The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport has set goals for its fourth phase of action plans to meet Sustainable Development Goals based on the principles of quality, equity, inclusiveness and lifelong learning by 2030.

Ministry spokesman Dy Kamboly spoke of the goals during a press conference on Monday to disseminate the ministry’s action plan until 2023.

He said human resource development is the top priority, and that the ministry plans to achieve it by “strengthening the quality of scientific and technological education”.

“In the next phase 2019-2023 and toward 2030, the ministry vows to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals based on the principles of quality, equity, inclusiveness and lifelong learning for all.

“In other words, the ministry will continue to reduce skill gaps by collaborating with stakeholders to boost the provision of skills that have high needs in priority sectors. The ministry will introduce digital education in response to policies and goals of the Cambodian digital economy,” he said.

Kamboly said in response to the above-mentioned policies, the ministry had adopted a “roadmap toward Sustainable Development Goals 2030 on education in Cambodia” early last year to guarantee quality, equitable and inclusive education and promote lifelong opportunities for all.

The ministry, he said, had successfully implemented the 2014-2018 strategic plan with participation from all stakeholders.

The education sector’s plan for 2019-2030 had been prepared with the goal of continuing to implement reforms.

The 2019-2030 plan lays a strong foundation towards 2030, in response to the economic and social development needs of Cambodia and the government’s reform programmes.

He said Cambodia has 13,300 schools, not including private ones. There are 4,301 preschools, 7,228 primary schools, 1,246 junior high schools, and 525 high schools.Public and private schools total 14,522.

Nationwide, establishments for higher education number 125. Of them, 45 are public establishments for higher education and 77 are private.

About 210,000 students are studying at the higher education level, of whom 98,630 are girls. A total of 3,189,712 students are studying at all levels of education. Of the number, 1,577,271 are girls.