Improved quality and access to basic education
Between 1975 and 1979 the Cambodian school system was dismantled and its personnel was decimated by the Khmer Rouge regime. Only 54 teachers remained for the whole country. That number by itself shows the extent of the challenges the authorities were facing when building a successful education system.
30 years later quality education for all is still in jeopardy due to a lack of adequate infrastructure, the shortage of qualified teachers (with an average of 55 pupils for one teacher in primary schools), over-age school enrolment, high dropout rates as well as the poor quality of teaching and learning.
These problems are exacerbated by the strong fragmentation of development aid this country relies on to a large extent as well as problems with ownership and corruption that undermine the impact of many projects. Nevertheless, over the last few years, the Cambodian government has taken the effort to strengthen the efficiency of aid and has invested in the development of real partnerships.
Belgian Cooperation has been active in Cambodia for 8 years and has financed the “Basic Education and Teacher Training” (BETT) project since 2003. The aim of this project is to improve the access to and quality of basic education, in line with the national education strategy of the country. It is implemented jointly by BTC and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and targets three provinces: Siem Reap, Otdar Meanchey and Kampong Cham. Three main action axes have been chosen: the building and rehabilitation of school facilities, the creation of a scholarship system and the support of teacher training.
Expansion and rehabilitation of schools and teacher training facilities
Since 2003 more than 650 classrooms have been built on 110 sites. They have been provided with appropriate school furniture and sanitation facilities. Three teacher training centres have also been rehabilitated or expanded. They offer a stimulating learning environment to more than 112,000 pupils, students and teachers.
Community Involvement
The involvement of local communities is essential to develop a sense of ownership and ensure the sustainability of the infrastructure. That is why School Support Committees have been installed on each of the sites. Their task is fourfold : They follow up the daily work during construction, they execute minor work to improve the premises, they ensure the maintenance and good management of the school and, finally, they ensure that all children can access school. The assistance of these committees has proved very useful; their daily input contributes to a significant improvement of the quality of the construction and to ownership by the populations.
Improvement of the construction model
Following discussions with teachers, parents and representatives of NGOs improvements have been made to the school building model used in the past: A better natural ventilation and protection against rain and sun, supply of flexible and user-friendly equipment and furniture; access for handicapped persons; access to water and toilets the whole year through; integration of environmental concerns by abandoning the use of illegally cut wood etc. There was also a need to offer a traditional type of building, that would be easily built by inexperienced workers without using specific tools.
In 2007 a survey showed that 86% of teachers and pupils preferred the new model, which is considered more comfortable and user-friendly for its equipment, its temperature and natural lighting, as compared to the official model of the Ministry. Following this evaluation, the model of the Ministry has integrated most of the principles initiated by the project. The Ministry is considering at medium term to definitively adopt this model for the whole country. Likewise, the Provincial Teacher Training College of Siem Reap, which was rehabilitated and expanded by the project, is promoted as a national model.
Nevertheless, the good maintenance and management of the schools remains a point of concern. Both depend to a large degree on the motivation of the school principals. Despite their low salaries, at least a third of them is fully engaged in achieving significant improvements. Exchange between communities and increased local involvement of the Ministry should contribute to a generalisation of these good practices.
Scholarships
The scholarships programme aims at decreasing the dropout rate and at improving the transition from primary schools to lower secondary schools. Indeed, whereas considerable progress has been achieved in the universalisation of primary education (91.3% net enrolment ratio), the participation to secondary education remains low (31.3% net enrolment ratio). The programme in the first place also focuses on the poorest, with girls benefiting for 60%; girls drop out more easily. In the schools Local Management Committees have been trained to manage and report on the scholarships programme in their school.
The project has been providing scholarships to over 6,400 pupils at 69 schools over the project’s three years. The scholarship grant differs depending on the family’s financial situation: USD 45, 60 or 90 per year. With that amount you can buy school supplies, a uniform and a bicycle to go to school.
One of the strengths of the scholarships programme was the continuous improvement of the procedures, the follow-up and evaluation implemented. This experience has been shared with other donors, among others the World Bank, which continued the programme in 2007.
Teacher training
In Cambodia the situation does not differ from the situation in other developing or post-conflict countries. Teacher training is poor, there are few school books and pedagogical resources and the teaching methods are not active nor participative.
BTC supports the Cambodian Ministry of Education in progressively introducing change. The focus is on the improvement of pedagogical methods in maths and Khmer classes, the improvement of school management and the introduction of topics such as health and the environment in the life skills programme.
More than 200 primary and lower secondary schools are involved in the maths programme, which reaches 140,000 pupils and 1,850 teachers in the three targeted provinces. Based on the national curriculum and the existing school books, it consists of 6 modules covering the methodology (knowledge of content, concepts, aptitudes), teaching methods and the introduction of learning activities. Afterwards the teachers are followed up and coached in their class and get further training.
The Khmer language programme, to which 127 primary schools participate (45,000 pupils and 1,000 teachers), focuses on learning to read.
The health education programme complements the teacher training support. Health being one of the major dropout causes, it focuses on hygiene and sanitation, disease prevention and food.
Perspectives and challenges
The approach chosen is unique both technically (school model, scholarships programme …) and conceptually (decentralised and participative, attention paid to capacity development, continuous improvement process, influence at the national level…).
Regardless of its significance, the project reaches only 5% of primary schools and 50% of lower secondary schools in the 3 targeted provinces. Hence, the importance of ensuring the dissemination and use at a larger scale of the material and tools developed, in particular in the initial teacher training, in advanced classes and in further training.
The Ministry of Education has taken a first initiative by inviting the project to broaden the maths programme to all teacher training colleges in the country. The possibilities for the Khmer language programme and the health education programme still have to be explored.
Moreover, the objective today is to further strengthen the capacities of the different actors. That is why the project aims at sharing its experience with organisations that are active in the education sector. It wishes to have a stronger impact on policy by participating to working groups and technical workshops at the national level.
