53907 Armed Conflict and Schooling in Cambodia and Rwanda The effects of genocide on schooling outcomes are negative and long lasting. A s more data from war regions become available, In Rwanda almost 10 percent of the country's the microeconomic impacts of civil war, and population was killed in 100 days genocide in particular, for non-combatants is The Rwandan genocide in 1994 is one of the most vio- coming into better focus.1,2 A study on Cambodia is lent episodes in recent history. At least 800,000 people based on one survey collected more than twenty years died during a period of approximately one hundred after the Khmer Rouge period; one for Rwanda is days. Unlike Cambodia, however, the conflict was based on two nationally representative cross-sectional short-lived and the regime that followed was relatively household surveys, one collected in 1992 (two years well-organized. As a result the school system was not as before the genocide started) and one collected in 2000 devastated as it was in Cambodia. (six years after the genocide ended). Few studies in The Rwanda study examines the effects of the geno- conflict areas have available data bracketing a conflict cide on children's enrollment and the probability of event. The study on Rwanda uses the pre-war data completing a particular grade, with a focus on primary to control for baseline schooling levels for a given schooling. Children of school-going age at the time of age group and exploits variation in birth cohorts of the conflict dropped out of school and subsequently at- children who were still in school during the active tained fewer years of schooling, but enrollment trends conflict period. suggest that the school system has recovered quickly. As in Cambodia, when one compares explicitly the In Cambodia over 2 million people were cohorts of people who were of school-going age during killed during the 1970s the genocide with previous cohorts, it becomes obvi- The 2000 Cambodia Demographic and Health Sur- ous that the exposed children experienced a significant vey provides data on these deaths using the infor- drop in educational attainment. mation given by surviving adults about the death Comparing the 1992 and 2000 survey data indicates of their siblings. This method potentially underes- this. Individuals aged 23 to 35 reported many more timates mortality during the period because entire years of schooling in the survey interviews conducted families that died are not represented. Nonetheless, in 2000 compared to interviewees of the same age in the data confirm that adult males and those with an urban or educated background were the most likely to die, and that violent deaths were a large share of Figure 1. Cambodia: Percentage with at least some the excess mortality.3,4 secondary education, by age in 1975 The conflict in Cambodia had long-lasting 50% Males effects on educational achievement This pattern of death explains the age distribution of 40% Cambodia's current adult population. The education 30% Females profile of the Cambodian population also reflects the consequences of the conflict: Men who were 14­18 years 20% old in 1975 have a lower level of educational attainment than men in the preceding and the subsequent birth co- 10% horts (fig. 1). By killing the more educated people and also closing down schools beyond the primary level, the 0% Khmer Rouge regime of the late 1970s disrupted edu- 0­3 4­8 9­13 14­18 19­23 24­28 29­33 34­38 39­43 44­48 49­53 cational progress in the country, a lasting legacy that Age in 1975 Cambodia has had to overcome. Source: Cambodia, Labor Force Survey, 2001. May 2008 econ.worldbank.org/research 1992 (fig. 2). This increase in educational achievement Those exposed to the genocide experienced a drop from 1992 to 2000 for people 23 to 35 years old likely in educational achievement of almost one-half year of reflects general progress in schooling outcomes. The completed schooling, and are less likely to complete cohort of individuals aged 23 to 35 in 2000 was older third or fourth grade, on average. than 17 at the time of the genocide, so a majority of them had already completed their schooling. Post-conflict periods have a long tail However, for people aged 6 to 23 (17 or younger in The aftermath of the violent conflicts in Cambodia and 1994) at the time of the genocide, educational attain- Rwanda shows that deliberate and sustained efforts are ment is consistently higher in 1992 than in 2000, con- needed to restore educational institutions, heal social tradicting the general tendency for education levels to fractionalization, and offer a "second chance" to youth increase over time. most affected by the conflict. Damien de Walque, Economist Figure 2. Rwanda: Highest year of schooling achieved, by age ddewalque@worldbank.org Years of schooling Notes 6 1 Damien de Walque. 2006. "The Socio-Demographic Leg- acy of the Khmer Rouge Period in Cambodia." Population 5 2000 Studies 60(2): 223­31. 4 2 Richard Akresh and Damien de Walque. 2008. "Armed Conflict and Schooling: Evidence from the 1994 Rwan- 1992 3 dan Genocide." World Bank Policy Research Working Pa- per 4606. 2 3 Patrick Heuveline. 1998. "`Between One and Three mil- 1 lion': Towards the Demographic Reconstruction of a De- cade of Cambodian History (1970­79)." Population Stud- 0 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 ies 52: 49­65. Age in 1999 or 2000 4 Damien de Walque. 2005. "Selective Mortality during the Khmer Rouge Period in Cambodia." Population and De- Note: Depending on the survey, the horizontal axis records an individual's age in either 1992 (for individuals from the 1992 data) or in 2000 (for individuals from the 2000 data). velopment Review 31(2): 351­68. Source: Demographic and Health Surveys for Rwanda, 1992 and 2000. Human Development and Public Services Research econ.worldbank.org/programs/hd_and_public_services