Development Management Policy Seminar on “Education Policy and Strategic Planning in Cambodia

On June 10th, 2015, a Development Management Policy Seminar on “Education Policy and Strategic Planning in Cambodia” was conducted in the main conference room in Kobe University’s Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies (GSICS). His Excellency Sothea Lim, Director General of Policy and Planning at the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports (MOEYS) in Kingdom of Cambodia, delivered the seminar and more than 50 researchers, practitioners, and students participated in it.

His Excellency Sothea Lim firstly explained the background information of Cambodia. He stated the regional, demographic, economic background of Cambodia. Then, he explained the transition of education system of Cambodia, from French style 13 years education system to the current 12 years education system. He also explained the change of education policy around 2000s.

Then, His Excellency Sothea Lim introduced the recent trend on education planning in Cambodia. After explaining the type of education policy in Cambodia, he mentioned the recent education plans in Cambodia, starting from 2000. He also explained about the procedure of policy making for education sector. Furthermore, he described the donor coordination that the MOEYS carries out.

Lastly, His Excellency Sothea Lim presented the remaining challenge regarding education planning and the prospect of education planning of Cambodia. According to His Excellency, Cambodia’s education transferred from input-based policy to output-based policy. In doing so, Cambodia formulate outcome oriented education policy. Moreover, His Excellency emphasized the importance of consolidating the planning and decision-making exercise and aligning education policy to national policy. He stated that the challenges of education in Cambodia are the improvement in quality of education planning, donor coordination, monitoring and evaluation, and the capacity development. He also argued that the prospect priority of education plan is the increase in access to education, quality improvement, provision of life skill education, and the implementation of education for sustainable development.

After the presentation, the participants mainly raised question about the education planning in Cambodia, such as the process to formulate the education planning and the role of school in formulating education planning. Moreover, the participants questioned about broader aspects of education in Cambodia, including the dropout rate of Cambodia, the special needs education, and adult literacy education. From this seminar, the participants gained cardinal knowledge regarding education planning and policy.

Students of Ogawa seminar would like to show great appreciation toward His Excellency Sothea Lim for his precious seminar, and also to Professor Ogawa for providing us this wonderful opportunity.

Authored by Nozomi Shiraishi