Molina Leng
Cambodian Education Forum
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Innovations and Challenges in Cambodian Education: Youth’s Perspectives
Edited by Kimkong Heng, Koemhong Sol, Sopheap Kaing, and Sereyrath Em
© Cambodian Education Forum 2023
Summary
Corruption in education is a key issue for many countries because education remains the most important sector and the first priority for every country to develop their human resources. Since the education sector plays an essential role in national development, the risk of its destruction is most likely higher than that of other sectors. For this reason, corruption in education needs to be immediately addressed before it is too late in order to foster the development of human resources in any country. This chapter aims to raise awareness and attention about the corruption issue in the general education system and bring back the positive impact of this sector. This chapter will also discuss the causes and impacts of corruption in Cambodia’s general education as well as provide some recommendations to deal with this critical issue.
Keywords: Corruption; general education; impacts; recommendations
Introduction
After an education reform in 1996, Cambodia’s general education system was formulated as 6+3+3, which means there are 12 years of completion for general education, with six years for primary school, three years for lower secondary school, and another three years for higher secondary school or high school (Bookbridge Foundation, n.d.). Most Cambodian schools are under state governance, which means general education is free of charge for students entering school. While school is considered the most significant step for developing human resources, the issue of corruption inside the Cambodian school system remains a critical concern. Several reasons for corruption in schools include low salaries of teachers, corrupt culture, poor governance structure, and student cooperation in engaging in corruption (Sara, 2022).
When education is free of charge for students, many teachers in Cambodia, who receive a low salary, decide to commit corruption inside the classroom in many forms in order to earn more income for their living (Sao, n.d.). Besides, there is a lack of strict law enforcement from school management, allowing many teachers to continue to commit corruption. The high return rate from students who willingly engage in corruption is the reason why corruption in Cambodia’s general education remains and should be addressed (Sara, 2022).
This chapter aims to discuss the issue of corruption in Cambodia’s general education system. It begins by defining the general definition of corruption in education before discussing its main root causes and impacts on the general education system and students. The chapter ends with some recommendations on how to tackle corruption in general education.
What is corruption in general education?
According to UNESCO (n.d.-a), corruption in the education sector is characterized as the systematic use of public office for private gain, with substantial implications for the availability and equity of educational goods and services, as well as access and educational quality. Corruption in the education system is most likely worse than corruption in other sectors since it badly affects the potential growth and human resources of the whole country. In Cambodia, corruption in the general education system is primarily committed by both teachers and students, who are all committed to engaging in corruption based on their individual interests (Ponniah, 2014).
Main causes of corruption in the general education system
Corruption in the general education sector has threatened the quality of Cambodia’s general school system, contributing to many negative impacts (Wilwohl, 2014). This section discusses the major causes of corruption in education in the context of Cambodia’s general education. Major causes of corruption in education include low teaching salaries, corrupt cooperation between teachers and students, and a lack of strict law enforcement.
Low teaching salaries
Corruption in general education usually happens in poor or developing countries like Cambodia. Low salaries are one of the main reasons for teachers to commit corruption in school. According to Hammond (2018), Cambodian education has been slowly rebuilding since the Khmer Rouge regime (1975-1979). Cambodian education used to depend primarily on foreign aid because of the lack of resources and the low salaries of Cambodian teachers. As a result, in order to find a way to survive, many teachers conducted extra classes to make more money and forced their students to attend the extra classes (Soeung, 2021). Besides paying for extra classes, students also need to pay for exam papers charged by their teacher. After the new reform introduced in 2014, charging for exam papers or selling exam lesson papers is illegal for teachers (Chea, n.d.). It was also reported that a similar corrupt practice in the education sector was that school administrators forced teachers to pay for the facilitation fees to receive their monthly salary (The ASEAN Post, 2020).
Corrupt cooperation between teachers and students
Teachers alone cannot commit corruption in the classroom. Corruption in Cambodia’s general education system is also caused by the involvement or cooperation of students and their parents. When teachers force students to pay for exam papers, attend extra classes, and commit other corrupted activities, students are most willing to do so because they want to get a higher score and fear failing classes. According to Han (2021), the engagement between teachers and students in committing corruption in the classroom became a very normal thing in Cambodia’s general school classrooms, creating a corrupted culture. Students tend to willingly pay a high price for extra classes and exam papers, even though they know it is illegal or unethical. Although the students’ involvement is important, their parents are also the main actors in facilitating this corrupt culture. Han (2021) also mentioned that in the Cambodian context, some Cambodian parents normally give extra money to their kids’ teachers even though the teachers do not request it. The purpose is to ask for good care of their kids and sometimes to give them an extra score to pass an exam. This practice has become the norm in Cambodian society, perpetuating corruption in Cambodia’s general education.
Lack of strict law enforcement
The lack of strict law enforcement is an open door for corruption in Cambodia’s general education system. According to Bredenberg (2016), patronage networks in Cambodia are strongly rooted in all aspects of social organization, including schooling. Individuals such as district and school directors typically keep their posts not because of their talent or competency (although some of them may be competent), but because of their ties to a patron in a broad sense. A web of social reliance is widespread, reaching the provincial education offices and much further. It is, therefore, hardly surprising that people who engage in corrupt activities or are inadequately competent tend to keep their jobs in this climate. More importantly, rarely has anyone been fired for committing corruption. These practices remain common due mainly to the lack of strict and effective law enforcement (Bredenberg, 2016; Sara, 2022).
The impacts of corruption on Cambodia’s general education system
There are many negative impacts caused by corruption in the general education system. This chapter focuses on three impacts, such as contributing to poor educational outcomes, constraining human capital and socioeconomic development, and perpetuating educational inequality.
Contributing to poor educational outcomes
Due to the corrupt collaboration between teachers and students, some students could pass an exam or get into the next grade without proper merit or real knowledge. This has led to poor educational outcomes within the education system. Although the new examination reform introduced in 2014 has produced desirable results, as students could not access their phones, calculators, or any electronic devices during the exam, and the examination process was held under the fair and strict surveillance of Cambodia’s anti-corruption unit (Ouch, 2015), corruption in education remains a critical issue. For example, in the 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index, Cambodia’s education was reportedly ranked 8th among the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Heng, 2022). According to Sheith (2020), Cambodia was ranked 162 globally, making it one of the most corrupt and impoverished education systems in the world.
Constraining human capital and socioeconomic development
Human resources are essential for a country’s development. As corruption in the general education system has had a negative impact on human resource development, Cambodia suffers from a lack of qualified human resources to drive its development. Due to the limited quality of Cambodian general education, Cambodian students graduating from high school tended to have limited knowledge (Open Development Cambodia, 2014; Sao, n.d.). This is exacerbated by the presence of corruption in education, which allows some students to pass exams without real knowledge. This issue sparks concern for human capital and socioeconomic development in the country, making it difficult for Cambodia to realize its aspirations to become a knowledge-based society (see Heng, 2023).
Perpetuating educational inequality
Another negative impact caused by corruption in education is the perpetuation of educational inequality. According to Sao (n.d.), as teachers commit corruption in the classroom, they tend to give no care to their professionalism and morality. They focus only on earning more money via private tutoring or other forms of income-generating activities such as selling exam and lesson papers. In this situation, education inequality is sustained because students from affluent families can pay for extra classes or utilize their financial resources to take advantage of the presence of corruption, but those from lower-income families may not be able to do so (Sara, 2022).
Possible solutions to combat corruption in Cambodia’s general education
Corruption is a cancer that negatively impacts the whole education system and can threaten the development of other sectors. This issue, therefore, needs to be addressed as soon as possible. This chapter proposes three possible solutions to combat the corruption crisis in Cambodia’s general education system. These include introducing salary reform, implementing new education reform, and enhancing strict law enforcement.
Introducing salary reform for teachers
One possible anti-corruption strategy is introducing salary reform for teachers. According to the Anti-Corruption Commission (n.d.), the increase in teacher salaries can be done with a better tax system in order to eliminate corruption in various sectors. As teachers commit corruption because they receive a low salary, introducing salary reform may be a way forward to combat corruption in education. Although the Cambodian government has increased teacher salaries over the years (Kay, 2018), the salary scale is still low, compared to the cost of living, particularly in urban areas. By implementing salary reform, it is likely that teachers will stop committing corruption in the classroom because they already receive reasonable salaries for their work. In this sense, teachers’ remuneration scales must be regularly reassessed to account for the rising cost of living.
Implementing new education reform
Since corruption threatens the education system as a whole, introducing new education reforms should be another way forward to address this issue. According to Hangchuon (2018), one of the most effective anti-corruption strategies to fight corruption is changing the corrupted education system and conducting new education reform. The education reform for the grade 12 national examination introduced in 2014 is a good example of strategies to address corruption in education. This reform started at a very critical stage with the main purpose of improving the national examination system for the high school exit exam and stopping corrupted behaviors during examinations. The reform has helped to improve the examination process, which has in turn helped to improve the quality of graduates. As this education reform has contributed to fighting corruption in the general education system, new education reforms are needed to further combat corruption in education and improve Cambodia’s education system.
Enhancing strict law enforcement
Another way forward to deal with this critical issue is to enhance strict law enforcement within the school system and impose severe punishment for those committing corruption. According to Hallak and Poisson (2005), in order to reduce corruption in the education system, the government and schools need to enhance strong regulations, management methods, and strict law enforcement within the school system. In fact, school principals in Cambodia should be working on this matter by setting strict rules for teachers and school administrators in order to ensure that school regulations are effective, and breaking them will lead to punishment. As UNESCO (n.d.-b) noted, corruption could be addressed if strict law enforcement is implemented. Thus, teachers who break the rules or commit corrupt behaviors inside the classroom should receive punishment in terms of administrative sanctions, warnings, salary suspension, work suspension, or other forms of punishment. Strict law enforcement will raise teachers’ awareness of the consequences of committing corruption in education, potentially leading to the avoidance or reduction of corrupted practices in Cambodia’s general education.
Conclusion
This chapter has discussed the causes of corruption in education, including low teaching salaries, corrupt cooperation between teachers and students, and a lack of strict law enforcement. The impacts of corruption included contributing to poor educational outcomes, constraining human capital and socioeconomic development, and perpetuating educational inequality. The chapter has also discussed possible solutions to combat corruption, including the introduction of salary reform for teachers, the implementation of new education reform, and the enhancement of strict law enforcement.
As teachers are one of the most important actors in the education sector, they play a crucial role in improving the quality of education and developing human resources. However, since the reality in Cambodian society is that teachers carry out many responsibilities but are poorly paid, some of them decide to earn more money by committing corruption or other unethical behaviors. In addition to the strategies to combat corruption discussed above, it is important that the Cambodian government should prioritize the teaching career by providing a salary at an appropriate level compared to other positions.
It is also important to improve school resources. Because most public high schools in Cambodia continue to struggle with a lack of resources and facilities for teachers to carry out their day-to-day duties, the government should increase the national budget and invest more in the education sector to provide sufficient resources, including digital resources and other much-needed materials, so that schools can provide the best learning outcomes to students and teachers can no longer exploit their students. Finally, a true commitment to dealing with corruption in the education sector is needed to allow Cambodia to upgrade its education system and transform itself from a country with a poor education system to one with no or little corruption in its general education system.
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