The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) commences the new academic year on January 11.

As outlined in its existing plans, the ministry aims for continued success in education, youth and sport, as well as in Covid-19 contextualised Standard Operating Procedures as published in The Phnom Penh Post on October 7 last year.

The overarching and complementary Education Strategic Plan 2019-2023 and Cambodia’s Education 2030 Roadmap guide the overall work of MoEYS.

The ministry accomplished the Education Strategic Plan 2014-2018 in collaboration with members of the Education Sector Working Group and other stakeholders, with increasing equitable access to education services at all levels – particularly the nine years of basic education – among the achievements.

Other successes include increasing opportunities for disadvantaged children and young people to enrol at all levels of learning, strengthening governance of public educational institutions, improving quality of education through enhancing teacher capacity and growing numbers of scholarships for poor students.

Crucial quality improvement measures and responses to education services, especially reform of the upper secondary and other exams, have enabled MoEYS to outline further prioritised reform programmes.

These include improvements in the teaching profession, the assessing of student achievement, and the reviewing of curricula and core textbooks, as well as higher education reform.

MoEYS also provides the training of technical and soft skills, job market information, and career counselling and orientation.

Reform priorities

Young Cambodians have become more active as a result of the involvement of all stakeholders, including the Child and Youth Council, Red Cross volunteer youths and Scout youths, with physical education and sport key priorities.

This looks to build on the successes of Cambodian sportspersons who have won gold medals at World, Asian and Southeast Asian championships, and the Southeast Asian Games, among other competitions.

The Rectangular Strategy Phase IV highlights human resource development as a

top priority, with MoEYS committed to achieving its first goal of “Improving the Quality of Education, Science and Technology”.

It aims to do this by focusing on seven reform priorities – teachers, the expansion of schools at all levels, strengthening the comprehensive inspection of school management and the promotion of technical education at upper secondary education.

It also targets reform regarding skills education in accordance with the labour market, the development of comprehensive curricula and textbooks, and preparations for the 2023 Southeast Asian Games, which Cambodia is set to host.

Lifelong learning

From 2019 to 2023 towards 2030, and then 2050, MoEYS is committed to achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 on education, based on the principles of inclusive, equitable and quality education, and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.

MoEYS continues to minimise skills gaps by collaborating with relevant stakeholders to intensify the supply of skills training in priority areas, and by introducing digital education in response to policy and the direction of Cambodia’s digital economy.

To achieve these priorities, MoEYS has embraced two overarching policies – to ensure inclusive, equitable and quality education, and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all; and to ensure the effective leadership and management of education officials at all levels.

The Education Strategic Plan 2019-2023 is designed for implementing education, youth and sport reforms, and establishing a robust base for education in 2030 and beyond.

It responds to the vision of Cambodia’s socio-economic development and the reform programmes of the Royal Government of Cambodia.

The plan applies sub-sector structural management approaches to address logical relationships between sub-sector objectives, strategic frameworks, main activities and resource requirements, monitoring and evaluation, and mechanisms for continuous quality improvement.

The Education Strategic Plan 2019-2023 is aligned with Cambodia’s Education 2030 Roadmap. The Kingdom has reached a new development stage in education sector response to the global and regional context, which with a broad and ambitious scope refers to equitable, quality, inclusive and lifelong learning in a comprehensive framework covering all types and levels of education.

This is particularly in line with the Kingdom’s development goals of becoming an upper-middle income country by 2030 and achieving high-income status by 2050.

Cambodia has achieved educational results and best practice from Unesco’s global Education For All movement and the UNDP Millennium Development Goals for Cambodia, which are fundamental for achieving the 2030 educational targets.

Equitable and inclusive

Education plays an important role in human resources development, providing knowledge and instilling a strong ability to embrace the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as to provide highly ethical contributions to promote industrial development.

This helps maintain inclusion and sustainable growth through economic diversification, strengthened competitiveness and improved productivity.

In this regard, education 2030 focuses on providing quality services, equitable and inclusive early childhood, primary and secondary education, including technical and vocational education – especially to foster life-long learning – to improve quality, effectiveness and job productivity in line with the digital age to promote economic and social prosperity.

The Cambodia Sustainable Development Goal 4 (CSDG4) Education Roadmap has been developed through consultations and rigorous analytical work between ministries, institutions, stakeholders and development partners to ensure coherence with existing policies.

This has led to further clarity and consistency in vision regarding policy and strategies to achieve CSDG4 by 2030.

The successful implementation of the roadmap will require dedicated and concerted efforts by all Royal Government of Cambodia ministries and agencies, development partners, private sector, civil society organisations and other relevant stakeholders. The objectives of the roadmap will be addressed through medium-term education strategic plans.

Thus, the Ministry of Education remains strongly committed to its mission of developing human capital and producing truly global citizens in response to the context of Cambodia’s development.