Impact of disasters on the education sector in Cambodia

Natural disasters can cause terrible loss of life. However what is perhaps most disturbing are their impact on the most vulnerable, in institutions where safety should be paramount i.e. patients stranded in hospitals and children at their desks in schools. Indeed in respect of the latter innumerable cases of inadequately constructed schools have seen massive loss of life – for instance more than 17 000 students died in the 2005 Pakistan earthquake with the collapse of over 10 000 schools.

Cambodia’s youth have been similarly affected – children accounted for 80% of deaths in the devastating floods of 2000; whilst floods in 2001 and 2002 also caused disruption and widespread destruction to school buildings. It is not just death and devastation which is of concern but consequences for education - and the subsequent socio-economic impacts it may have on communities.

This paper from the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) seeks to evaluate the impact of disasters on the education sector in Cambodia. Indeed it finds that the country’s susceptibility to flooding has had dire consequences for education, due to:

• difficulty in accessing schools
• high drop-out rates caused by flood
• schools co-opted as emergency shelters in times of flooding by local community

In addition, the document asserts that inadequate technical capacity for school construction in remote/rural areas – consultants rarely travelling to remote areas to check for safety compliance – puts students at risk.

To address such concerns the authors offer a number of specific recommendations, including:

• Cambodian government financial planning should incorporate Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) measures so that all newly-built and renovated schools become hazard resilient
  
• since disasters not only disrupt education but often cause indirect impacts – damaged roads hinder access to the school for pupils – flood shelters and roads need improving
  
• projects should only build schools in non-flood prone areas, if such an area exists in the commune, even if it means they have to spend more in buying private property for construction
  
• integration of DRR in the school curriculum, particularly primary. Students in the primary classes are the most vulnerable to disasters and as there is a high drop out rate in Cambodia after primary school, DRR needs to be taught at this level
  
• development of guidelines by Ministry of Education in consultation with the Cambodian Red Cross for emergency planning in the schools – to complement the teaching of DRR