How Does Spousal Education

Matter? Some Evidence From Cambodia

by
TOMOKI FUJII
Fujii@are.berkeley.edu
and
SOPHAL EAR
Sophal@alumni.princeton.edu
(1) Consequences of War
n Decades of war have depleted or destroyed
nearly all of Cambodias human capital and
institutions1.7 million dead or 25% of pop.
n Nearly 2 million Cambodians aged 15 or older
are considered illiterate or nearly 1/3 of that
population, far behind Thailand and Vietnam
n More than 3/4 of Cambodias teachers and
secondary school students fled or were
murdered between 1975-1979
Introduction
n 36% of Cambodians are
considered poor (World
Bank, 1999a)
n 136
th
out of 174
countries in HDI (UNDP,
2000)
n GNP per capita (World
Bank Atlas method) was
$260 in 1999
n Lowest PPP per capita
GDP and life
expectancy in region
n Total fertility is high at
4.6% per year (1995-
2000) and 55% of
population is under 20
years of age (Census,
1998)
(2) Statistics from Cambodia
(3) Regional Comparison of HDI
136 1,257 4.6% 53.5 71.2%
Cambodia
140 1,734 5.8% 53.7 46.1%
Laos
108 1,689 5.8% 67.8 92.9%
Vietnam
76 5,456 1.7% 68.9 95.0%
Thailand
HDI Rank
GDP Per
Capita
3
Total
Fertility
2
Life
Expectancy
Adult
Literacy
1
Country
1 in 1998, 2 average 1995-200, 3 PPP US$, 1998
Human Development Index for Selected Countries (Source: UNDP, 2000)
n Human Development Index is low in the region
n Plus public sector employment is already large.
(152,166 in gov t and 138,506 in military)
? Education is essential for Cambodia
Literature Review of
Education in Cambodia
n Ayres (2000) on
history of education
since independence
in 1953
n Dykstra and Kucita
(1997) since 1900
n Fiske (1995) on
women and
education in
Cambodia
n Bray (1996, 1999)
looks at the
(private) cost of
(public) education
financing
n Sloper (1999)
examines the
reconstruction of
higher education
Limited Literature From an
Economic Perspective (1)
n Prudhomme (1969) was the first study from
an economic perspective
n Ear (1995) also took issue with the French
system of education (stress on civil servants)
n ADB (1996) was an excellent first attempt at
assessing the sector strategically
n These were authored before any major
survey results were available and, as a result,
both relied heavily on anecdotal evidence
n Thus, a very limited literature can be found.
Limited Literature From an
Economic Perspective (2)
n DATA: Socio-Economic
Surveys of Cambodia
(SESC 1993/94, 1996)
and the Cambodia
Socio-Economic Surveys
(CSES 1997, 1999)
n Randomly sampled
approximately 6,000
households and offered
important, nationally
representative, findings
n Analysis is done by
Prescott and Pradhan
(1997) and World Bank
(1999a)
n UNDP/Ministry of
Planning Cambodia
Human Development
Reports (UNDP 1997,
MoP 1998, MoP 1999,
MoP 2000)
The Disparity in Education
n Cambodian boys and
girls start on equal
footing in school
n Similar school
enrollment rate up to
age 10, but girls start
falling behind boys in
school enrollment from
then onwards
n Grades 4 and 5 see very
high dropout rates for
girls
n Inverse relship bet.
level of education and
girls participation. As
education level
increases, enrollment
rates of girls decrease.
n By age 15, male
enrollment is 50 percent
higher, by age 18 male
enrollment is nearly
three times larger than
female enrollment
rates.
MoEYS, 2000
Introduction (4)
n 83% male literacy and only 61% female
literacy
n More 1/3 of persons over 25 years of
age has not attended school, and of
these, 73 percent are women (MoEYS,
2000)
n Thus, the education of women is
especially important today