The paper considers whether letting children combine work and school is a valid and effective approach
in Cambodia. Policy makers’ suggestions that child labour should be allowed to some extent due to
household poverty appear ungrounded as no significant relation between children’s work and household
poverty is found while arranging school timetables flexibly in order to accommodate households’
perceived need for children’s labour may increase problems of insufficient teaching hours if schools
conduct their timetables unreliably. Considering these issues, the paper suggests the need for a more
diversified approach to dealing with the impact of child labour on their school education.