Why Students Don't Go to University? - Introduction

Cambodia is considered to be a post-conflict society where the roots of many contemporary problems lie in the country’s tumultuous history. Juxtaposed between Thailand and Vietnam, Cambodia has been insecure and vulnerable to foreign territorial ambitions. The most prolonged experience of occupation was under the French colonial administration, which lasted for nearly a century until the French relinquished their Indochina colonies in the 1950s. After that, Cambodia met the first civil war, erupted in 1970 after General Lon Nol seized power from Cambodia’s long ruling Prince Norodom Sihanouk and then Khmer Rouge (1975-79). After Khmer Rouge had finished, Cambodia is not recognized as the peaceful country because we still hard the sound of guns occur around the border of country that made by the governmental soldiers and the rest of Pol Pot soldiers. However, Cambodia started to be better after the election in 1993 under help from UNTAC. Then, in 1998 Cambodia got fully peace without sound of gun happen again. Since the election in 1993, the new government started to develop the country under help from the international institutions in all factors such as economy, health, agriculture, industrial, education, etc. Amount those factors, international institutions and the government focus mainly about gender, especially in education. The female and male students have equal right opportunities to go to study. In the last fifteen years, the number of student at primary school, secondary school, high school, and college is being increased around the country both country side and city. Nevertheless, if we compare the number of student who have bachelor degree with the number of  student who have finished high school seem to be very different by considering to other countries have. In this case, there are some questions about what are the causes that make the students don’t continue their studies to college?


   Poverty and Education:  Education is officially free in Cambodia and available to all, though there are many costs, (both official and unofficial), and other barriers, that prevent children from attending. 

Children go to school for half a day, either mornings or afternoons, and a credible 80%+ of children enroll for primary school.  Costs of school uniforms, books and other materials, the need to travel greater distances, and unofficial fees, mean that only 25% start lower secondary school and just 9% start upper secondary school; (these are the averages for both sexes – the situation is far worse in rural areas and for girls).  Teachers’ salaries are only $30 to $50 per month and they cannot survive on this so are forced to charge unofficial attendance fees, or fees for extra tuition, or for examination results etc.  Such fees are beyond the means of the poorest families, and as children get older they are needed to work at home, so the problem is doubly difficult. More work and pressure make the poor lose interest in their education.



Married and Family: Many Cambodian families still adhere to the practice of selecting a husband for their daughters. The Suitability of the arrangement will of course vary from person to person. Poor and rural girls are especially vulnerable to unsuitable marriages whereby the daughter is effectively traded off to wealthy (and usually older) man in the community. This factor is enforce them to stop study or continue in college; moreover, the married and stop studying is not only appear on poor family but also the rich, too. Because the think that they have a lot of wealthy ,so the son or daughter should do business with their parents and parent find wife and husband for their son and daughter.