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”. Capacity building and human resource development is one of four pillars of the rectangular strategy, which is in turn supported by the twin strategies of enhancing quality of education and fostering gender equity.

There is a general consensus that education sector reform has been progressing satisfactorily over the last five years 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. Second,the Government continues to accord high priority to education sector as shown by the steadily increasing recurrent budget allocations to the sector. Third, there is increasing recognition and attention by the Ministry to the issues of quality improvement of basic education. Finally, the MoEYS has been demonstrating increasing confidence and leadership in implementing education reform.

Despite being on track with education sector reform, the country continues to face serious challenges. Universal access to primary education remains elusive. System inefficiencies marked by high drop-out and repetition rates have persisted at primary level with serious consequences for secondary education. The quality of education is only beginning to be seriously addressed with curriculum reform, learning standards and child-centered teaching and learning under the Child-Friendly Schools approach. Overcoming serious inequalities in education through pro-poor policies has narrowed the enrollment gaps, but the gap between the richest and poorest groups still remains significant, especially in secondary education.

With support from Sida and in collaboration with other partners, UNICEF has been supporting the implementation of education reform through the Sector-wide Approach (SWAp) during the period 2001-2005. Although it is not simple to attribute achievements of sector results to specific donor contributions and actions under the SWAp, it is nevertheless possible to pinpoint areas where substantial support and action have been provided by UNICEF/Sida, and hence establish its contributions to sector outcomes. These include: increased public spending on education, strengthened Ministry ownership and capacities, increased access to primary education with narrowing gender gap, development of draft Education Law, increased attention to early child development and pre-school, and strengthened capacity in decentralized planning, management and monitoring.

The present UNICEF/Sida agreement expires on 31 December 2005 , coinciding with the end of the current five-year Country Programme of Cooperation between the Royal Government of Cambodia and UNICEF. A new five-year programme of cooperation has been developed that includes the second phase of the Expanded Basic Education Programme ( EBEP- II ). This joint proposal by the Ministry of Education Youth and Sports (MoEYS) and UNICEF with a programme budget of approximately USD 21 million is submitted to Sida for funding consideration.

The EBEP- II (2006-2010) will consolidate and build upon the gains achieved in education sector reform under the 2001-2005 programme of cooperation. It will ensure that the achievements of the first five years of SWAp under EBEP- I will deepen into lasting institutional changes and accelerate the pace of implementation both in substantive and geographic coverage.

Consistent with the education reform objectives and targets established under the Ministry’s Education Strategic Plan (ESP) and the Education Sector Support Programme (ESSP), EBEP-II will support the MoEYS to achieve the following objectives by 2010:

• Enhance national and local capacities to manage, coordinate, and communicate education sector reforms with decreasing dependence on external technical assistance in support of tangible improvements in access and quality of basic education.
• Contribute to improving quality and achieving universal primary education in six provinces with key results as follows: at least 96 per cent of primary school age children are enrolled in primary schools, 75 per cent of pupils complete primary education, and 50 per reduction in the percentage of pupils who do not achieve established learning standards.
• Contribute to expanded early learning opportunities for young children with key results as follows: at least 100 per cent increased from baseline levels of percentage of 3-5 years old children attending organized early learning activities,
95 per cent of six-year-olds enter Grade1, and repetition and dropout rates in Grade1 reduced by 50 per cent.

The above objectives are to be achieved through implementation of three complementary projects under EBEP-II that have clear synergies between the different components and between activities within each of the components. Likewise, the three projects were designed to also complement the education programmes of other donors operating under SWAP.

The first project, Capacity-Building for Sector-Wide Education Reform and Decentralization, will assist national and provincial counterparts to effectively manage sector-wide education reform with decreasing reliance on external technical assistance. Consistent with the Ministry’s strategic priorities outlined in the current Education Strategic Plan ( ESP 2004-2008 and draft ESP 2006-2010 ), capacity development under this project will be pursued through the twin strategies of i) professional training of staff in areas critical to the implementation of sector-wide reform; and ii) strengthening of mechanisms and development of institutional frameworksto support the long-term sustainability of decentralized education reforms with increased participation of civil society at all levels. EBEP will strongly advocate the adoption of positive discrimination policy to increase the role and participation of women in sector-wide education reform. There are two sub-projects under Project 1, namely i) Capacity Building for Sector-wide Educational Management; and ii) Capacity Building for Effective Priority Action Program (PAP) Implementation and Management.

The second project, Improving Equitable Access and Quality of Basic Education, will improve the quality of education in primary schools in six priority provinces and in 18 teacher training colleges nationwide. It will promote rapid expansion in six provinces of whole school child-friendly teaching and learning methods through both pre-service and in-service teacher training; provide a regular teacher-support mechanism through the cluster school system; and promote skills-based health and hygiene and gender responsiveness. It will support the national mainstreaming of Child-Friendly School (CFS) approach. Special emphasis will be placed on ensuring child-friendly Grade 1 classes through a school readiness programme. Five sub-projects make up Project 2, namely i) Expansion of CFS in six provinces; ii) School readiness in Grade 1; iii) Mainstreaming CFS in teacher training; iv) Skills based health and hygiene promotion; and v) National mainstreaming of CFS approach.

The third project, Expanded Learning Opportunities for Disadvantaged Children and Youth, will address the specific needs of disadvantaged children without access to formal pre-schools or basic education. The project will support community pre-schools; home-based early learning activities; life skills education for in-school and out-of-school youth; multi-grade teaching and bilingual education for hard-to-reach remote and ethnic minority areas; accelerated learning for over-aged children; and development of an inclusive education policy and national programme framework. There are five sub-projects that make up Project 3, namely i) Community-based pre-school and home-based parenting programme; ii) Life skills education; iii) Multi-grade and bilingual education; iv) Inclusive education; and v) Accelerated classes for over-aged children.

EBEP-II is fully in line with Government priorities as articulated in the ESP/ESSP and builds on what has already been achieved under the current programme of cooperation among MoEYS, Sida and UNICEF. With its implementation in the next five years, MoEYS and UNICEF are confident that the EBEP-II would significantly contribute to realizing the rights of all Cambodian children to quality basic education. Moreover, it also envisioned that through inputs from EBEP-II, the Ministry’s capacities and institutional mechanisms for ensuring children’s right would be strengthened and institutionalized.