1.1 National Education Context

National Development Strategy-- The Royal Government of Cambodia (RGoC) has adopted the four-pronged development agenda outlined in the document “Rectangular Strategy for Growth, Employment, Equity and Efficiency”. The RGoC recognizes that capacity building and human resource development is one of four pillars of the rectangular strategy. The rectangular strategy further reiterates that enhancing the quality of education and fostering gender equity are two of the key strategies for achieving human resource development.

In 2003, the Ministry of Education Youth and Sports (MoEYS) developed a national plan of action to achieve Education For All (EFA) by 2015. The EFA is an important policy and strategy document that outlines the government’s vision and commitment to ensuring that all Cambodian children and youth have equal opportunity to access education. The Government’s commitment to EFA was further strengthened through the formulation of the Cambodian Millennium Development Goal (CMDG) in 2000. The CMDG reiterates the country’s commitment to achieve universal completion of nine-year basic education by 2015 and to eliminate gender disparity in basic schooling by 2010.

The education sector has been designated as one of the priority sectors by the RGoC. It has achieved satisfactory progress since year 2000 when education sector reform was first initiated using the sector-wide approach (SWAp). Through the implementation of the Education Strategic Plan (ESP 2001-2005) the MoEYS has been developing capable human resources with assistance from the donor community and NGOs. The first ESP 2001-2005 was updated into ESP 2004-2008 in 2004. The MoEYS is currently preparing the new ESP 2006-2010 to harmonize with the National Strategic Development Plan 2006-2010.

The yearly rolling Education Sector Support Programme (ESSP) complements the ESP and contains programme details to meet the ESP priorities and targets. Since 2001 the ESSP has been jointly reviewed by government, donors and NGOs every year. The ESSP 2006-2010 is also under preparation and will be completed by October/November 2005.

Sector-wide Approach (SWAp) Towards Education Reform- Since 2000, Cambodia has adopted a sector-wide approach (SWAp) to pursue education reform. This approach calls for a high level of Government commitment and strong leadership by the Ministry. SWAp also demands clear and integrated sector policy, programme and financial frameworks, and a broad understanding of overall government reforms and the complex interactions among stakeholders —all taking place in a decentralizing context.

In Cambodia , SWAp is defined as “all significant funding in the sector supports a single sector policy and expenditure programme, under Government leadership, adopting common approaches across sector, and progressing towards relying on Government procedures to disburse and account for all funds”. ¹ Like many other developing countries which now implement SWAp, donors introduced and endorsed the idea of SWAp in Cambodia and convinced the Government to adopt it. A SWAp seminar was organized by the MoEYS and donors in year 2000 to address the uncertainties and misunderstanding surrounding SWAp. Five years later, a follow-up SWAp seminar was held in June 2005 to assess what had been achieved and what lessons had been learned and to apply these lessons to improve education SWAp in Cambodia . The seminar participants gave good recommendations to improve dialogue, openness and transparency; enhance the effectiveness of the ESP/ESSP processes; reduce the transactional cost of SWAp operations; and develop the institutional mechanisms and processes to support education reform using SWAp. Specific recommendations to develop Ministry staff capacities were also provided by the seminar participants from MoEYS, NGOs and donors.

Within a few weeks after the SWAp seminar, the Joint Technical Working Group for Education reviewed the seminar recommendations for decision and action. A few of recommendations have been quickly adopted. To cite an example, the forthcoming regional consultations which are part of the ESSP review process will include district representatives from government and NGOs—a response to the recommendation to involve lower levels of the education system in the ESP/ESSP review.

On Track with Education Reform- In 2004, the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MoEF) and the Council for Administrative Reform (CAR) announced that the Ministry of Education Youth and Sport (MoEYS) would be a lead ministry to implement broader institutional reforms and would be one of two pilot ministries to implement the Public Financial Management Reform Program. ² The recognition gave the MoEYS renewed confidence that its leadership of the education reform is on the right track and contributing to achievements in equitable access, efficiency, and quality especially targeted to benefit the most vulnerable groups in Cambodian society.

There is a general consensus that the MoEYS has been performing satisfactorily in implementing education sector reform³ and major strides forward were noted in key areas. First, access to basic education continues to improve with continuing growth in overall enrolment at primary and secondary levels—with the highest growth noted among the poorest quintile groups and girls. However, despite these improvements, significant inequity in access to secondary education remains. Second,the Government continues to accord high priority to education sector as shown by the steadily increasing recurrent budget allocations to the sector from 184 billion Riel (roughly 14 per cent of total government expenditure) in 2000 to 355 billion Riel ( roughly 19 per cent ) in 2004. ⁴ These percentages are among the highest in the various sectors. Sustaining these levels in the face of slower economic growth and competing demands from other sectors will be a big challenge for MoEYS. Third, there is increasing recognition and attention by the Ministry to the issues of quality improvement of basic education. The promulgation of the new curriculum policy in December 2004 that includes learning standards is an important concrete action to improve quality. The MoEYS will also establish a learning assessment system to annually assess competencies of sample Grade 3, 6 and 9 pupils against learning standards in Mathematics and Language. This testing, to be supported by the World Bank, will begin in 2006/2007. Finally, the MoEYS has been demonstrating increasing confidence and leadership of education reform through the Joint Technical Working Group (JTWG) for education—one of 18 mandated JTWGs to strengthen Government/NGO/donor partnership in development and government reforms. The JTWG for Education is chaired by the Education Senior Minister, with the Secretary of State for Education taking over in the Minister’s absence.

During 2004 to 2005 the MoEYS had successfully negotiated and processed two major development bank-assisted education programmes for secondary education.⁵ These new loan/grant programmes will address the long-standing problem of low access to secondary education in Cambodia which is among the lowest in the region. Cambodia needs to raise the quality of its human resources through secondary education to increase the country’s competitiveness and achieve economic development. The two new programme will significantly contribute to achieve the country’s MDG goal of universal completion of nine-year basic education by 2015.

¹ Nak Sar, Jongsma, Desiree and Ratcliffe, Mike. “Ëvolving Sector Wide Approach to Education in Cambodia and the Role of Strategic Planning Process” paper presented at the UNESCO/IIEP Workshop in Paris, Dec 2002.
² Education Sector Support Program (ESSP) Review Summary Report, December 2004.
³ Based on conclusions articulated in the Education Sector Support Program (ESSP) Review Summary Report dated December 2004 and the Cambodia Education Sector Donor Report dated December 2004. For specific details, refer to these 2 reports.
⁴ Education Strategic Plan 2004-2008, September 2004.
⁵ “Cambodian Education Sector Support Project”- a US$ 28.0 million World Bank–financed credit and grants project, and the “Education Sector Development Programme”-a USD 45 million ADB-financed budget support and project loan programme.