A research report into disability in Cambodia and the work of Marist Solidarity Cambodia.
Background
Cambodia is a country whose recent history is marked by devastation, particularly the period between 1975 and 1979 when the Khmer Rouge engaged in a bloody restructuring of Cambodian society that still lingers over the country today. Two million people lost their lives during this four-year period, which at the time represented a quarter of the population, with the victims coming ‘disproportionately from the urbanised and educated class’ (Hayden & Martin 2011, p. 32). With warfare continuing until the signing of the 1991 Paris Peace Accords, this prolonged conflict and genocidal targeting of the older and educated means that Cambodia has an extremely young population structure: the median age is just 24.9 years of age while 50% of the population are aged 24 and under (CIA 2016). It is therefore not surprising that Cambodia has faced many challenges in rebuilding the nation and keeping up with the need for education for a burgeoning and increasingly ambitious population.
Education
The education sector suffers from vast disparities between rural and urban dwellers, with rural children misrepresented across all levels of education due to poverty and the need to work and contribute to family livelihood. Countrywide, retention levels in primary school are barely above 50% with only three-quarters of those who complete primary school transitioning to secondary school (Hayden & Martin 2011). Those with a disability are shown to be less likely to attend school and more likely to drop out than their non-disabled peers (Van Leit, Channa & Rithy 2007).
Disability
The disability prevalence rate in Cambodia is estimated at 4.7% which means that due to the young population structure, around 360,000 children and young people under the age of 20 live with a disability, with a quarter of these being physical disabilities (Van Leit, Channa & Rithy 2007; Handicap International 2009). There are many factors that put children at risk of acquiring a physical disability, including lack of antenatal care, poor general healthcare and low vaccination rates, but also ranging to childhood accidents and as a result of unexploded ordnance.
The challenges faced by those with a physical disability are institutional and mainly due to inadequate services available – only 10% of schools have ramps and seated toilets; teachers not knowing how to teach children with a disability; and the stigma and discrimination faced with many Cambodians believing that disability is a result of bad karma for misdeeds in that persons’ previous life (Moss 2015; Van Leit, Channa & Rithy 2007). Handicap International (2009, p. 6) report that ‘high levels of poverty, distance to travel to school and difficulties in finding accessible transport are also key barriers to education’.
Although most Cambodian villages have a primary school, many schools do not offer a full grade 1-6 curriculum, while only 5.4% of rural villages have a secondary school (Humanitus 2016). The impact of this is that all students – disabled or able-bodied – must walk or ride long distances to school, attend a boarding school in a major town, or not attend school. A small scale research project found that 45% of children surveyed with a disability did not attend school at all while a Handicap International Kandal Province study shows that 43% of people with a disability are illiterate, compared to only 9% of non-disabled people (Van Leit, Channa & Rithy 2007). National surveys identify similar educational neglect amongst those with a disability and as a result of this multipronged disadvantage, a study prepared for UNICEF Cambodia (Bailey & Nguon 2014, p. 16) report that:
Marist Solidarity Cambodia
With 86% of those with a disability living in rural areas, it is often not possible to apply a comprehensive community-based rehabilitation model due to the sparsity of schools and services (Bailey & Nguon 2014). The philosophy of Marist Solidarity Cambodia is to enrol primarily rural children and provide them with access to education, while replicating the core underpinnings of this approach in a supported environment in Takhmao on the fringes of Phnom Penh.
LaValla Primary School, Villa Maria and the Community Village all act as safe places for children and young people with a physical disability to live whilst they attend school. The post-primary programs of Villa Maria and the Community Village support these students to overcome the challenges they faced in their home provinces by: working with schools in Takhmao that have previously been modified for inclusiveness; through providing transportation to and from school; and by providing disability training and awareness for the staff and students at these schools. Marist Solidarity Cambodia works holistically to ensure that these students can reach their potential.
In a meeting with the Ministry of Social Affairs to mark the National Assembly’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, Vanly Virya, the Executive Director of the Institute to Serve Facilitators of Development in Cambodia, reaffirmed the importance of education as a pathway out of poverty in his speech by proclaiming that (Khoun 2012):
‘…we need to address children first when dealing with disabilities, because if we want the disabled to engage in society, they have to have the same level of education as others’.
Marist Solidarity Cambodia is working from the bottom-up to improve educational outcomes for those with a physical disability. When a person with a disability is engaged in the education system, they are able to enjoy their human rights as it acts as a stepping-stone to living a better quality life and being able to secure their basic necessities in the future (Bailey & Nguon 2014).
Written By: Ashley Bulgarelli
Australian Marist Solidarity Projects Coordinator
References
Bailey, S & Nguon, S 2014, Situation analysis for disability-inclusive governance and community development in Cambodia, UNICEF Cambodia Local Governance & Child Rights, retrieved 28 July 2016, <https://dfat.gov.au/about-us/publications/Documents/cambodia-disability-inclusive-governance-community-development-sit-analysis.pdf>
CIA 2016, Cambodia, Central Intelligence Agency, retrieved 20 July 2016, <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cb.html>
Handicap International 2009, Briefing Paper: Disability facts in Cambodia, Handicap International France, retrieved 28 July 2016, <http://www.addc.org.au/documents/resources/briefing-paper-disability-facts-in-cambodia_948.pdf>
Hayden, M & Martin, R 2011, ‘The Education System in Cambodia: making progress under difficult circumstances’, in C Brock & LP Symaco, Education in South-East Asia, Symposium Books, Oxford, UK, pp. 31-52.
Humanitus 2016, Cambodia, Humanitus Foundation Inc, retrieved 23 December 2016, <http://www.humanitus.org/projects/cambodia/>
Khoun, L 2012, ‘Education ‘key’ for disabled children’, Phnom Penh Post, 14 August, retrieved 6 May 2016, <http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/education-‘key’-disabled-children>
Moss 2015, ‘Disabled education lacking’, Phnom Penh Post, 3 April, retrieved 23 October 2015, <http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/disabled-education-lacking>
Van Leit, B, Channa, S & Rithy, P 2007, ‘Children with disabilities in rural Cambodia: an examination of functional status and implications for service delivery’, Asia Pacific Disability Rehabilitation Journal, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 33-48.