The proposed policies in ESP 2004-08 are to ensure a pro-poor policy for children and youth so that there is universal access to education. The results from the past years are in the following areas:

1. Progress and impact on gender

The number of girls in primary education has increased from 88.6% in 2003-04 to 90.7% in 2004-05. In lower secondary, the number of girls increased by 5% compared to 2003-04 from 19.8% to 24.8%. In upper secondary, the number of girls increased by 1.3%. However, in 2004-2005 there is still a 2.5% gender gap overall with more boys than girls but in lower secondary schools in remote area the number of girls is more than that of boys with a gender gap 0.3%. In remote areas only 0.1% of girls and 0.2% of boys have access to upper secondary school.

Table 2: Gender gap of net enrolment rate by region

	Primary			Lower secondary			Upper secondary
2003-04	F	M	Gap	F	M	Gap	F	M	Gap
Urban	86.9	90.1	3.2	33.0	35.5	2.5	17.8	22.0	4.2
Rural	89.5	92.1	2.6	17.4	20.5	3.1	3.9	6.8	2.9
Remote	74.7	82.3	7.6	2.5	2.1	-0.4	0.0	0.0	0.0
Nation	88.6	91.5	2.9	19.8	22.7	2.9	6.6	9.6	3.0
2004-05
Urban	90.4	92.8	2.4	40.5	42.1	1.6	21.1	24.3	3.2
Rural	91.2	93.5	2.3	22.2	25.1	2.9	4.7	7.5	2.8
Remote	79.4	85.4	6.0	4.1	3.8	-0.3	0.1	0.2	0.1
Nation	90.7	93.1	2.4	24.8	27.3	2.5	7.9	10.6	2.7 s

2. Impact on poor and disadvantaged children through scholarship provision » Up

The selection of scholarship students of grade 7-9 is focused on children from the poorest and disadvantaged families and is especially targeted for girls and minorities,. The children to receive scholarships are agreed at school, community and village council levels. Two scholarship programs - Japan's Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR) and the PAP 12, provided by the government, are operated in 21 provinces/municipalities. In three other provinces - Odor Mean Chey, Kampong Cham and Siem Reap, scholarships are supported by the Royal Government of Belgium.

The number of PAP12 and JFPR scholarship students

In 2003-04, through PAP 12, the Ministry provided scholarship to 7,183 of the poorest and most disadvantaged students. In 2004-05, this number increased to 7,196 with the total for these 2 years of 14,379 students.

JFPR in 2003-04, provided scholarships for 6,755 poor students and increased this by 4,152 students in 2004-05. It has also continued to support the 6,535 previous students for the second year in 2004-05. Even when a scholarship is provided to poor and disadvantaged students there were still drop-outs numbering 220 or 3.26% of the 6,755.

3. Progressions and Impact on Minority Group » Up

The improvement of qualitative and equitable access to education services for minority groups is still an important component of ESP/ESSP. Net enrolment and net new intake rates in Preh Vihear, Ratanakiri and Mondul Kiri do not meet the target when compared with national figures (see table 4). In Ratanakiri, female NER in primary education was 54.6% and male NER was 71.6% for 2004-2005 and the net new intake rate is also low, especially for girls, due to under- school-aged children being allowed to enroll. It is necessary to set specific strategies to solve the difficulty for minority regions such as the establishment of Early Childhood Education, a bilingual curriculum, scholarship programs and the training of minority native teachers to help in their regions.

Table 3: Significant Indicators in Primary Education for Minority Provinces, 2004-05

Province	NAR			NER			Pupil / class	Pupil / classroom	Pupil / teacher
	F	M	Gap	F	M	Gap
Mondulkiri	62.4	77.6	15.2	75.1	83.3	8.2	32.9	46.0	41.1
Preah Vihear	79.1	76.9	-2.2	84.5	86.7	2.2	37.1	61.2	48.4
Rattanakiri	42.7	53.7	11.0	54.6	71.6	17.0	36.6	51.6	55.8
Steung Treng	81.2	85.5	4.3	86.9	92.6	5.7	29.3	51.3	39.3
National	79.5	82.5	3.0	90.7	93.1	2.4	43.5	67.6	53.5

The problems encountered in Secondary Education are more serious than in Primary Education and the achievement in this sub-sector is low when compared to the target set in the ESP with the secondary education service in minority regions still insufficient. The net enrolment rate for lower secondary education in the three provinces is below 9%, except Steung Treng at 17.4%, and is well below the national figure of 26.1%. Similarly for upper secondary education, the net enrolment is low when compared to the national figure of 9.3%.

4. The processes of consultation and formulation of ESP 2006-10 » Up

Experience received from education sector reform implementation through the Sector Wide Approach provided satisfactory results in a consultation process between RGC and donors and in the formulation of ESP. The shift from donor ship to partnership and to the government ownership showed good cooperation between the MoEYS and all stakeholders. The MoEYS has clear consultation mechanism with donors through the Joint Technical Working Group in education (JTWG), which has its membership as educational officers and related ministry officers, donor and non-governmental organization representatives in education with clearly agreed meeting dates.