During the regime of the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979, education in Cambodia was the first one to be disintegrated by Pol Pot’s Communist leaning government. Back then, schools nationwide were ordered to be closed. Teachers were among the first victims of the Khmer Rouge’s purging as they radically were preparing a massive indoctrination program for the youth. In fact, 90% of the teachers that time were killed while the rest fled the country or stayed in anonymity.
Vietnam, who occupied Cambodia in 1980 as a result of Pol Pot’s transgressions into Vietnamese territories, slowly re-integrated education. However, not all were able to able to gain access to the new educational system but was only available to children of civil servants. One catch also during that time was that lessons were biased to the Vietnamese culture.
Currently, post-Vietnam occupation and back to the Cambodia’s monarchial rule, education has improved greatly. The constitution now promulgates a compulsory education for everyone. All eligible students have free access to education for nine years. However, as much as it is put into law, providing this basic service is not widely enforced. Problems like lack of qualified teachers, low student attendance in the rural areas still persist. There are not many who are willing to teach as salary and benefits are unattractive while students from the rural areas prioritize helping their families cultivate the fields.
Cambodia has passed into new development stage of education with a need to focus on strengthening basic education and quality within a comprehensive national economic framework. Long-term education vision of Cambodia will focus on all aspects of ECE, to provide a strong foundation for other levels of education. It will focus on students at early grades of primary education especially building reading and mathematics skills. The education sector will expand its scope of Education for All from primary education 6 years to 9 years basic education. Graduates from basic education will be traced upon their strength to select general secondary education or technical and vocational education. The strengthening of quality will focus on the quality of inputs, teaching and learning processes and student achievement. There will also be a focus on the qualification of teachers who will be upgraded from 12+2 to 12+4 in 2020. And focus on the quality of curriculum at general education and higher education according to the ASEAN quality standards.
The daily realities for both teachers and students in the Cambodian education system are very challenging. Teachers face inadequate salaries and the need to charge students fees for services. Students face inadequate facilities, large classroom size; sometimes travel times to nearby villages or towns, and high costs for their families. At the upper levels these problems are compounded by the need to pay bribes to pass the upper secondary level exams and to secure admission to universities. This is one factor that has contributed to the growth in private sector education.
Education in Cambodia is controlled by the State through the Ministry of Education in a national level and by the Department of Education at the provincial level. The Constitution of Cambodia establishes that the State shall protect and upgrade citizen’s rights to quality education at all levels, guaranteeing that all citizens have equal opportunity to earn a living (Article 66). The State shall adopt an educational program according to the principle of modern pedagogy including technology and foreign languages, as well as the State controls public and private schools and classrooms at all levels (Article 67). The Cambodian Education System includes pre-school, primary, general secondary, higher education and non-formal education. The education system includes also the development of sport, Information Technology education, research development and technical education. Over the period of the implementation of Education Strategic Plan (ESP) 2009-2013, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) has made considerable progress in improving the opportunities all Cambodian children have to access education, in enhancing the quality of the children’s learning experiences and becoming an efficient and effective deliverer of education services. School enrollment has increased during the 2000s (decade) in Cambodia. NER has increased marginally at all levels of education. Primary NER has reached 97.0% and should not be expected to increase significantly in future years as it progresses towards 100% (ESP, 2014-2018).
The current National Strategic Development Plan 2014-2018, focus on strengthening the quality and responsiveness to labor market demand and the development of technical skills for youth to increase their job opportunities and to realize in full the benefits of Cambodia’s demographic dividend as well as to ensure continuity in the country’s leadership development for the future.
