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NGO STATEMENT TO THE 2001 CONSULTATIVE GROUP 
MEETING ON CAMBODIA

EDUCATION
 

CONTENTS

 


Introductions
Key Issues
Recommendations

Introduction

The belief in education as a fundamental human right for all forms the core of the Dakar Framework for Action, developed from the Education for All (EFA) 2000 assessment. The Non-Government Organisation (NGO) community involved in the education sector in Cambodia both congratulates and wholeheartedly supports the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) and Ministry of Education (MoEYS) commitment to this belief, indicated through the on going process to make this a reality in the Cambodian context.

The NGO community involved in education recognizes and applauds the progress that has been made over the past year. The RGC and MoEYS emphasis on a pro-poor policy-driven education reform program carried out in collaboration with stakeholders provides a promising base to address the constraints to achieving education for all. While appreciating the challenge involved in a collaborative education reform process, the NGO community also recognizes that there continue to be key issues that need to be addressed. 

The statement presents the views of NGOs collected through the recently developed NGO Education Partnership Interim Board and builds on the 2000 NGO CG statement. The intention of the statement is to contribute to the development of the reform program through the provision of constructive comments on the progress made over the past year and recommendations on key areas of concern. 

Key Issues

Coordination and Collaboration
Over the last year, the increasing contribution of education stakeholders to the education reform program through developing channels of communication, has opened up the opportunity for constructive debate and input into the provision of an equitable and quality education system in Cambodia. The inclusive and participatory approach adopted by the MoEYS to prepare and plan for its 5-year sectoral plan, the Education Sector Support Programme (ESSP) has increased collaboration between stakeholders and promotes coordination both of donor aid and among education departments of the MoEYS. 

A key area of concern on the process is the limited input from civil society representatives and school level representatives. The NGO community does not see its role as one to represent these groups but rather to promote them to provide input into the development of the education system. Increased coordination and collaboration of civil society calls for a greater degree of local management that is both open and responsive. Currently, there is an over-concentration on central, provincial and the Budget Management Centre (BMC) level accountability when NGO experience shows that the best way to promote community-school relations is through open management at the school level. Communities have a history of strong support to education in Cambodia and can continue to do so if productive local management is promoted and supported by the MoEYS at higher levels. 

Recommendations

  • The NGO community urges the RGC and the MoEYS to continue to implement a participatory and inclusive approach that will move forward at a rate that is influenced by the needs of all its stakeholders.
  • The NGO community urges the MoEYS to encourage community participation in the education system through the promotion of open management at the school level.
  • The NGO community urges the MoEYS to promote transparency, accountability and credibility at all levels while implementing education policy reform in Cambodia.

Allocation of Resources 
Allocation of scarce resources has continued to challenge the RGC and the MoEYS. Despite promises to increase government spending on education, the highest costs continue to be met by parental/community contributions as well as donor/NGO financing.

The NGO community feels strongly that a top priority issue that demands immediate and urgent attention is the impact that the slow government progress on the National Public Administration reform has on Education reform. The NGO education community continues to identify low teacher's salaries as a major constraint. They believe that a salary increase that provides teachers with a living wage is a mandatory precondition to any significant quality education reform. While the draft ESP recognizes the fundamental importance of improved living conditions for teachers, the NGO community urges the MoEYS to take the next step and make improved living conditions of teachers a reality by reassessing their proposed targets and strategies for salary reform.

The RGC and MoEYS Priority Action Programme (PAP) piloted in July 2000 was developed to expand primary enrollment and minimize access barriers for poor children. The NGO community recognizes that promotion rates increased as a result of the remedial program, addressing a major concern of the MoEYS by lowering the high repetition and drop out rates in the lower grades. Allocation of funds directly to schools through the provision of school operational budgets aimed to complement the abolition of school fees and address the cost burden on parents. Unfortunately, problems of disbursement, carrying through guarantees and low management capacity meant that little impact was made on reducing the cost. Reports on the impact of PAP indicated that approximately 40% of the PAP in 2000 was funded. The NGO community appreciates the financial implications of the heavy floods last year on the education system but at the same time urges the RGC and the MoEYS to work together to ensure that funds allocated for education through the PAP are disbursed and well spent. For greater impact to be made on resource allocation there is a need for a more in depth and critical analysis of the lessons learned from the PAP, especially in light of its national expansion from the 10 pilot provinces last year.

Recommendations

  • The NGO community urges the MoEYS to reconsider and seriously review the ESP Teachers Salaries projection up to an acceptable level, making it really adequate to meet today's ever increasing cost of living in Cambodia. 
  • The NGO community urges the MoEYS to develop a more effective and sophisticated implementation plan for PAP, which draws critically on lessons learned from the PAP pilot and the experiences of other projects and programs to promote transparency and ensure credibility.

The MoEYS 5-year ESP
While acknowledging that there are some important lessons to be learned from the PAP, the NGO community questions a program that is presented as a set of activities which are defined centrally, thus limiting local choices and emphasizing quantitative impacts over qualitative ones. A major concern is that the presentation of the PAP in the ESP has been at the expense of other policies and strategies that the Government has been committed to and been working on for some years, such as the Cluster School system. The effectiveness of the Cluster School system as a structural basis for local level planning and professional development has not been recognized in the MoEYS recent plans. Although it may not have been intended, there is the danger of sending out a message that these policies and strategies are no longer seen as a priority or are no longer endorsed, despite their success over the years. This will lead to the development of parallel systems, which will lead to, as experience has shown in the past, confusion and lack of credibility amongst school officials.

The following areas of concerns are based on specific areas that the NGO community feels have not received sufficient attention in the ESP and which they recognize as priority areas within the Cambodian context. 

In a country where it is estimated that over 55% of the total population has limited or no access to public pre-school education, the lack of coverage of pre-school education in the MoEYS plans is not acceptable. 

In a country where the proportion of enrolled girls in the later grades of the primary system drops from 47% in grade 1 to 32% in grade 6, a figure that steadily decreases the higher the level of education (currently placed at 16% in tertiary education), and where high gender disparities exist in the education service, the gender dimension in the MoEYS plans is considered to be limited and inadequate if such disparities are to be addressed.

The NGO community feels that the MoEYS focus on increasing access can be strengthened by emphasizing specific strategies to address the education disparities that exist for children with special needs related to physical, socio-economic, political and cultural factors. 

With an adult HIV prevalence rate of 3.5% and with young adults (15-29) identified as the group with the highest infection rates, it will not be long before the loss of persons in their most economically productive years will have drastic effects on the Cambodian economy. The MoEYS needs to start investigating the impact of HIV/AIDS on the education service.

Finally, whilst supporting the soundness of a pro-poor philosophy, the NGO community feels that the focus of the plan on the health and efficiency of institutions and the system rather than on the quality of the learning experiences of the individual, create an unbalanced approach to education. This does not do justice to the commitment and participatory process adopted by the MoEYS to achieve quality education for all.

Recommendations

  • The NGO community urges the MoEYS to include the Cluster School System in the ESP document. Many organisations have successfully developed the model and provide important lessons learnt on increasing equitable access, decentralization and institutional capacity building and management, all particularly relevant in the Cambodian education context.
  • The NGO community urges the MoEYS to incorporate pre-school education into the 5-year ESP and to build on lessons learnt from current projects and programmes that are focusing on this area.
  • The NGO community urges the MoEYS to build on existing policies and strategies that have proved successful and/or provided effective lessons learnt to address gender disparities in the education system whilst ensuring that a gender dimension is incorporated in all future aspects of the ESSP.
  • The NGO community urges the MoEYS to develop, in the framework of its commitment to EFA, a national policy on access to education for children with special educational needs and suggests to incorporate it within the principle of inclusive schooling.
  • The NGO community urges the MoEYS to make a clear commitment to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic by making specific requests to donors to support a research study on the impact of HIV/AIDS on the teacher service.
  • The NGO community recommends that the ESP focus be broadened to encompass the quality of impact on the learners as the object of policy reform, in the framework of human centered thinking, rather than the current narrow focus on the health and efficiency of the institution.
For further information on the issues raised in this paper please contact: 
The NGO Education Partnership (NEP), Email: nep_cambodia@yahoo.com 
Introduction
Progress
Key NGO priorities
Conclusion
Strategic Planning for Poverty Reduction
Sectoral Papers
Agriculture
Child's Rights
Commune Administration and Decentralization
Commune Elections
Disability and Rehabilitation
Education
Fisheries
Forestry
Gender
Governance and Transparency
Health
HIV/AIDS
Human Rights
Landmines and & UXOs
Land Reform
Mental Health
Micro-finance
Urban Poor
Weapons Reduction and Management
General NGO Information
References

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