On the vast waters of Cambodia's Tonle Sap lake, where roads do not exist and boats are the only path between home and learning, a surge in global fuel prices has quietly become a wall between children and their futures. Families who fish to survive must now weigh the cost of casting their nets against the cost of carrying their children to school — a calculus no household should face. The 2026 energy shock, born of distant geopolitical conflict, has arrived most cruelly in the places least able to absorb it, reminding us that the right to education is never truly secured until the journey to
Fuel crisis threatens education for Cambodia's floating communities
Children in floating communities are missing school due to unaffordable transport costs; some have dropped out entirely, and safety risks increase when overcrowded boats travel during storms.
Education