Cambodia Country Paper:
Education development and e-Learning
Contribution to Asia e-Learning Network (AEN)
July 24-25, 2002, Tokyo Bay Ariake Washington Hotel, Japan
I am pleased to present to you a short report on the development of Education in Cambodia in the context of globalization and the use of ICT to promote e-Leaning across the country and the region during this meeting of Asian e-Learning Network (AEN).
I would like to take this opportunity to mention that Cambodia went through over two decades of civil war, especially during the genocidal regime from 1975 - 1979. All infrastructure in the society was completely destroyed during this period. Part of it was the abolition of the education system. Our educational situation are therefore more challenged than perhaps elsewhere in the region.
Between 1979 and 1993, Cambodia has tried hard to restore the ruined education system from scratch. Gradually it brought schooling back to normal. After the second election in 1998, the Royal Government and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) have made greater efforts to stimulate education system reform which includes introduction of a new curriculum.
In addition to the commitment of the Dakar Framework For Action, Cambodia is setting it's education development within a broader framework for poverty reduction and broadening the base of national well being.
Furthermore, our experiences on education vis-a-vis to our regional friends had shown a rapid expansion of primary and lower secondary enrolment. Gross enrolment rates remain high and Cambodia's rate is about 90% in average.
The rapid expansion of basic education has resulted in major growth on Government spending for primary and lower secondary education. Per pupil spending on education in Cambodia remains at the low end of regional figures. Cambodia's spending is roughly comparable with its Greater Mekong neighbors but well below the better off ASEAN countries.
However, to simply increase education spending is not enough. Increased spending needs to complement to better efficiency, higher quality and deployment of new technology as a tool such as the internet for e-leaning or distant learning.
With this, I would like to bring your attention to our Information and Communication Technology situation.
Since year 2000 Cambodia became the tenth and last member of ASEAN communities. It has made great effort to participate with all activities as endorsed by the ASEAN Leaders and its secretariat. One of which is the creation of an eASEAN Task Force and eASEAN Working Group which have the duty to develop, according the e-ASEAN Framework Agreement, in order to provide all aspect of ICT and overall direction for all ASEAN member nations. The objective is to accelerate smooth integration in all related areas including legal frameworks, educational frame works, trade and business integration and liberalization etc¡Ä among old and new members of ASEAN as well as within the region and the world.
One of the projects under the eASEAN Framework Agreement is the SchooNet project. Though it is still in the early stage, the SchoolNet project has begun by nominating SchoolNet coordinators and invited them to a meeting in Washington D.C. in June 2001 which followed by a fact finding visit to Phnom Penh of two World Bank representatives in may 2001. Also, it has organized awareness seminar in Phnom Penh for Cambodian educators and students. Three high schools in Phnom Penh have been chosen as its pilot base. The project is supported by the World Bank under a grant from Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF).
E-learning cannot progress without and improvement on local telecommunication infrastructure and Internet development.
Since 1993 Cambodia is boosting its wireless telecommunications development to the point that the number of mobile telephone subscriber exceeds fixed lines one. This development is the first record in the world. Cambodia's teledensity of telephone subscribers reached 1 in 100 inhabitants in year 2000 which is a significant achievement for a Least Developed Country.
There are five private companies providing telecom services in Cambodia. Cambodia has the lowest Internet penetration in South East Asia (0.07 per cent) and the highest price. The complexity of computerized Khmer characters and lack of standardized scripts in computers have slow down the development of local applications for World Wide Web.
Aside from these shortcomings in the ICT infrastructures; the Royal Government of Cambodia is committed to create an environment where ICT can develop quickly. In this regards, an authority for the National ICT for the Development (NiDA) was created and chaired by the Prime Minister in 2000.
This is a brief report which reflects Cambodia status in Education and ICT development after more than two decade of wars. Cambodia is ready to cooperate with all party concerned in order to advance the field of e-Learning in the region.
Thank you for your attention.