The preparation of this EFA plan draws upon a number of other development planning initiatives by the Royal Government of Cambodia. The EFA planning process is guided by the Cambodia Socio Economic Development Plan (SEDP) II, approved by Government in 2002, which sets out pro-poor development policies and strategies. This EFA plan also derives strategic guidance from the ongoing Poverty Reduction Strategic Plan (PRSP) of 2002 which charts systemic and targeted interventions for poverty reduction in Cambodia, including clearly defined education policy, strategy and financing targets.

This EFA plan is directly responsive to the broader demographic, macro-economic and social development outlook for the next 10-15 years in Cambodia. The broad features of the development context for EFA planning are outlined in section 3 of the plan. In particular, implementation of EFA needs to take account of the existing education/poverty trap, which contributes to inequities in access to education services for the poorest families.

The EFA plan also is informed by the need to position the education/training system to become more responsive to a fluid and uncertain labour market and macro-economic outlook. In addition, the action plan is specifically designed to address a number of social and cultural constraints, especially those, which contribute to under representation of girls and ethnic minorities in primary and secondary schooling and non-formal education.

The plan also places considerable importance on capacity building requirements to make future discussions regarding the actual implementation of the plan highly credible. While capacity building requirements will be addressed at all commission levels, there is especially strong emphasis on strengthening the role of local level EFA commissions in achieving stated goals, particularly with respect to (i) internalization of EFA principles, (ii) dissemination, (iii) implementation, and (iv) monitoring. Budgetary provisions for these capacity building requirements are also described in section 3 of the document.

The design and planning process for the long-term EFA plan is based on the principle of effective integration between medium-term education policy, strategy and program priorities set out in the Education Strategic Plan (ESP), Education Sector Support Program (ESSP) and longer term EFA interventions. In particular, the ESP and ESSP are based on a rolling program of implementation of reforms through annual strategy and program adjustment driven by a joint annual sector performance review by Government and donor and NGO partners.

Initiated by the EFA 2000 performance assessment, the annual EFA plan review will adopt similar principles. A key feature of the EFA planning and monitoring process will be to extend the stakeholder consultative process to strengthen involvement of other Government Ministries, NGOs and civil society drawing on a comprehensive grassroots operational research program.

The formulation of this EFA plan takes account of a comprehensive education sector situation analysis and identification of the key challenges for EFA implementation. Section 2 of the report outlines the initial progress made towards achievement of EFA goals and targets over the past three years. The period 2000/02 has seen significant improvement in overall enrolment in the first nine years of basic education, substantial gains in internal efficiency (e.g. student progression rates) and increased representation of students from the poorest families, including rural girls and ethnic minorities.

The primary policy measure for achieving these gains has been systemic and targeted interventions to reduce the cost barriers on poor families. The EFA plan is predicated on a set of assumptions and measures that consolidate and extend cost reduction strategies for accessing basic education services. The plan is also predicated on assumptions for incremental increases in education staff remuneration and a shift towards performance based remuneration and targeted incentives for teachers (e.g. remote school allowances) as well as merit driven promotion and training policies.

The EFA plan is also specifically designed to address a number of medium and long-term challenges for effective EFA implementation. General goals and objectives are set out for each sub-sector (e.g., ECCE, Basic Education, etc) in section 3; specific quantitative targets (such as 95% primary NER by 2005, etc.) are described in table 7.2 to facilitate monitoring. Qualitative targets, however, will need to be more thoroughly refined through an inter-ministerial process as implementation of EFA gets under way. In particular, the EFA plan will adopt specific strategies to provide EFA opportunities in currently remote and underserved areas through an integrated planning system. A second challenge will be to adopt strategies that achieve an effective balance between access and quality improvements, including expansion of early childhood care and development (ECCD), non formal education and literacy programs and newly targeted informal skills training programs. It is important to note too that quality in this context is defined as more than gains in internal educational efficiency but includes a broad characterisation that takes in classroom practice and student learning. The main challenges are also set out in Section 2 of the plan.

The EFA plan will also adopt medium and long-term measures to improve the quality of formal and non-formal basic education. The policy thrust will be to maintain a high share of Government spending on basic education at around 70 per cent per annum over the plan period. A second policy thrust will be to maintain a high non-wage spending share (between 45-55 per cent) over the planned period through rigorous planning and regulation of agreed staff deployment norms and containment of education salaries growth in line with broader civil service pay reform.

Simultaneously, the plan envisages expansion of recently introduced targeted education manager and teacher performance-based incentives designed to ensure equitable deployment and better performance of more experienced and qualified staff in currently disadvantaged areas. The operational, financing and budgetary assumptions are provided in annex 5.

The broad features and targets of the EFA plan are summarised in section 3.3. It is projected that basic education enrolment will rise to around 3.8 million by 2007/08, stabilising at this level by 2015 as internal efficiency gains and retention of school age cohorts take effect. ECE and NFE enrolments are projected to rise to around 280,000 and 15,000 per annum over the plan period. Short-term measures to accommodate the overage bulge in enrolment over 2003/08 will include maintenance of double shift classroom and teacher usage and expansion of multi-grade teaching provision.

The plan also projects gradual increases in primary and secondary school instructional hours from around 2007 onwards as the primary and lower secondary enrolment begins to stabilise. It is projected that from 2007 onwards, available classroom accommodation will allow for a gradual introduction of full morning/afternoon schooling and introduction of a full teaching day for the majority of primary and secondary school teachers. Teacher supply/demand planning will also be improved to ensure that the changing enrolment patterns between primary and secondary education levels are responded to effectively.

The EFA plan builds on current inter-ministerial partnership and cooperation with donors, NGOs and civil society for planning and implementation. Current partnership arrangements will be further strengthened as outlined in Section 3.4.

The total costs of EFA implementation, including administration, early childhood education, formal basic education, non-formal education and literacy programs and teacher development will rise from riels 419 billion (in 2002) to around riels 855 billion (in 2015). The share of overall education spending on EFA implementation, including MoEYS funding, other Government Ministries, NGO and private/parental contributions will decline from around 90% (in 2002) to 66% (by 2015). This is consistent with Government/MoEYS policy to expand post basic education, which will be financed through a public/ non-public partnership. The projected public/non-public spending shares for various sub-sectors are shown in annex 4, tables 4 and 5.

It is projected that the MoEYS contribution to the annual recurrent costs of implementing EFA will rise from around riels 329 billion (US$83 million) in 2002 to around riels 805 billion (US$ 203 million) in 2015. These projections are considered feasible since the projected education recurrent spending share would be a maximum of 24 per cent in 2010 falling to around 21 per cent in 2015.

At the same time capital expenditure (focussed on additional facilities and capacity building) is projected to increase from around riels 94.7 billion per annum (US$24 million) in 2002 to around riels 233.3 billion per annum (US$59 million) by 2015. It is envisaged that up to 2010 the priority capital investments will be for primary and secondary school construction, with a shift to more expensive post-secondary education facilities beyond 2010.

The monitoring of the implementation of the EFA plan will be based on the current annual ESSP joint performance review by Government, MoEYS, donors and NGOs. The rolling program approach will allow for annual adjustment of sector performance targets and program strategies, taking account of lessons learnt. The EFA secretariat, alongside other Working Groups and technical departments of relevant line Ministries will co-ordinate and manage this EFA monitoring process.

As part of strengthening medium and longer-term EFA monitoring systems National EFA Commission (NEFAC) will take steps to strengthen monitoring and management information systems at central, provincial and district levels. In order to ensure broader accountability for EFA implementation, the NEFAC will strengthen information exchange arrangements with provincial, district, and commune level EFA Commissions (PEFAC, DEFAC, and CEFAC) as well as civil society groups through Annual EFA Forums with EFA Commission at all levels as well as an annual provincial and national education congresses of relevant line ministries.

A key feature of the EFA monitoring process will be to increase attention to the assessment of quality improvement programs, building on new minimum standards of learning outcomes, activities and inputs scheduled for introduction in 2003/04. Quality monitoring will also incorporate extending grassroots operational research by MoEYS, NGOs and other small-scale program management groups to ensure that the impact assessment of EFA reforms includes field level and school/classroom realities. This is detailed in section 4.4 of the EFA plan.