Private Education in Cambodia

Education system is more or less good in Cambodia. In this place for a segment of the urban population, private education was very important. The time was in the years before the communist takeover. Some of the ethnic or religious minorities operate some private schools. The religious minorities are Vietnamese, Chinese, Roman Catholic, European, and Muslim. The main purpose of this action was the children could study their own language, religion and culture.
Some of the other schools are there that provide education to indigenous children. They include the students who could not gain admission to a public school. There are some private schools in Phnom Penh, whose attendance conferred a certain amount of prestige on the student.

French-language schools, Chinese-language schools, English-language schools, Vietnamese-language i.e. often Roman Catholic schools and Khmer language schools are included in the private educational system. In 1960s the enrollment in private primary schools was 32,000 whereas in 1970s it raised up to 53,500. But it can also be seen that enrollment in private secondary schools dropped from about 19,000 to fewer than 8,700 for the same period. In the year of 1962 there were 195 Chinese schools, 15 Vietnamese schools, 40 Khmer schools, and 14 French schools. All of these are operating in Cambodia. Several high schools are there that represent private secondary education. One important name can be mentioned as Lycée Descartes in Phnom Penh.

In 1970 government closed more or less all of the Vietnamese schools in Phnom Penh. Some of the Chinese schools were closed. In 1987 information wise there were no private schools in the PRK. But it has been seen that some private institutions were there in foreign languages.