The Royal Government of Cambodia has the

ambition to transition from a lower-middle

income country to being an upper-middle
income country by 2030 and a developed
country by 2050. The immediate and future
economic growth and competitiveness of
the nation to realize the ambitions depends
on our people having the right knowledge and
relevant skills, reflecting our cultural and
ethical heritage.
The education sector plays an important role
in the national development. The children,
youth and adults will receive education and
lifelong learning services with high quality,
which are relevant and responsive to the labor
market demand. In order to realize in full the
benefits of Cambodias demographic dividend
there has to be a focus on building skills for
learning and providing opportunities for
access to technical and specialized skills for
all.
The Education Strategic Plan (ESP) 2014-2018
has been designed to respond to these
demands and makes clear the relationship
between national policy and the education
policy. The Plan demonstrates a logical
relationship between the strategic framework,
programs, activities and both human and
financial resources. There is provision for
strong monitoring and evaluation, feedback
and adjustment to the plan if needed.
The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport
(MoEYS) will continue to give a high priority to
equitable access for high quality basic
education services. The ESP 2014-2018 has
an increasing focus on the expansion of Early
Childhood Education, expanding access to
quality secondary and post-secondary
education and Non-Formal Education,
Technical and Vocational Education. Specific
measures will be taken to assure the
education for marginalized children and
youth. In order to provide focus,
accountability and clear outcomes the ESP
builds around seven key sub-sectors: Early
Childhood Education, Primary Education,
Secondary and Technical Education, Higher
Education, Non-Formal Education, Youth
Development and Physical Education and
Sport.
Within the context of decentralization,
providing the education system with the right
resources and the mechanisms to account
transparently is crucial to improving the
outcomes and impact of the education
activities. The ESP 2014-2018 includes
measures to improve the budget
management and to better linking results to
financial resources. Rigorous implementation
of the Teacher Code of Conduct, developing
the capacity of staff at all levels for effective
implementation against clear standards will
lead to better governance. In order to support
this, we will continue to implement the
strengthening of the partnership between the
Government and communities and parents,
the development partners, the private sector
and non-governmental organizations.
The ESP 2014-2018 has been developed in
the context of the National Strategic
Development Plan and as an evidence-based
response to the sector responsibility, taking
account of the reviews and analysis of the
previous ESP. There has been a rigorous
design process led by a High Level Task Force
and there have been wide national and sub
national consultations with the participation of
many stakeholders.
The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport
would like to express appreciation to
education staff from all levels for their efforts
in overcoming the challenges and contributing
so fully to the implementation of education
reform. Also, thanks to all Development
Partners for their continuing technical and
financial support in the development and
improvement of education in Cambodia

Continued technical support is provided to the

MoEYS to the review the ESP and development of
the Annual Operational Plan (AOP) 2011. With the
request from the MoEYS, together with the Unit of
Education Policy and Reform (EPR) of UNESCO
Bangkok Office, UNESCO provides technical
support to and works closely with the team of
MoEYS Department of Planning in adapting the
existing Cambodian Analysis and Projection
(CANPRO) tool to include the budgeting framework.
It is expected by the MoEYS that this tool can be
used as a basis for planning and budgeting
formulation of all MoEYS sub-sectors. It can also be
used as the tool for negotiation with the MoEYS
Department of Finance, by the individual
departments, and as the negotiation tool with the
Ministry of Economy and Finance on budgeting. The
adaptation of this tool is expected to be ready for
dissemination in late 2011. Deputy/Heads of the
departments/Institutions, educational planners and
financial officers from both national and provincial
levels will be invited to the training workshops, which
will be facilitated by the experts from UNESCO
Bangkok Office (for the national level), and at
provincial level by the team of the MoEYS
Department of Planning who have been worked
closely with the experts from Bangkok Office.
. The author argues that during the 1950s and
1960s, efforts to enhance basic education
opportunities for all Cambodians were largely
unsuccessful due to the lack of adequate
infrastructural mechanisms and a guiding
framework for action. Of the periods
considered in this study, only the Prince
Sihanouk regime (1950s-1960s) was relatively
socioeconomically advanced, and saw a
growth in the number of modern school
buildings, teacher training centres, and
universities. The succeeding regimes in the
1970s not only failed to maintain the
development, but by the second half of the
1970s the formal education system had been
completely dismantled. The collapse in 1979
of the Pol Pot regime made way for the rebirth
of traditional socio-cultural structures and the
wide expansion of schooling opportunities
throughout the 1980s. National rehabilitation
and reconstruction during the 1980s, despite
lingering social insecurity, marked
considerable and fundamental progress
towards the present educational situation of
this struggling nation. Cambodia, basic
education, policy, strategy, educational
development INTRODUCTION The developing
world has made tremendous strides in
expanding primary education in the past three
decades, and many countries have achieved
universal primary enrolment. Most developing
countries are, however, still a long way from
achieving universal primary completion. With
their populations growing faster than primary
school enrolments, many countries will have
to make a vigorous effort to reduce illiteracy
over the next ten or fifteen years. Lockheed
and Verspoor (1991, p.37) Post-conflict
Cambodia is no different from the above-
described developing nations.
Notwithstanding its tragic past, namely, civil
conflicts and a massive destruction of socio-
cultural settings and human resources, led to
a serious social and educational crisis during
the 1970s and 1980s. Since gaining
independence from France in 1953, the ideal
policy of building a nation-state through
educational development was successfully
implemented. New schools were built
reaching to rural and remote areas; and
universities, which the French had refused to
offer during its colonial period (1863-1953),
were established in the capital and several
main provincial cities. The improved schooling
opportunities of the 1950s and 1960s were
expressly declined during the 1970s. It is
estimated that between 75 and 80 per cent of
the teachers and higher education students
fled or died between 1975 and 1979
(Klintworth, 1989 as cited in Asian
Development Bank, 1996, p.5). The
restructuring progression in education
systems and the overall social services in the
early 1980s marks the countrys
recommitment to socio-economic
development and expanding educational
opportunity. The schooling rehabilitation
process was rutted and obstructed by the Dy
91 continued social insecurity, especially in
the rural and remote areas. The Asian
Development Bank (1996) described the
educational situation during the 1980s as
poor school conditions, large numbers of
unqualified teachers, an absence of a national
curriculum framework, inadequate book
supply systems, and a high pupil dropout rate
in primary school. Nevertheless, Duggan
(1996) noted since the early 1980s that basic
education opportunity had been massively
expanded through the initiation of
comprehensive primary schooling strategies.
Since the 1990 Jomtien World Conference on
Education for All (WCEFA), Cambodian
leaders, especially in the late 1990s have
made numerous efforts to provide
accessibility for nine years of its currently
defined basic education, to all their citizens.
The contemporary regimes policy on
universal nine-year basic education of high
quality, which aimed to achieve before the
beginning of the twenty-first century, is
excessively ambitious (Dy and Ninomiya,
2003). A bunch of strategic approaches
employed to accomplish its profound goal of
basic education for all were barely, fully
implemented for the lack of funding and
disturbed social insecurity in several parts of
rural and remote areas during the 1990s
(ADB, 1996; Ayres, 2000; Dy, 2003; Prasertsri,
1996). Many of the targets for the year 2000
were not reached for several reasons such as
are found in insufficient number of schools,
financial burdens on the households,
insufficient learning and teaching facilities
which caused low enrolment and high dropout
rates within the basic education level. This
study covers Cambodias recent four regimes
of different political trends and ideology
dating from the 1950s to the 1980s
attempting to build, reform, adjust, and
transform the face of Cambodia from their
respective political strategies. The central
question begs to be asked here is what can an
examination of educational strategies and
policies of the pervious regimes of Cambodia
explain how basic education evolved and why
it was not fully enhanced? This paper traces
and analyses educational strategy and policy
development from 1950 to the period before
the 1990 WCEFA with a special concern on
basic education strategies and policies. This
period is critically significant for the history of
formal and mass modern schooling system
in Cambodia. It covers the very last few years
during the French colonial era, Prince
Sihanouk regime (1953-1970), Lon Nol regime
(1970-75), Pol Pot or infamous regime of the
Khmer Rouge (1975-79), and Heng Samrin
regime (1979-1989). It probes the regimes'
educational strategies and policies for their
citizens in line with the socio-economic
factors and their political trends. Their inputs,
methods, and outputs are discussed so as to
explain their commitments to building or
changing Cambodia. A modernization of the
Cambodian traditional education system,
done by the French, has lent support to socio-
economic development and building a nation-
state in the postcolonial era. This essay draws
extensively on chronological government
reports, ideas of other scholars, dialogues
with senior government education officials,
Khmer narratives and literature, and personal
memory and understandings. BACKGROUND:
KHMER TRADITIONAL EDUCATION SYSTEM
VERSUS THE FRENCH MODERN EDUCATION
SYSTEM Cambodian [Khmer] people were
among the first in Asia to adopt religious
concepts and sociopolitical institutions,
presumably from India, and to create a
centralized kingdom occupying large
territories in the present-day mainland South-
East Asia, with comparatively sophisticated
culture (Chandler, 1988; Encyclopedia
Britannica, 2001). This Indianized royal
headship regarded their religious leaders as
their intellectuals and guru (teachers), hence
this allowed the religious institutions to play
the role of educating their children and
people. The temple education practice was
first seen widespread in around the twelfth
century allocating the Buddhist institutional
92 Strategies and Policies for Basic Education
in Cambodia: Historical Perspectives system
of shaping the youth with Buddhist principles
about individual life, family, civil society, and
at least some basic literacy and numeracy
skills. This public schooling system could
allowably continue to provide only primary
education (Bit, 1991, p.50). The teachers were
volunteer Buddhist men (monks: sangha or
acharj). This traditional schooling system had
been implemented as early as the seventh
century for mainly the elite members in
society (Chandler, 1988). The system
escalated to the highest degree of education
in Buddhist Philosophy known as pundit or the
highest learning as noted by Chou, a Chinese
envoy to Angkor (former Cambodian capital)
during 1296-1297 (Chou, 1953). Bray (1999)
noted this long tradition of schooling financed
primarily from the contributions by villagers or
local community. This formal learning at the
temple schools were restricted to males for
one of the main reasons that the teachers
were Buddhist monks and the students were
required to stay and work at the temple. In
traditional education curricula, students were
taught sacred Khmer texts such as the Sutra
which contains the precepts of Buddhism,
literary traditions, and social life skills. The
principal aim of the temple schooling system
was to equip young men with the principles of
life and society such as social conduct, moral
ethics, as well as to achieve a certain degree
of basic literacy. The French colonized
Cambodia in 1863, but the colonial
government did not introduce a socalled
modern French schooling system until the
early 1900s. This introduction was mainly to
target the very few Cambodian elite
communities to serve the colonial powers
since the temple schools were only aiming to
sustain Khmer traditional culture. However, it
helped give for the first time, opportunity for
girls to have access to formal schooling. For
the first 20 years of their colony, Chandler
(1991) found the French had done so little to
interfere with traditional politics and even
neglected educational development in
Cambodia. In the early twentieth century, the
colonial administration began to modernize
the traditional schooling system by
integrating into the French schooling system,
arguing that Cambodias progress in more
cooperation and improved agricultural
production would serve better the colonial
power. Chandler (1998, p.156) commented,
Before the 1930s the French spent almost
nothing on education in Cambodia. The
French were reluctant to enhance education
for the idea that education would empower
Cambodians and tentatively bar Frances grip
(Clayton, 1995). Some scholars even argued
that the French purposefully withheld quality
education from Cambodians in order to
consolidate and then to maintain power.
French schools did indeed fail to enrol
significant numbers of Cambodians until late
in the colonial period. Several scholars (Ayres,
2000; Bray, 1999; Chandler, 1991; Clayton,
1995) see the modernization of the traditional
education system and the integration of the
French-oriented curriculum into the traditional
Khmer curriculum as a French socioeconomic
exploitation. Kierman (1985, p.xiii), as quoted
by Clayton (1995 p.6), argued: There were
160 modern [that is controlled by the French]
primary schools with 10,000 pupils by 1925
but even by 1944, when 80,000 [Cambodians]
were attending [some sort of] modern primary
schools, only about 500 pupils per year
completed their primary educationby 1944
there were only 1,000 secondary students
even by 1953 there were still only 2,700
secondary students enrolled in eight high
schools in Cambodia. Such a low investment
in modernizing Cambodian education is likely
because traditional Cambodian intellectuals,
especially the Buddhist monks, resisted the
Frenchs attempt to Romanize their traditional
language scripts in the 1940s as the French
had successfully done to the Vietnamese
(Chandler, 1998; Osborne, 1969). Seeing that
their traditional culture of education on Dy 93
the verge of collapse caused by the French
reform, the Cambodians resisted and even
actively opposed the French reform in rural
areas (for discussion see Clayton, 1995).
EVOLVING CONCEPTS OF EDUCATION AND
BASIC EDUCATION From a traditional, social
and cultural perspective, education is
literally defined by Cambodians on one hand
as an honest route to better the human
condition, intentionally aimed at shaping
individuals for a better lifestyle, knowledge,
and good manners for living in their
respective societies. On the other hand, the
contemporary Cambodian perception of
education refers to a process of training and
instruction, especially of children and young
people in schools, which is designed to give
knowledge and develop skills. Both induct the
maturing individual into the life and culture of
the group. This consciously and purposefully
controlled learning process is conducted by
more experienced members of society. In
traditional education the pupils received
instruction in the arts of writing, ethical
precepts, practical philosophy, and good
manners. There were also traditional codes of
conduct and rules (chbab) for men and
women requiring them to learn and obey to
become good members of the Khmer family
and society. Thus basic education, as a
minimally adequate level of education to live
in society is varied in accordance to socio-
cultural and socio-political factors of the state.
The majority of Cambodians are peasants
relying on subsistence agriculture.. What
should be an adequate level of basic
education that Cambodian citizens should be
equally equipped? The 1990 WCEFA identified
basic education as aimed at meeting basic
learning needs. Hence, the length of formal
education and education content should
depend on the policy of the individual society
or country. With reference to this definition,
Cambodian basic education was identified in
the 1950s and 1960s as at the primary
education level in urban areas and at basic
literacy level (being able to read and write
everyday-life texts) in rural areas (Ministry of
National Education, 1956-57). The level of
education, which should be appropriate to
meet basic learning needs during this period
was unclear. In the mid-1980s the
government started its commitment to
strengthening the quality of educational
provision. Education officials noted that during
the 1980s, basic literacy or at least
completion of the fourth grade of the primary
cycle (then five years in length) was sufficient
for achieving basic education. ENHANCING
BASIC EDUCATION OPPORTUNITY: 1950-60 In
the last few years before the French left
Cambodia, the colonial government, with
recommendations from UNESCO, grudgingly
introduced compulsory education for children
aged 6 to 13 years. Events during these years
have shown that the effort to provide
compulsory, free primary education was too
hasty. In the report presented at the UNESCO
14th International Conference on Public
Education, Princess Ping Peang Yukanthor in
1951 stated: The principle of compulsory
education can thus not be fully applied until
the government is in a position to fulfill its
essential duties through the possession of 94
Strategies and. Prince Norodom Sihanouk was
crowned King of Cambodia by the French
colonial power in 1941 when he was still a
senior high school student at a French Lyce
in southern Vietnam. His policies for education
after gaining independence were to attain the
goal of compulsory primary education for all
and to increase, at all levels of educational
opportunities from primary to university
institutions. His efforts were to build a
prosperous nation-state through educational
development. New principles of educational
development in the 1950s, with the
recommendations from UNESCO, were
introduced and some were fully implemented
such as increasing more learning
opportunities for boys and girls and fighting
illiteracy among adults in rural areas.
However, the achievement was far from
satisfactory. Statistically, only 10 per cent of
female adults were basically literate in 1958
(Peng Cheng Pung, 1959. By the late 1960s,
more than one million children enrolled in
primary education as compared with about
0.6 million in 1960 and 0.13 million in 1950.
From 1950 to 1965 the number of females
enrolled at the primary level grew from 9 per
cent to 39 percent. The number of teachers
and schools has expanded commensurately
from 1950 to 1964. Although primary
enrolment rate increased, the illiteracy rate
was estimated 50 per cent in 1953 for a
population of 3.7 million and at 55 per cent
for a population of 6.2 in 1966. Reflecting its
attention and commitment to formal
education in building a modern and peaceful
state, the regime even increased national
budget for education to over 20 per cent of
the national expenditure by the late 1960s.
the regime had failed to universalize basic
education and enhance employment for high
school and university graduates. Thus,
Duggan (1996, p. 364) criticized the regime:
The education system provided by Sihanouk
was biased towards the nations large cities.
Rural Cambodia did not benefit from the
selective expansion strategies employed by
the Prince (Sihanouk) and handsomely built
universities did not assist rural children and
their familys poverty. Despite criticisms of the
regime for not having enhanced nationwide
literacy-oriented education or increasing
quality schooling opportunities for all, the
regime marked a great recovery of Cambodia
in the past few hundred years of its history.
Dunnett (1993) claimed that during the
1960s, Cambodia had one of the highest
literacy rates and most progressive education
systems in Southeast Asia. Dy 95 The belief
that enhanced education would bring the
benefit of higher employment in the
government sector was raised in these works,
which was also subsequently reflected in
school curriculum. The social value of
furthering the education of the individual,
leading to a better future, was closely
associated with the increased development of
higher education institutions in the larger
cities. However, the failure to give top priority
to basic education during the 1960s led to the
crisis in education system (for further
discussion see Ayres. During the early 1970s
Cambodia was inevitably drawn into the
Vietnam War. The national instability and
political turmoil led the Lon Nol regime to
reduce educational funding and many school
closed in rural areas. Simultaneously, many
teachers fled to join the Khmer Rouge
movement while student and teacher
demonstrations frequently occurred in Phnom
Penh. SCHOOLING ABOLITION: 1975-79
Cambodia was eventually plunged into a
complete darkness during the regime of
Democratic Kampuchea, or the infamous
Khmer Rouge, locally known as the Pol Pot
regime which came into power in April 1975.
The regime led Cambodia into revolutionary
Maoist communism. Pol Pots so-called great
leap revolutionary regime further ravaged
Cambodia through the mass destruction of
individual property, schooling system, and
social culture by forcing the entire population
either into the army camps or onto collective
farms (Chandler, 1998; Dunnett, 1993).
Damage was inflicted not only to the
educational infrastructure, but Cambodia also
lost almost three-quarters of its educated
population under the regime when teachers,
students, professionals and intellectuals were
killed or managed to escape into exile (ADB,
1996; Prasertsri, 1996). During the early years
of this regime, basic education was deemed
unnecessary since almost all citizens were
working in factories and farms (for
EDUCATIONAL REHABILITATION AND
RECONSTRUCTION: 1979-1989 Peoples
Republic of Kampuchea (PRK) or Heng Samrin
regime (1979 to 1989) started to rebuild the
country. The regimes top priority between
1979 and 1981 was to reinstall educational
institutions. Generous support from UNICEF
and International Red Cross, together with a
strong determination to restructure Cambodia
by the PRK, saw about 6,000 educational
institutions rebuilt and thousands of teachers
trained within a very short period (Dunnett,
1993). According to an interview with a senior
education official who had been involved in
basic education system and teacher training
since 1979, the regimes policy on enhancing
education was: 1979-1981 was a period of
restructuring and rehabilitating of both
infrastructure and human resources. By
restructuring and rehabilitation I refer to
collecting school-aged children and putting
them into schools despite in the poor
condition. Classes were even conducted in
makeshift, open-air classrooms or under trees.
We appealed to all those surviving teachers
and literate people to teach the illiterates. We
used various slogans such as going to teach
and going to school is nation-loving and so
on. There were no official licences or any
requirements for taking on the teaching job.
We just tried to open schools and literacy
classes, regardless of their quality. The rebirth
of education in Cambodia in 1979 represents
a historically unique experience from that of
any other nations. In the early 1980s, all
levels of schooling (from kindergarten to
higher education) were reopened and the
total enrolment was almost one million. Many
teachers were better trained and quality
gradually enhanced. Enrolment in primary
education in 1989, increased to 1.3 million,
and in lower secondary to 0.24 million,
compared with only 0.9 million and 4,800 in
1980 (Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport,
1999). However, it is worth noting that in any
primary school, about 30 per cent of the
children had no father, 10 per cent had no
mother, and between 5 and 10 per cent were
orphans (Postlethwaite, 1988). The political
and economic disturbance haunted Cambodia
pending the second term of the current Royal
Government and the complete eradication of
the Khmer Rouges machinery and
organization in 1998. Nevertheless, the
people of Cambodia still have pride and look
forward to a golden age when their nation will
again be prosperous. CONCLUSION Social and
political factors of the last four decades from
the 1950s to the 1980s determined the flux of
crisis and progress of the schooling systems.
The former extensive Khmer Empire,
Cambodia suffered massive socio-cultural
destruction, political turmoil, genocide,
international isolation, and socio-economic
crisis during the civil conflicts of the 1970s
and 1980s. Political and economic problems
during the above two decades were not
isolated from the education structure, which
was also seriously damaged during the civil
conflicts. Shifting from limited or no access for
girls to formal education within the traditional
school system to the French schooling system
in the early twentieth century was a positive
step towards universal basic education.
However, although primary education was
made compulsory in the 1950s and 1960s,
there was no presence of mechanism in
handling the implementation of the policy. The
changing concepts of basic education from
basic literacy to primary education, and to
primary plus lower secondary education in the
mid 1990s saw the expansion of learning
opportunities for better lifestyle and socio-
economic amelioration in contemporary
Cambodia. The experiments of the 1950s and
1960s were largely unsuccessful because
modern educational contents and outcomes
could not meet the actual needs of the society
at that time. In other words, many

Cambodia has made significant improvements in

education over the last years. The Ministry of
Education, Youth and Sport (MOEYS) is close to
achieving universal access to primary education; the
country achieved a 98 percent primary net
enrollment rate in 2015. Cambodia has also
strengthened gender parity in education, with girls
comprising 48 percent of primary students.
Cambodia has built nearly 1,000 new schools in the
last ten years and has invested significant resources
to expand access to a quality education. The
government has committed 18 percent of the
national budget to education. Between the years
2010 - 2014, the government revised the national
curriculum and corresponding student learning
materials with the goal to improve learning. Despite
these gains, Cambodia has one of the highest pupil-
to-teacher ratios in the region and only 53 % of third
graders are reading at grade level.
ACTIVITIES
Early Grade Reading Analyses and
Capacity Building
To inform and expedite start-up for a new Early
Grade Reading (EGR) program, USAID conducted a
comprehensive early grade reading sector
assessment in 2015.
 The EGR Sector Assessment identified
specific technical areas where USAID could
provide immediate support to strengthen
MoEYS systems, tools and capacity. During
2016, USAID has supported bridging
activities to build MoEYS capacity to
develop and manage early grade reading
assessment tools and processes. This
support will help the MOEYS to have
reliable and valid tools and assessment
procedures to measure early grade reading
skills.
In collaboration with the MoEYS Primary
Education and Education Quality Assurance
Departments, USAID provided technical
assistance to update the 2009 early grade
assessment tool and pilot tested the new
instrument in selected schools.
Support for Senior MoEYS Engagement
on Global Education Policy Dialogue
Over the past year, USAID supported three MoEYS
delegation visits to the U.S. to engage on global
education policy dialogue and see different U.S.
models for school management and education
service delivery. Senior MoEYS officials participated
in the School Drop-out and Prevention Summit, the
USAID Global Education Summit and, most recently,
were invited to present on early grade reading
assessment to commemorate International Literacy
Day 2016 at the Library of Congress in Washington,
D.C
Education in Cambodia
Early 1900
Education progressed very slowly in Cambodia. The
French colonial rulers did not pay attention to educating
Khmer. It was not until the late 1930s that the first high
school opened. However, after gaining independence from
France, the government of Prince Norodom Sihanouk
made substantial progress in the field of education in the
1950s and 1960s. Elementary and secondary education
was expanded to various parts of the country, while higher
learning institutions such as vocational institutions,
teacher-training centers and universities were established.
Unfortunately, the progress of these decades was
obstructed by the Khmer Rouge regime.
Education & Khmer Rouge
During the regime of the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to
1979, education in Cambodia was the first one to be
disintegrated by Pol Pot's Communist leaning
government. Back then, schools nationwide were ordered
to be closed. Teachers were among the first victims of the
Khmer Rouge's purging as they radically were preparing a
massive indoctrination program for the youth. In fact,
90% of the teachers that time were killed while the rest
fled the country or stayed in anonymity.
Education & occupation Vietnam
Vietnam, who occupied Cambodia in 1980 as a result of
Pol Pot's transgressions into Vietnamese territories,
slowly re-integrated education. However, not all were
able to able to gain access to the new educational system
but was only available to children of civil servants. One
catch also during that time was that lessons were biased to
the Vietnamese culture.
Current situation education
Currently, post-Vietnam occupation and back to the
Cambodia's monarchial rule, education has improved
greatly. The constitution now promulgates a compulsory
education for everyone. All eligible students have free
access to education for nine years. However, as much as it
is put into law, providing this basic service is not widely
enforced.
Problems like lack of qualified teachers, low student
attendance in the rural areas still persist. There are not
many who are willing to teach as salary and benefits are
unattractive while students from the rural areas prioritize
helping their families cultivate the fields.
Daily challenges
The daily realities for both teachers and students in the
Cambodian education system are very challenging.
Teachers face inadequate salaries and the need to charge
students fees for services. Students face inadequate
facilities, large classroom size, sometimes travel times to
nearby villages or towns, and high costs for their families.
At the upper levels these problems are compounded by
the need to pay bribes to pass the upper secondary level
exams and to secure admission to universities. This is one
factor that has contributed to the growth in private sector
education.
Literacy, knowledge and development
Presently, Cambodia still has a high illiteracy rate where
76.25% of men and 45.98% of the women have yet to
know their ABCs. The Ministry of Education Youth and
Sport has a strategic plan in place and have already
launched programs like the National Development
Strategic Plan 2006-10, Cambodia Millennium
Development Goals, and the Education for All National
Plan 2003-2015 to give Cambodian children hope for a
brighter future.
empowering Youth in Cambodia is a
grassroots organization based in Phnom Penh,
Cambodia working to improve the lives of
young people and their families. Our vision is
to see youth empowered with skills and
confidence to be leaders who actively develop
themselves, their families and the community
for positive change.
Most students study in a public primary
school, high school or university, as well as
work to support their studies. During the
morning and afternoon the younger students
come to study basic English, health and life
skills before or after school. In the evenings
the students are mostly teenagers who are in
high school. The students must live in the
community to qualify to study at the school,
unless given special permission.
http://eycambodia.org/ donation website
EYC currently runs 4 learning centers, operating as
combined schools and community centers, in Phnom
Penh poverty-stricken communities. The schools are
houses that we rent in a price range of approximately
$100-$200 per month, each with a classroom and small
computer lab. Each of the schools has roughly the same
curriculum:

Mornings and afternoons are classes for

children (aged 6 to 13 years old) with
some English classes, hygiene lessons,
art, sports, and games.
Evenings have 3 different levels of English
for youth, generally aged 14 to 24, as well
as some health, life skills, and leadership
training.
Computer skills are taught throughout
each day, into the evening.
On weekends, each school runs a variety of activities
including sports, leadership seminars, Youth Leadership
Challenge, community organizing, youth legal rights,
yoga, dancing, aerobics, art and an IT Forum.

In this post, Sokhan Khut, Country Manager for

Cambodia at BOOKBRIDGE, gives a short
introduction to the Cambodian Education System.

In Cambodia, an education system has been in place since

at least from the thirteenth century on. Traditionally,
Cambodian education took place in the Wats (Buddhist
monasteries) and was offered exclusively to the male
population. The education involved basic literature, the
foundation of religion and skills for daily life like
carpentry, artistry, craftwork, constructing, playing
instruments etc.

This traditional education was gradually changed when

Cambodia was a French colony (1863-1953). The French
introduced a formal education system influenced by a
Western educational model, which was developed through
the independence period (1960s), alongside with the
traditional education. During the following civil wars, the
education system suffered a chronic crisis and was
completely destroyed during the Red Khmer regime
(1970s). Between 1980s and 1990s, education was
reconstructed from almost nothing and has been
gradually developed until now.

Presently, after its reform in 1996, the formal educational

structure of Cambodia is formulated in 6+3+3. This
means 12 years for the completion of general education
that divides up into six years for primary education (grade
1 to 6) and six years for secondary general education
(grade 7 to 12). Secondary education consists of three
years each for lower secondary education (grade 7 to 9)
and upper secondary education (grade 10 to 12). This
formulation does not include at least one year for pre-
school education (kindergarten) for children from 3 to
below 6 years old and universitary education of 4 to 5
years.
Two others components of Cambodian educational
structure involve non-formal education providing all
children, youth, adult, disabled people with literacy and
access to life skills. The other component is teacher
training education. This allows students that successfully
completed grade 12 or grade 9 to pursue teacher
certificates at provincial teacher training colleges (for
primary school teachers) or regional teacher training
centers (for lower secondary school teachers).

Currently, the educational system is run by the

Cambodian state, but private education exists at all levels
and is run by private sectors. Most private schools
offering pre-school education and general education have
been operated by the communities of ethnic and religious
minority including Chinese, Muslim, French, English and
Vietnamese. Private higher education is accessible mainly
in the capital of the country, but it is also available
throughout the provinces of Cambodia.
Cambodian general education is based on a national
school curriculum that consists of two main parts: basic
education and upper secondary education. Basic
education curriculum is divided into three cycles of three
years each. The first cycle (grade 1-3) consists of 27-30
lessons per week lasting 40 minutes which are allocated
to the five main subjects:
Khmer (13 lessons)
Maths (7 lessons)
Science & Social Studies including Arts (3 lessons)
Physical and Health Education (2 lessons) and local
life skills program (2-5 lessons)

The second cycle (grade 4-6) comprises of the same

number of lessons but is slightly different:
Khmer (10 for grade 4 and 8 for grade 5-6)
Maths (6 for grade 4-6)
Science (3 for grade 4 and 4 for grade 5-6)
Social Studies including arts (4 for grade 4 and 5 for
grade 5-6)
Physical and Health Education (2 for grade 4-6)
Local life skills program (2-5 for grade 4-6).

The third cycle (grade 7-9) consists of 32-35 lessons

which are allocated for 7 major subjects:
 Khmer
Maths
Social Studies and Science (6 lesson respectively)
Foreign languages (4 lessons)
Physical & Health Education and Sports (2 lessons)
Local life skills program (2-5 lessons)

Upper Secondary Education curriculum consists of two

different phases. The curriculum for the first phase (grade
10) is identical to the third cycle of primary education
(see above). The second phase (grade 11-12) has two
main components: Compulsory and Electives.
Compulsory involves four major subjects with different
numbers of lesson allocated per week: Khmer literature (6
lessons), Physical & Health Education and Sports (2
lessons), Foreign language: English or French (must
choose one, 4 lessons each) and Mathematics: Basic or
Advance (must choose one, 4 or 8 lesson respectively).
Electives include three major subjects covering four or
five sub-subjects with four lessons allocated per week for
each one (students may choose one or two or three of
them):
Science: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Earth and
Environmental Studies
Social Studies: Moral/Civics, History, Geography,
Economics
EVEP: ICT/Technology, Accounting Business
Management, Local Vocational Technical Subject,
Tourism and Arts Education and other subjects

For those choosing Basic Maths or Advance Maths must

choose four sub-subjects or three subjects respectively
from the electives.

t. There are three ways of providing and receiving

education: formal, non-formal and informal. The formal
education structure consists of pre-school education six
years of primary school (grades 1-6) where pupils should
be enrolled at the age of six, three years of lower-
secondary school (grades 7-9) and three years of upper
secondary school (grades 10-12). For the academic year
2009-2010, the total number of students was 3,248,479
(1,540,077 female) and the number of educational staff
94,723. We had 10,115 schools with a total of 80,508
classrooms. With the improvement in the national
economy, especially in the capital of Phnom Penh,
education has become a more valuable commodity and
private schools were opened.
For those who have dropped out of school without
completing the basic education level (grades 1-9), there
are opportunities to attend literacy and life-skill
programmes as well as short-term vocational training
programmes offered by the MoEYS, Ministry of Women
Affairs (MoWA) and Non Governmental Organisations.
After completing lower-secondary education, students
have the option of continuing to upper-secondary
education or of entering secondary-level vocational
training programmes offered by the Ministry of Labour
and Vocational Training (MoLVT). After completing
upper-secondary education, students enter vocational
training or tertiary education.

For teacher training, currently there are 18 Provincial

Teacher Training Colleges (PTTCs) for primary school
teachers, 6 Regional Teacher Training Colleges (RTTCs)
for lower secondary school teachers, 1 National Institute
of Education (NIE) for upper secondary school teachers
and 1 Pre-school Teacher Training Center for pre-school
teachers.

Since 2000, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport

(MoEYS), with support from UNESCO and other
partners, has embarked on a policy-based sector-wide
reform, guided by a five year Education Strategic Plan
(ESP) designed to accelerate achievement of Education
for All (EFA). This has been a challenging process,
requiring extensive research and analysis of sector
performance and trends in order to formulate new reform
policies and strategies based on the existing educational
major policies: to universalize 9 years of basic education
and developing opportunities for functional literacy; to
modernize and improve the quality of education through
effective reform; to link education/training with labour
market and society; to rehabilitate and develop youth and
sport sub-sector.
children in Cambodia have many barriers standing
between them and a great education. Poverty is one
problem, but so is a lack of education spending in this
country and the endemic system where even state schools
charge students each month to help cover saalries and
other expenses. The objective of Savong's School is to
provide free education, the necessary teaching resources
for teaching, and the opportunity for the best students to
proceed to university.

In Cambodia 12.4% of government spending is in

education
Of Cambodia's 14.4 million people, half are under
age 22 - and so there is a burgeoning school age
population. Education statistics are improving
dramatically but are still very low by world standards.
By the end of 2010 the Cambodian Government
acknowledged that foreign-funded schools were an
integral and necessary part of the education system: a tacit
admission that it was unable to meet the costs of such a
system by itself. Likewise, foreign-funded NGOs face
strict ultimatums if they criticise the Government.
Education facts and figures: Cambodia

Primary School Data

Net primary school enrolment ratio - The number of

children enrolled in primary school who belong to the
age group that officially corresponds to primary
schooling, divided by the total population of the same
age group.
Males 93%

Females 90%

Net primary school attendance - Percentage of

children in the age group that officially corresponds to
primary schooling who attend primary school. These
data come from national household surveys.
Males 73%

Females 76%

A UNESCO estimate is that 10% of eligible primary

 students currently do not attend school.

Primary school entrants reaching grade five -

Percentage of the children entering the first grade of
primary school who eventually reach grade five
(equivalent of age 10 or 11 in western schools.)
56% (admin figures)

95% (survey figures.) Take your pick!

World Bank figures suggest that in 2006 some 87%

of students who begin primary school complete
primary school. Among those below the poverty line
however - with family incomes below $US30 per
month - 65% complete primary school. Both results
were significant improvements over the 1999-2000
figures.

Student to teacher ratio in primary schools.

According to World Bank figures there are 50
students per teacher.

Secondary School Data and Tertiary

World Bank figures for 2006 suggest that 79% of
 primary students progress to secondary school.
28% of girls and 33% of boys are in secondary
school. (UNESCO) These figures have doubled since
1999.
There is one secondary teacher for every 28 students.
(World Bank data.)
75.6% of adults and 85.3% of youth (15-24) are
literate.
According to UNESCO 5% of the population of
tertiary age are in tertiary education.

Education is very important means to train and build up

human resources for development of each country and it
is also important for development of child as person. After
that period, the government has tried to improve it by
cooperated and collaborated with external aid and non-
governmental organization (NGOs). According to the
Cambodian constitution, it states that "the state shall
provide free primary and secondary education to all
citizens in public school. Citizens shall receive education
for at least nine years". Nowadays, though the pupils have
no pay the fee, they still have to spend money on other
things such as stationery, textbooks, contribution fee etc.
Moreover, some provinces students are asked to spent
money to teacher for fee; this is the problem that prevent
pupil from poor families from attending school.

About a half a million Cambodian children from 6 to 11

years old have no access to school, then 50percent of
those who entered grade one dropped out of school and
had to repeat the class., and for female pupils, they could
not attend school because of many problems. First,
parents are poor, so they cannot provide children to learn
and sometime they need their children, especially the
girls, to earn money to support the family. Second, the
schools are located too far away from their house. Only
boy can go to school at some distance from home because
they have given accommodation in pagodas near the
school. The last one is some parents do not understand
about the important of education, so they do not allow
their children to attend school.

Moreover, the ministry of education has not provided

adequate education for minority children. Many children
cannot access to school, and there is no provision for
schooling in minority languages except for classes
provided by private ethic associations. Not only that, there
is insufficient special education provision for disabilities
children. Even though some organizations co-operated
with government to provide school for those, this effort is
not yet enough. Then, the quality of education in

Some schools in urban areas have around 60 to 80

students in each class, because there are not enough class
for pupils, most schools operated two shifts or three shifts
per a day that affect the pupils' feeling to study . Other
thing is that the limited skilled of teachers reduce the
quality of educational system. Technical and pedagogical
training for teacher is not up to standard yet. There are
many teaching methods such as child-centered learning
method has been taught to some teachers; however,
teachers still follow the old teaching methods. The last
point is the lack of commitment of teacher because they
receive a small amount of salary) that lead to the low
motivation for teaching. Then, they need to find others job
to supplement their incomes for survival. In fact, the
national government budget allocation to Ministry of
Education, Youth and Sport was only 10.3% in 1997 and
increase to 12% in 1998, which is still very, in particular
when compared to 52% for the defense sector.
The government should pay more attention because this
sector is the major sector for development the country.
Government should provide the high salary to teachers,
and build more school all around the country, and national
budget allocation for education should be increased
promote and facilitate the education to minority children
and provide special school for disabled children and
promote education for girls, raise awareness of parents
about the advantage of education. Finally, the educational
system in Cambodia has faced many problems that have
to solve immediately. Those problems can be affected on
development for country as well.

. United Nations Organization is an international

organization that aim are facilitating collaboration in
international law, international peace and security, human
right, economics development, social progress and
achieving world peace

First, UNDP is the UN global development network. It

promotes for change and connects countries to
knowledge, experience and resources to help people to
build a better life.

Then, UNSECO has focused on technical vocational

education and training, HIV/AIDs prevention education,
and education and planning management. As the chairs of
educational sector working group, UNESCO has played
an important role in facilitating well coordinated and
professional response from the donor community to the
demands of the education development and the request
from government. The main partner in education of
UNESCO is Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport
(MoEYS). UNESCO assists MoEYS for the formulation
and establishment of national education framework and
policy to outreach broader populations. A number of
education policy are formulated with technical support
from UNESCO and other development partners including:

UNICEF in Cambodia has provided de-worming tablet to

95 percent of children in primary school. Moreover,
UNICEF has supported the financial assistance for the
salary of community preschool teacher in order to
improve the preschool to all children. According
government's statistics, the pre-primary school enrollment
rate of Cambodian's five year old in school year 2006-
2007 was 27.7% including state, community, home-based,
and preschool classes. Then, Cambodian government and
UNICEF official maintain that early childhood
development program have proved over and over that
preschool encourages on time enrollment in primary
school and improve academic performance.

Since you focused on the roles and frameworks of MDGs,

UNICEF, UNESCO, you have known that those
frameworks are suitable for improving the education in
Cambodia. However, do these agencies and government
can promise that they will improve or promote education
well as they expect?

According to the statistic from reports, the primary school

projects have been complete successfully. In 2000, there
are around 85% to 86% of children from urban area can
attend school, and for the children in rural area, there are
approximately 82% to 83% go to school, but the children
living in the remote area can attend school only 60% to
63%. From one year to year, the numbers of attending
school from those three areas are increasing gradually. In
fact, in 2009, in remote area the children attend school
about 90.3%. Surprisingly, the urban children which had
the figure higher than others do not increasing
dramatically as the rural area in 2000. Rural area's
children go to school much more than the urban area's
children, is 95% and 92.2%. Nevertheless, projects to
promoting the secondary school is seem failed because
the target of project predicted that about 65.3% in 2009
for the children attending secondary school, but in reality,
there are only 31.9 for students attending school. By the
way, gender disparities in primary school have been
eliminated and regional disparities have also been
eradicated. Then, the proportion of 6-14 years old out of
school is stagnating. Based on the data from CMDGs, the
flow of the line of graph is smooth from 1997 until 2003,
but in 2004 the figures of the data is increasing from
18.7% to 19.81%. Nonetheless, the expected target is only
14.4% in 2008 for the out of school students, so it seems
not go beyond as expectation. Literacy rates of 15 to 24
years old; therefore, in 1998 there is around 82%of
literacy. CMDGs expected that in 2009, there would be
about 92.1% for literacy, but in actual, there is around
87.47% for literacy because the line of the graph was
increasing slowly.

In sum up, education in Cambodia become better than

before. Even so, those agencies need to improve or
promote more because as you known, the education is the
important sector for develop country. Then, in case
education in Cambodia does not good, how could
Cambodia improve or develop country well?
After you have understood about the roles and
frameworks, effect of the agencies, you can say that
though they could not achieve all goals as setting, but
they could improve or promote the education in
Cambodia. As you can see, educational system in
Cambodia has suffered too much during Khmer Rouge
Regime from 1975 to 1979. After that period, the
government has tried to improve it by cooperated and
collaborated with external aid and non-governmental
organization (NGOs). About a half a million Cambodian
children from 6 to 11 years old have no access to school,
then 50% of those who entered grade one dropped out of
school and had to repeat the class. Those problems are
caused by video games, karaoke and the presence of
brothel for the students in city, and for female pupils, they
could not attend school because of many problems.

Due to these problems, the Cambodian government tries

to pay attention on education systems because as
mentioned before, education is very important means to
train and build up human resources for development of
each country and it is also important for development of
child as person. If Cambodian people poor at the
knowledge, how could Cambodia has been developed to
become the strong country as the neighboring countries.
Moreover, the IOs (International organizations) also pay
attention on education sector as well. They try to
encourage and collaborate with Cambodian government
to improving the education systems. As mentioned,
According to the Cambodian constitution, it states that
"the state shall provide free primary and secondary
education to all citizens in public school. Citizens shall
receive education for at least nine years". Then, IOs have
also contributed to improvement as well.

First, UNESCO has improved on teacher education by

providing policy framework and policy choices for
developing teacher professional standards and appropriate
measurement, designing incentives to motivate the
teachers for better teaching and student learning,
deploying qualified teachers to rural and remote areas.

POLICY OF ICT IN EDUCATION

The Ministrys articulation of the policy for ICT in

education focuses on

four main areas

 The first area is provide access to ICT for all teachers and
students, especially at secondary level, ensuring that ICT
is used

as an enabler to reduce the digital gap between

Cambodian

schools and other schools in neighbouring countries.

Policy and Strategies on Information and Communication

Technology in Education in Cambodia

The second area emphasizes the role and function of ICT

in education as a teaching and learning tool in different
subjects, and as a subject by itself. Access to information
on the Internet

and increased communication, via email, between schools

and
individuals can play an important role in the professiona
development of educators. In addition to radio and
television as a teaching and learning tool, this policy
stresses the use of the computer for accessing
information, knowledge, skills, and communication. The
third area is to promote education for all regardless of
agegender, ethnicity, disability or location through
distance

education and self-learning, especially for deprived

children,

youth and adults who lack access to basic education,

literacy

and skill training, by integrating ICT with radio,

television printed materials and other media.

The fourth area emphasizes using ICT to increase

productivity, efficiency and effectiveness of education
management. Through

FPH2000

the use of information management systems, ICT will be

extensively used to automate and mechanise work such as
the processing of student and teacher records,
communication between government and schools, lesson
planning, assessment and testing, financial management
and the maintenance of

inventories.

1. BACKGROUND

After almost 30 years of devastating war in Cambodia, the

Royal. Government of Cambodia is trying to develop its
human resources in

order to reconstruct the country and integrate it into the

regional and global community.

The current stage of development