The educational human resources of Cambodia were lost over the past 30 years due to conflict and instability. In 1979, after the Khmer Rouge regime, the national education started from zero, and has gradually been developed until present. In 1996 the Cambodian educational system was been reformed to 12 years (6+3+3). For the academic year 2006-2007, the total number of students was 3,387,310 (1,574,900 female) and the number of educational staff 94,723. We had 9,018 schools with a total of 80,733 classrooms. On the other hand, we had 57 higher education institutions (21 run by the state and 36 run by private sectors). For teacher training, currently we have 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) has embarked on a policy-based sector-wide reform, guided by a five year Education Strategic Plan (ESP) and Education Sector Support Program (ESSP), design 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 labor market and society; to rehabilitate and develop youth and sport sub-sector.

Vision

The MOEYS vision is to establish and develop human resources of the very highest quality and ethics in order to develop a knowledge-based society within Cambodia.

In order to achieve the above vision, MOEYS has the mission of leading, managing and  developing the Education, Youth and Sport sector in Cambodia in responding to the socioeconomic and cultural development needs of its people and the reality of regionalization and globalization.

The Royal Government recognizes the need to ensure consistency in terms of hierarchy, role, substance, coherence and synchronization between the “Rectangular Strategy”, the “National Strategic Development Plan” and the Sectoral Development Strategies as well as other policy documents, investment programs and the national budget.

This calls for a review of the timeframe of the National Strategic Development Plan and Political Platform of the Royal Government which includes the Rectangular Strategy as its socio-economic agenda.

(Rectangular Strategy” Phase II, Paragraph 15, Page 13 Education Strategic Plan 2009-2013

A long-term objective of the MOEYS is to achieve the holistic development of Cambodia's young people for all sectors. In addition, the Ministry intends to engender a sense of national and civic pride, high moral and ethical standards and a strong belief in young people’s responsibility for the country and its citizens.

The MOEYS’s immediate objective is to ensure that all Cambodian children and youth have equal opportunity to access quality education consistent with the Constitution and the Royal Government’s commitment to the UN Child Rights Convention, regardless of social status, geography, ethnicity, religion, language, gender and physical form. The Ministry envisages a time when graduates from all its institutions will meet regional and international standards and will be competitive in the job markets worldwide and act as engines for social and economic development in Cambodia.

To realize the above objectives and vision, MOEYS has defined three main policy priorities as follows:

- Ensuring Equitable Access to Education Services.
- Improving the Quality and Efficiency of Education Services.
- Institutional and Capacity Development for Educational Staff for Decentralization.

Mission

To ensure consistency in terms of hierarchy, role, substance, coherence and synchronization between the “Rectangular Strategy Phase 2”, the “National Strategic Development Plan update 2009-2013”, Education Strategic Plan (ESP) 2009-2013 was reviewed to make improvements in the education sector.

The ESP 2009-2013 review revealed changes and indicated that this was an important stage that the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport shall continue reforming the education, youth and sport sector in Cambodia in line with other reforms of the Royal Government. In the five-year-period of ESP implementation, MOEYS and its development partners have made significant improvements in providing equitable access to education, improving quality and the efficiency of education and education management.

ESP 2009-2013 was formulated to ensure linkages between education policies and strategies with development programs and actions as well as between planning and budgeting. In this phase, the Ministry intends to continue to give highest priority to equitable access with high quality education, especially basic education, in order to realize the National Education For All (EFA) Plan by 2015. ESP 2009-13 also gives greater emphasis to expanding early childhood education, expanding non-formal education, technical and vocational training and expanding opportunities to access secondary education and post-secondary education through the continued and improved partnership among RGC, development partners, private sector, non-governmental organizations, communities and parents.

In addition, the ESP 2009-13 will ensure optimum impact from education expenditure, by putting in place clearly defined measures to ensure its efficiency, especially placing key emphasis on providing educational access to children and youth who have missed their educational opportunities. Other strong focal points include strengthening the implementation of the Education Law, the teachers’ code of conduct and good governance. At the same time, key components include the capacity development of educational staff at all levels and the encouragement of decentralization.

The ESP 2009-2013 was developed with clearly defined mechanisms, studies, consultation and broad participation from relevant stakeholders, especially the Education Sector Working Group (ESWG). The MOEYS strongly hopes that the ESP 2009-2013 will be a roadmap for the effective implementation of the acceleration of the education sector reform for the benefit of all Cambodians.