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Education

In his presentation to the Education Forum in May 2003, His Excellency Tol Lah set out his clear vision:

When I reflect on what I saw as the main priorities for reform in 1994, I realise that many of the fundamental issues for effective education reform remain unchanged.  Firstly, it remains critical to continue to focus on a limited number of key policy priorities and programmes which will drive the reform process.  Secondly, we must continue to provide a clear framework for co-ordinating the resources of the sector from Government and donor partners.  Thirdly, and most importantly, we must sustain the culture of change within the education system through transmitting goals to all stakeholders, especially teachers and parents.

NGOs working in the education sector recognise the considerable progress that has been made over the last ten years and reiterate their commitment to supporting and collaborating with the Ministry of Education Youth and Sport (MoEYS) and the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC).  They note and affirm the following achievements:

·          The production of policy documents and planning processes such as the National Poverty Reduction Strategy (NPRS), the Education Strategic Plan (ESP), the Education Sector Support Programme (ESSP), and Education for All (EFA). 

·          The Priority Action Programme (PAP) process of setting published targets for the disbursement of funds.  Whilst the implementation of PAPs has been far from perfect, the system has delivered increased resources to schools and institutions.

·          Enhanced co-operation between the Ministry, donors and NGOs.

·          The collaboration between the MoEYS and NGOs in implementing the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction Programme on Girls' Scholarships.

·          The increase in absolute enrolments in all sectors.

·          The number of schools that have been constructed, particularly in remote areas  and the increasing provision for wells, latrines and access for children with  disabilities.

·          The draft proposal for Curriculum Development which emphasises a coherent structure, efficient use of resources and flexibility at local level.

·          The draft Education Law which guarantees institutional status, autonomy, good governance, quality assurance and partnership.

·          The improved procedures for security in setting and marking the Grade 12 examinations.

·          The increasing engagement of young graduates and their impact on the reform process at local and national level.

The MoEYS and NGOs now have evidence that teachers and school directors are willing to take on new ideas, use and develop new resources and provide for interactive learning when they receive devolved funding and have regular, well-informed guidance and feedback at the local level.  Programmes such as the MoEYS' Education Quality Improvement Project (EQIP) and Child Friendly and Gender Sensitive Schools Project, (supported by UNICEF/KAPE) present good models of efficient and accountable management, greater community involvement, gender equity, supportive supervision and training and  better communication, resulting in  quality improvement in school and classroom environments and more purposeful teaching and  learning.  

Review of Key Issues in the 2002 Consultative Group Statement on Education

While recognising the progress that has been made, the NGO community has concerns about the key issues that remain.  In general, issues raised in 2001 and 2002 have shown only marginal improvement or have not been resolved:

Access and inclusion:

Figures for enrolment for 2003 indicate  improvement over 2001.  In 2002-2003, 89% of primary aged students (an increase of 3%) and 19% of secondary school students (an increase of 2%) were enrolled in school1.  However, repetition rates in Grades 1 and 2 remain high, and dropout and repetition rates in both primary and secondary schools continue to cause concern.  Related statistics such as population changes and stay-in-school figures need updating.    

Girls continue to represent 47% of the enrolment in Grade 1.  Figures drop to 41% of enrolment in lower secondary school and 33% in upper secondary school[1].  There is a big decrease in girls' participation between Grade 6 and 7.  In primary schools, female teachers represent 40% of the work force, declining to 22% in upper secondary and below 20% in post-secondary levels[2].  There continues to be a need to focus on proactive strategies in both demand and supply to ensure equitable access for disadvantaged groups such as females, the disabled and ethnic minorities.

Finance:

The RGC commitment of 18.2% of the national recurrent budget in 2002 and the promised increase to 20% in 2005 is highly commended.  However, the problems of revenue collection and the low level and late disbursement of funds continue to undermine the progress of educational reform.  To date, only 80% of PAP funding for 2002 has been disbursed, none has been disbursed for  2003 and yet PAP deliveries will be cut off at the end of December 2003[3].  This failure of the Executive to honour the Budget approved by the Legislature raises serious questions regarding on-going issues of transparency and financial accountability.  Despite assertions to the contrary, NGOs have considerable evidence from the field that unofficial payments to schools and teachers continue unabated, so disadvantaging poor families who are unable  to pay the fees. 

Non-formal education and vocational training:

The low education enrolment and achievement of the children of the poor of today suggests that poverty will be passed along from this generation to the next[4]. 

The problem persists that the learning needs of a significant percentage of children and youth have not been met through the formal system, and brings into question Cambodia’s ability  to compete in global markets.

Poverty rates are higher for households in which the head of the household has had either no formal education or only some primary schooling.  In rural areas, the poorest quintile has a net primary school enrolment rate of 50%, significantly below the 75% in the richest quintile.  Less than 5% of rural children aged 12-14 in the poorest quintile are enrolled in lower secondary schools as compared to 25% in the richest quintile4.  Children from the poorest quintile are extremely under-represented in upper secondary schools and in tertiary education.

The inadequacies in the provision of non-formal education and vocational training continue to cause concern.  The Asian Development Bank Poverty Analysis 2003 states: “Current education sector policy focuses little on adult basic education and literacy (ABEL) This is surprising, given the preponderance of adults (particularly females) with little or no education in the labour force and the significant poverty reduction impact in the short and medium term from ABEL.  It is also surprising given the urgent need for adult education in substantive areas such as health, gender sensitivity, agricultural practices and entrepreneurial skills.” 

Key Issues and Recommendations in 2003:

The following priorities have been identified by NGOs working in education:

NGOs strongly support the NPRS, which identifies the stalled Public Administration Reform as critical to the capacity to achieve Government policies.  NGOs  reiterate the need for a higher level of allocation and distribution of funding to ensure that teachers are adequately remunerated for their work and that planned educational reform can be implemented.  The unplanned and competing priorities in the Ministry of Economy and Finance results in the intermittent release of funding to the MoEYS.  Unless these problems can be efficiently resolved, it is difficult to justify the current shift towards direct budgetary support. 

Recommendations:

·          Ensure that Ministry of Finance concentrates on its role of financial planning and that the MOEYS is allowed to take responsibility for the administration of the sector budget.

·          Ensure transparency, predictability and accountability in the allocation and disbursement of funding.  Utilise the developing banking system for the transfer of cash to local level.

·          Ensure that funding mechanisms and levels are clear so that informed judgements can be made regarding performance against benchmark indicators. 

·          Reform PAP funding so that it drives the system rather than perpetuating previous difficulties.

·          Agree a glossary of financial management terms to clarify the operational meaning of terms such as budget, allocation, commitment, mandate, disbursement, expenditure, financial year limits etc.

·          Link teachers’ salaries to the cost of living and ensure that there is a clear plan to increase teachers’ salaries to represent a living wage over the medium term.  Develop effective and efficient human resource systems so that education staff   is rewarded for additional duties and effective performance. 

·          Provide clear guidelines and adequately fund effective training, follow-up support and supervision to ensure that schools and clusters can plan effectively for school improvement (instead of rushing to expend a windfall delivery before the reporting period has expired).

·          Continue to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of textbook distribution to ensure targets in the ESSP are met.

2.         There are serious teacher shortages, particularly in remote areas which results in high primary school pupil/teacher ratios; for example 80:1 in Siem Reap, 77:1 in Koh Kong, 73:1 in Pailin,  69:1 in Kampong Speu[5].  Large classes undermine the push towards quality improvement.  Redeployment strategies are not working effectively due to inadequate incentives, lack of housing or rental allowances for high costs areas, cultural issues connected with female teachers being away from their families and unacceptable, lengthy delays in receiving salaries and incentives.

Recommendations:

·          Ensure wider use of locally residing contract teachers, provide them with opportunities for training and upgrading so they have some prospect of entering the teaching service, and pay salaries and allowances on time.

·          Lower the entry point to pre-service training for local students to the end of Grade 9 for districts  where there is no upper secondary school. 

3.         Corruption at all levels is hampering the reform process.  Recent, well publicised schemes in a number of areas to obtain illegal payments for manipulating the deployment and promotion of teachers are a serious concern.  There is a gap between the published national policy and the reality in schools and institutions. This dichotomy results in unofficial payments to teachers, charges for additional lessons that students are pressured to attend, payments for jobs, places in university and exam passes etc.  These informal costs adversely affect individuals' access to education and particularly discriminate against the poor.  Unofficial payments also jeopardise relationships between school staff and the community so that those staff who wish to act professionally, and therefore with the greatest potential to implement reform, are the ones most likely to leave the education sector.  Achieving quality improvement and eliminating unofficial fees is not possible without realistic teachers' salaries. 

Recommendations:

·          Regulate and thereby utilise unofficial payments so that they can be effectively and transparently redeployed to provide services to vulnerable children and to pay teachers.

·          Review teachers’ salary improvement projections with the prospect of providing an acceptable level of payment in the medium term (see 1. above)

4.         The production of national ESP, ESSP, EFA and NPRS has been commended in the first section of the report.  However there is now a proliferation of plans, goals and documents and a large number of monitoring activities set up to follow these processes which appear to cover the same ground.  These need to be prioritised  into concrete and realistic action plans. 

Recommendation:

·          Harmonise, integrate and prioritise the various plans and fund them adequately  (expenditure rather than allocation only) so that there is consistency in goal setting and implementing educational priorities and strategies.

·          Co-ordinate and rationalise the monitoring processes

 5.         Models of good practice have been highlighted in the first section of the report.  There is a growing body evidence that some educationalists at the grassroots are developing effective strategies for school management and better quality teaching and learning.  These initiatives are sometimes undermined by a lack of understanding on the part of officials at divisional, provincial and national level of successful school improvement procedures.  Decision makers at all levels should be selected on the basis of technical competence rather than on seniority or preserving existing practice.  

Recommendation:

·          Ensure that officials at all levels are aware of current initiatives, that they have experience of observing best practice and are willing to constructively support improvement strategies through positive encouragement.

·          Select the best school and classroom practitioners for decision making posts in schools and the system in general.

6.         The NPRS highlights once again the need for a high quality tertiary sector, both to improve the weak teaching capacity throughout the sector and to spearhead the development process in Cambodia.  Increased access through proliferating, unregulated private Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) is not the answer.  Students/parents pay hard-won tuition fees for unclear quality and value, and public HEIs remain unsupported by government and are required to accept 50% free students

Recommendations:

·          Clarify the respective roles of the MoEYS/Dept of Higher Education and the newly created Accreditation Committee of Cambodia regarding the Royal Kret of March 2002.

·          Government/Donors/NGOs should work in collaboration to address key quality and regulatory issues as well as create long-term policy on scholarships, institutional autonomy, merit-based salaries, research, etc

As NGOs working in education in Cambodia, we see ourselves working in partnership with the Royal Government of Cambodia and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport to address these recommendations; they are offered in a spirit of partnership and with our willingness to work together for the good of the children of Cambodia.

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[1]EMIS - Education Statistics and Indicators 2002-2003

[2]Gender appraisal of ESSP 2002/2003 Performance, May 2003

[3]MoEYS/Donor/NGO meeting Sept 2003

[4]National Poverty Reduction Strategy 2003-2005

4 National Poverty Reduction Strategy 2003-2005

[5] EMIS - Education Statistics and Indicators 2002-2003

For further information on the issues raised in this paper, please contact:

The NGO Education Partnership (NEP), NEP@online.com.kh , #023 987 114

Board of Directors:

Kila Riemer,  projdev@icc.org.kh

Kou Boun Kheang,  kheang@SCN.online.com.kh

Kurt Bredenberg,  kape.cambodia@online.com.kh

Regina Pellicore,  mkskhmer@online.com.kh

Richard Geeves,  geeves@online.com.kh

EDUCAM Dr. Luise Ahrens, mkskhmer@online.com.kh