
one book (UNESCO 1998). Since then new curricula, teachers’ manuals and student textbooks have been developed for grades 1-9. These new books have been printed in sufficient numbers for
one book for every child in every subject. A 1998 UNESCO report notes that for many children this is the first book they will ever own (1998:19).
Teachers are being given additional training, but the educational level of teachers remains rather low over all. Six percent of Cambodia’s teachers have a primary education, 77 percent have attended
lower secondary school, 14 percent upper secondary school and only 3 percent have a tertiary education (Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport 1998).
The new curricula move away from the traditional route methods of learning common across Southeast Asia to more active learning models. While this shift has strong support among donors,
there is reportedly resistance to such changes among education administrators who prefer traditional methods (see UNESCO 2000).
The school system today has pre-school for children aged three to five (but only in some areas), Primary education in grades one to six, and Lower Secondary education from grades six to nine.
After grade nine is an exam to pass to enter Upper Secondary school (grades ten to twelve). After grade twelve is an exam to graduate with a diploma (called bac dup). Previously there was then a
separate entrance exam for the university level, but now the exams already sat are studied for highest scores in certain topical areas to decide which students will be allowed to continue to university. The
existing universities include: The University of Health Sciences, the Royal University of Fine Arts, the Institute of Technology, the Faculty of Law and Economic Sciences, the Royal University of
Agriculture, the Royal University of Phnom Penh, the National Institute of Management, the Maharishi Vedic University and the Faculty of Pedagogy. There is also a non-formal education
system that includes literacy classes for adults.
Just in the last two years (2000 – 2002) there has been an explosion of private schools, especially at
the secondary and higher education levels. The government has not yet decided on accreditation standards for universities and it is difficult to determine the quality of all these new "universities" that
have sprung up throughout Phnom Penh.
While the funding for education has improved, and dramatic changes are underway, a litany of
problems remain. The overwhelming problems are still financial and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MEYS) admits that there is little likelihood of providing the opportunity for every child to
have nine years of education in the very near future. There are still enormous problems with education service delivery, including a large gap in education quality between urban and rural or
remote schools (MEYS 1999). Teachers are paid as little as ten dollars per month. Since they cannot live on such wages, they must supplement their income with other jobs, which often cuts into
class times. In addition, the teachers must also charge students fees to attend their classes, or offer additional for-fee classes outside the regular class times. This means that the poorest students are
often locked out of classes where the real teaching occurs.
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