A Very Dry Rainy Season

This year Cambodia is experiencing a relative drought compared to the usual levels of rain during the Monsoon season. Before it started I was warned that it could rain all day, every day, for weeks on end in Mondulkiri, however, we’re lucky at the moment if it rains for an hour a day. Most days it is dry.

Although it feels pretty wet to me after months and months of complete dryness the lack of heavy rain is causing huge problems with crops, especially rice.
When I arrived in Cambodia last year, what I remember most is the severe flooding. This year aid agencies have already begun to help dealing with the drought and the likely ensuing food shortages. Food security is a big issue here in Cambodia, with many families unable to feed themselves adequately it becomes almost impossible to have an effective process of development. In order for education to take on a more important role it is necessary for people to have regular access to enough food. This in turn leads to better health and more time to focus on education.
In many of the villages I work in there is little to no food security. What the family eats that day is in direct response to how much they have managed to produce on the farm or work they have completed. This means that many children are pulled out of school in order to help the family on the farm or to care for younger siblings so their mother can work.

The school term starts on 1st October and the month of September is all about enrolment. I will be working with school directors and communities to ensure that every child of school age enrols in school. Keeping them there however is another kettle of fish entirely. Currently in Cambodia only 59% of children who enrol graduate from grade 6. It is in the rural, indigenous communities where it is hardest to keep the children in class and who can really blame them? When it is a choice between eating that day or sitting in a class where you don’t understand the language the teacher is speaking? I think the key to student retention in these schools is to make the education as relevant as possible to the children. However, teachers have to stick to the curriculum and there is limited support available for bilingual education.

With five years left until the Millennium Development Goals deadline, Cambodia has its work cut out to provide Education for All.