The Education Strategic Plan 2001-05 represented a key milestone in the work of Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport in enabling education in Cambodia. Over the past five-year of ESP implementation, the Ministry and its development partners have enabled significant improvements in broadening equity in coverage of education opportunities and improving the quality, standards and management of education services. At the same time, we have learned many important lessons on how to improve education services even further.

We recognize that the education reform process is still in the long journey and must be further accelerated. The Education Strategic Plan 2006-10 has been designed to set out priority policies and strategies for next five years reform implementation.

In this phase the high priority of the Ministry intends to continue to give highest priority to equitable access and to high educational quality in the basic education services guided by the National EFA Plan strategies and targets. The ESP 2006-10 also gives greater emphasis to the expansion of early childhood education, non-formal education skills training for youth people, expanding upper secondary and post-secondary education opportunities through a well-regulated partnership between the Government, donors, private sector, NGOs, communities, and parents.

In addition, need to ensure that education expenditure will be to maximize the impact of education spending through clear measurement arrangements. Ensuring a highly motivated and well-trained education workforce is the central component of the ESP reforms. Strengthening education legislation, governance and accountability will also receive very high attention over next five year.

Education Strategic Plan 2006-10 is a synthesis of a wide-range of strategy papers prepared by the Ministry's senior technical staff and international consultants of the EFWG. We are confident that this ESP 2006-10 will provide key signposts and the necessary impetus for quickly and effectively moving education development forward for the benefit of the people of Cambodia.

Kol Pheng, Ph.D.
Senior Minister and Minister of Education, Youth and Sport