Internship at Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, Cambodia (Runjing GUO)

From February 6 to February 24, I conducted an internship under the supervision of His Excellency Dr. Sothea Lim, Director General of Policy and Planning Department in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) in Cambodia. The main tasks of my internship were the following: ⑴review the education policy and regulation in MoEYS and conduct interviews with government officers, ⑵ conduct research on teacher quality in secondary education (including some school visits in Kampot Province and Phnom Penh), ⑶accompany a project study on interviews for the implementation of ESP2019-2023 by the MoEYS, ⑷ visit UNICEF Cambodia Office and conduct interviews with education specialists.

Regarding the first activity, I reviewed the education policy and regulations in Cambodia. I gained a broad understanding of education in Cambodia, such as education development strategies, and education development goals. In addition, I interviewed His Excellency Dr. Lim and government officials to understand the process of education policy implementation by the Cambodian government. Through the interviews, I asked them about Education Strategic Plan 2019-2023 (ESP 2019-2023), the education budget, teacher capacity building, and the current situation after COVID-19. This experience allowed me to gain insight into Cambodia’s current education situation.

For the second activity, I distributed approximately 50 questionnaires to lower secondary school teachers and visited five public schools to interview principals and teachers. Two of the five schools are in the Kampot Province, and three are in Phnom Penh. Visiting schools in both regions gave me a better understanding of the differences between rural and urban areas. Through these interviews, I better understood teachers’ satisfaction and motivation.

As a third activity, I accompanied the MoEYS to conduct interviews with the principals of public secondary schools in Kompot Province and the government staff in the MoEYS branch regarding the ESP 2019-2023 implementation. This was a valuable experience to learn about the problems that exist in rural areas.

The fourth activity was to visit UNICEF Cambodia Office and meet with the education specialists to understand how UNICEF works with MoEYS in Cambodia and what activities are being implemented to improve teacher quality. During the interview, I obtained valuable information on UNICEF’s efforts to address educational issues in Cambodia, which will greatly help me in my future research.

Through the internship at MoEYS in Cambodia, I explored the reality of secondary education in Cambodia and learned about both the government side and the views of international organizations. Furthermore, I obtained relevant and helpful data while writing my master’s thesis. I sincerely appreciate the kind support from His Excellency Dr. Lim and his staff in the Directorate General of Policy and Planning. Finally, I also would like to express my deepest gratitude to my academic advisor, Professor Keiichi Ogawa, for giving me such a wonderful opportunity.

Authored by Runjing GUO (M2 student)