Presentation by HE. Tol Lah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister, MoEYS
It gives me the greatest pleasure to make this address at the first ever forum for provincial Governors on education reform. My Ministry recognises that to implement Government's decentralisation plans the role of the provincial authorities and the Governor's office will be critical.
I hope that this meeting will be an opportunity to look at ways of strengthening our relationships to ensure that Cambodia's children can be guaranteed high quality education. As part of this process, I look forward to your attendance at the Education Round Table tomorrow.
At the Round Table, my Ministry will be presenting a joint appraisal report with the donor and NGO community on our education strategic plan (ESP) and education sector support program (ESSP). These two documents have already been shared with provincial directors of education in the past few weeks.
In this presentation, I would like to focus on two main issues. Firstly, I wish to briefly outline the main direction of our education reform plans. Secondly, I will highlight some key areas of co-operation between MoEYS, Governor's Office, and Provincial Education Departments.
This education forum shows our commitment to ensure that there is well-planned and genuine participation of provincial and district authorities, school staff, parents and community groups as well as the private sector in these reforms.
This ESP summarises the phasing of the priority education policy and strategy reforms for the next five years. The proposed ESP reforms are designed to be consistent with Government's broader policies for a national program for administrative reform (NPAR), fiscal and financial reform and gradual decentralisation and deconcentration plans for public service management. The Ministry of Interior, through the Governor's Office have an important role in implementing these plans.
The proposed education reforms take account of feedback from various impact studies, the EFA 2000 assessment and reports from new Government/donor working groups. I can assure you all that the ESP and ESSP proposals try to address many of the concerns raised by such review groups. I look forward to hearing your views which can be included in any revisions to our proposals.
The fundamental education policy objective will be improved equity of access to basic education and further studies. This will be achieved through expansion of facilities, reduction of cost burden on poor families and targeted incentives/scholarships.
A second policy objective is to see an improvement in the quality of education services at all levels. The strategy will be to secure large increases in the non-salary share of the MoEYS recurrent budget. A second strategic thrust will be to ensure improvements in the living conditions of the teaching service, combined with reductions in informal charges on parents. Other measures will be adopted to ensure improved teacher performance and productivity.
The strategy to be adopted is an expanded information program to make sure that these messages reach schools and communities. A related strategy will be to plan and implement a number of key pieces of legislation and regulation that ensure open and direct accountability at all levels of the education system. I hope that the Governors and PDEs will play an important part in this information network.
Another policy focus is to assure improvements in the efficiency of education services. Key program strategies are to improve the progression rates in primary schools and transition rates from primary to secondary education. This will be done through the PAP for remedial and reception classes and targeted scholarships for children from the poorest families.
Another key efficiency measure will be to ensure optimum use of existing and future education resources. As part of administrative reform within my Ministry, the intention is to set new staff deployment guidelines that guarantee efficient use of education managers and teachers. I would draw your attention to the proposed program for education service efficiency that sets out the key parameters. We intend to delegate increasing responsibilities to the provinces for implementing this program.
Achieving these objectives and targets will require additional facilities, especially at primary and secondary levels. These will focus on providing complete Grade 1 – 6 primary education close to home for all children. There is also a plan to make sure every commune will have a secondary school nearby.
Our intention is to set up a steering committee chaired by the Governor to help plan and select the priority schools. We are also proposing that the financial management of facilities programs be delegated to provincial authorities in six provinces on a pilot basis from 2002.
A key feature of the ESP and ESSP is to increase decentralisation of management and governance of education services to provinces, districts and schools/communities. The broad strategy is to embark upon an extensive capacity building program at every level of the education system.
Capacity building also involves clear definition of duties and tasks, effective measures for deploying staff and more rigorous time management. This will be linked to improved internal and external communication and information systems. Another important measure will be to gradually introduce targeted staff performance appraisal and reporting systems to ensure accountability. I would like to reemphasise that we see the Governor's Office as a key partner in implementing these reforms.
Finally, I wish to re-emphasise that implementing the ESP and ESSP will require new forms of partnership in education at all levels. The preparation of the ESP and ESSP has provided an effective platform, encompassing extensive dialogue with the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Planning, Ministry of Interior and Council for Administrative Reform.
As part of this philosophy, I look forward to hearing your comments later in this important education forum.