The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport in collaboration with Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI) have arranged the first Cambodia Education Policy Forum under the theme Education Reform and Training from March 2-4 to discuss policy reforms and strategy in education.
This forum was conducted online and presided over by minister Hang Chuon Naron with approximately 500 participants attending, including representatives of relevant ministries and institutions, education department directors and teachers.
Chuon Naron said this forum was for people to discuss and analyse strategies, policies and priority reforms and provide input for discussion on key reforms at the Educational Conference 2021.
“This forum is focused on four key areas of education reform such as teacher education, management, digital education, and post Covid-19 adaptation. I sincerely hope that everybody will participate and benefit from this educational forum,” he said.
CDRI acting executive director Eng Netra said the Education Policy Forum reflected the cooperation between the ministry and CDRI, as well as the good cooperation of the two working groups.
She added the forum would address key government priorities as set out in the Education Strategic Plan 2019-2023.
“Everyone’s participation in today’s forum will provide input for discussions on key education reforms at the education conference that we plan to hold this year, as well as the development of education policy documents in the coming years,” she said.
Bo Chankulika, director of the education ministry’s Department of Policy, expressed her views at the forum including the vision for Cambodia to achieve to become a high middle income country by 2030 and a high income country by 2050. The government has launched a number of education reform policies.
She added that these include the approval of teacher policies, teacher policy action plans, policies and frameworks on regular professional development for educators in all areas of the teaching profession and the reform of teacher training institutions.
She said that since the implementation of all these reforms, the education system still faced challenges, such as students dropping out of school, class repetition, and students’ fundamental abilities are still low compared to the same level with countries in the region and in the world. School budgets are also still limited, mismatched between skills and labour market needs, lack of quality training and effective school management.
“The education forum will provide orientation and prioritisation of reforms and solutions to the above issues to achieve the 2030 education reform strategy and 2050 education vision,” she said.
