Speech by H.E. IM SETHY
Minister of Education, Youth and Sport, Cambodia At East Asia Summit Education Ministers Meeting Bali, Indonesia, 18 July 2011

Mr. Chairperson
Excellencies
Distinguished Delegates
Ladies and Gentlemen

Today, I have great honor and pleasure to participate in this immensely important Ministerial Policy Discussion at the Informal EAS EMM Meeting: Improving Education Quality in East Asia to be held here in the beautiful island of Bali, Indonesia. I would highly appreciate and congratulate H.E. Prof. Dr. Mohammad Nuh, Minister of National Education of Indonesia for the comprehensive presentation.

As you well know, Cambodia is a post conflict nation, having experienced great tragedy in terms of reduced human capacity. After great hardships, the Royal Government of Cambodia is dedicated to develop its human resources in order to reconstruct the country and integrate with the regional and global community of nations.

With assistance and cooperation from the international community and countries in the region, we have formulated the Education Strategic Plan to achieve EFA goals by 2015. Our aim is to ensure all children have equal access to quality basic schooling regardless of their gender, where they live, or the wealth or poverty of their parents according the Ministry strategy, this relates to what is called "reach the unreachable".

National Policies to Improve the Quality of Education

The key issues related to the objective of improving education quality in East Asia had been raised, particularly the policies to improve the quality of learning as well as the issues of strategic priorities to frame our cooperation. This is immensely important as it leads to the regional unity along lines of shared interest. I feel we learn best when we study what others have done, share successes and failures and re-adapt to our own country situations.

For Cambodia, “Teacher education and training” is the key factor for developing the national policies to improve the quality of learning. The Royal Government of Cambodia has placed capacity building and human resource development high on the agenda of the national development, with good governance and education as the core foundation, as in the Government’s Rectangular Strategy for Growth, Employment, Equity and Efficiency.

Within this context, we would promote higher education cooperation by increasing linkages between universities through AUN and encouraging credit transfers between ASEAN Plus Three countries, and promote collaboration, networking, research and development among institutions and authorities involved in education. This should encourage broader participation from the private sector and the national and international community at all levels of education by working closely with local institutions of member countries to develop the education sector in accordance with the labour market needs inside the region. It has also helped raise countries' interest and commitments in this area. We all are eager to translate policies into actions and to strengthen coordination and harmonization within governments with partners, as well as to regional cooperation around this issue.

Regional Cooperation to Improve the Quality of Education

For regional cooperation to improve education quality, not only through the improvement of teaching and learning, but also through the promotion and development of education systems where learners can learn to live together in a global community and reach their full potential. Clearly, improving higher education opportunities and related technical skills training provision will be a vital part of improving the wealth and well being of the region. We agree that the regional cooperation for quality could be involved with Capacity building through policy dialogue and sharing of knowledge and best practice between countries; Collaborating on programs and projects at a multilateral level to bring a wide range of expertise to education policy agendas and Connecting education policy makers, practitioners and learners from around the world; and improving the compatibility of education initiatives and systems regionally to enable benchmarking and quality assurance.

For this reason, we acknowledge that closer cooperation with the East Asian Countries on the areas of common interest in improving quality of education for the empowerment of the people in the region have to be better developed and well managed. I believe a shared understanding of both the common ground and the unique differences between the East Asian countries is critical. Such exchanges will ensure a healthy balance between cooperation and competitiveness.

Finally, on behalf of the Royal Government of Cambodia and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, I wish to express our gratitude to the Ministry of National Education, Indonesia for the kind hospitality and support, and who have worked hard to organize this regional conference.

Thank you.