An estimated 35 percent of Cambodia’s adult population is literate. Public education is free and compulsory for the first 6 years. Primary school attendance increased rapidly in the 1990s, and by 1997 virtually all children were enrolled, as well as many older people who were unable to attend school in earlier years. Secondary education was more limited, with only 24 percent of eligible children enrolled. Seven institutions of higher learning, including the University of Phnom Penh, the University of Fine Arts, and the University of Agricultural Sciences, operate in the country. Only 1 percent of Cambodians of usual university age were enrolled in these schools in 1997.