Cheng Sokhorng

A primary school teacher’s complaint this week that his class numbers nearly 70 students in Oddar Meanchey’s Anlong Veng town has shed light on the broader issue of overcrowding in the Kingdom’s rural schools.

The Ministry of Education acknowledges a severe shortfall of teachers, and has tried to cap class sizes at 50 students, a figure that teacher representatives say is already too high, but a district official in Anlong Veng yesterday maintained that the recent complaints were simply ploys by teachers seeking more pay.

Nhorn Sarun, a grade 1 teacher at the Hun Sen Anlong Veng Primary School, says a typical classroom should have 30 to 35 students, but “in reality there are 66 students in my class”.

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At least the children are in school and not working in rice patties during the day...there are still many cultures where children...especially girls...are kept out of school by their male providers so that they are not educated to the point of protesting their human deprivation and suffering...