The Private costs of public schooling: household and community financing of primary education in Cambodia

This book examines the scale and nature of household and community financing of primary education in Cambodia. It presents new data on this topic, and analyzes the implications for policy-makers and practitioners at different levels of the system. The book is concerned with the whole range of costs that are incurred to educate a child at the primary level. This includes the costs of uniforms, travel to school, and, for many households, supplementary tutoring. Less easy to quantify, but also important, are the opportunity costs of income foregone by children who attend school. Especially for the poorest families, these opportunity costs may be a major factor in the decision whether to keep a child in school, and even whether to enrol a child in the first place.