Royal University of Phnom Penh Master of Education Program

ROYAL UNIVERSITY OF PHNOM PENH

MED PROGRAM COHORT 10 2015/16

Development of Education in Cambodia

and Fieldwork

Reflection Paper 2
(Final Draft)
Topic:
Through close examination of this class material,
critically evaluate the ideas, concepts, values, policies, and
practices that shape access to, and outcomes of education
in Sweden and Cambodia.

Lecturer: Dr. Nary Tao

Name: Sou Phang

ED2008: Development of Education in Cambodia and Fieldwork 1 Lecturer: Dr. Tao Nary
Royal University of Phnom Penh Master of Education Program

Reflection Paper 2
Topic:
Through close examination of this class material, critically evaluate the ideas, concepts, values,
policies, and practices that shape access to, and outcomes of education in Sweden and Cambodia.

Introduction
Education is widely and generally considered as the bedrock on which individual country
develops. It plays the most important roles in sustainable development of all sectors in the country,
especially socioeconomic development. Social and economic development usually leads to the more
positive betterment or improvement of many aspects such as social harmony and welfare, better living
standards, poverty reduction, qualified human resources, equality and equity, gender equality, justice,
human rights, well-being of the country, etc. Moreover, education helps bring the good political
environment and stability which are also influential in terms of sustainable development of the country.
In response to the rapid global changes, the education systems and policies of individual countries need
to be reformed and adjusted to fit in the needs of national development and international trends. In his
essay about the role of education in national development, McCartney (2015) wrote that all changes in
technology, labor market patterns, and general global environment require policy responses. He also
added that the education system and policies of a country reflect and are affected by traditions, culture
and faith of the country, and the element of continuity and change remains perpetual and it is up to the
society to determine its pace and direction.
Since education is crucial for the development of the country, almost all countries around the
world, large and small, resource-rich and resource-poor, are trying to keep updating and reforming
their education systems and quality of education outcomes to meet the needs and rapid changes of the
modern industrialized world. As seen, many naturally-resource-poor countries around the world have
enjoyed their prosperous socioeconomic development and high living standards contributed by their
universal education systems from preschool to tertiary levels. For instance, Buchanan (2012) wrote
that, Nearly all of the countries that have long been the wealthiest in the world reached, or have
maintained, that status by having universal pre-college education, along with a strong commitment to
higher education. Even the most resource-poor countries of Northern and Western Europe have
enjoyed much higher living standards than many resource-rich countries that do not devote themselves
to educating their young people. Similarly, Cambodia and Sweden are also trying and working very

ED2008: Development of Education in Cambodia and Fieldwork 2 Lecturer: Dr. Tao Nary
Royal University of Phnom Penh Master of Education Program
hard to reform their education systems in order to meet the demands and changes in labor market and
modern technological and industrialized world. However, these two countries have both similarities
and differences in terms of socioeconomic status, historical and political contexts, and especially
education systems.

Evaluation and Reflection

Historical and Political Contexts
Cambodia and Sweden have been through different historical and political contexts which have
had strong influences on every aspect of the countries, especially on education sector. Cambodia has
experienced both prosperous and destructive historical and political experiences, especially during the
Pol Pot regime which had destroyed all forms of development. Education system, the educational
infrastructure, and almost the entire human resources had been destroyed. This led to the worst
consequences in national development for decades afterwards (Ogisu & Williams, 2016, pp. 16-17). In
contrast, Sweden hasnt experienced such a kind of the bitterness in its history for the last 200 years,
especially during the two destructive wars of the world (WW I & II). Benefiting from this long period
of peace and political stability, Sweden has had the great opportunity to develop its economy and social
welfare based on industrial development (Wikander, 2010, p. 6). At the same time, its education system
has been reformed up to today. The modern education systems of Cambodia and Sweden started their
foundation at about the same time (in the late first haft of 20 th century); however, Cambodian modern
education system was completely destroyed to its root due to the political conflict and civil war in the
second haft of the same century. As the result, it is undeniable that politics has played the crucial role
in laying the strong foundation and opportunity for the other sectors to develop including the education
sector. This can be seen clearly in the historical and political contexts of Cambodia and Sweden. I
confidently believe that the education system of Cambodia would have been as qualified and well
developed as the one of Sweden if Cambodia hadnt been through such a bitter and tortuous path in its
history and politics.

Compulsory Education
Education is really important for individuals, especially in the modern time; however, not all
people can get access to it. In this sense, education is now a right for everyone, especially children, to
have or receive the access to it in order to develop themselves for better opportunities and freedoms
(The United Nation, 2015). Moreover, education has been made compulsory for everyone in most
countries around the globe. It means that everyone is required to be in schools for certain period of
education, and it is imposed by law. Both Cambodian and Swedish compulsory educations require
children to stay in schools for 9 years (from grade 1-9). In Cambodia, all children are required to enroll
grade 1 at the age of 6 while children are required to enroll grade 1 at the age of 7 in Sweden. Despite
ED2008: Development of Education in Cambodia and Fieldwork 3 Lecturer: Dr. Tao Nary
Royal University of Phnom Penh Master of Education Program
the same period of compulsory education in both countries, Cambodian is still facing many challenges
to encourage all children to enroll and retain in schools throughout the required period. Even though
the numbers of schools and enrollments in primary and lower secondary schools are increasing in each

recent school or academic year, the rate of dropout is still high, especially in lower secondary
education (MoEYS, 2016). In contrary to Cambodia, almost all compulsory school students in Sweden
continue to upper secondary schools (Wikander, 2010, p. 14). This means that almost all the Swedish
students enroll and retain throughout the period of compulsory schools, and it can also be inferred that
the Swedish compulsory education is more effective and successful than Cambodian compulsory
education. There are many factors contributing to preventing many Cambodian students from
completing compulsory education such as personal, family, school, community, socioeconomic factors
(Heng, Sok, & No, 2016 & USAID, 2016), lack of school buildings and incomplete schools in remotes
areas, and overage enrollment (Ogisu & Williams, 2016, pp. 18-21). The Cambodian compulsory
education will become more effective in retaining students throughout the period of 9 years when
schools are more convenient and easily accessed in both rural and urban areas, when socioeconomic
situation becomes more developed, and when other basic infrastructure is sufficiently developed.

Equal and Equitable Access to Education

Access to education means all students are ensured and provided with equal and equitable
opportunities and needs in acquiring quality education regardless of their genders, races, family
background, economic status, religious belief, etc. The access to education has to be provided with
equalitywhat is applied, allocated, or distributed equally, and equitywhat is fair and just. Hence
both Sweden and Cambodia are trying to reform their education systems in order to provide and ensure
the equitable and equal access to education to their students, especially the most disadvantaged ones.
However, Cambodia is still encountering many challenges in providing the access. One of the main
challenges is the dropout rates which are still high in compulsory education, especially in lower
secondary education level (MoEYS & USAID, 2016), and some factors contributing to dropout should
be assumed as the failure in ensuring or providing the equal and equitable access to education in the
Cambodian education system. For instance, some factors such as less effort from school principals and
teachers in finding the causes of dropout, lack of school support and mechanism to attract the dropouts
back to school, incomplete secondary school, private fee at school, lack of student enrollment
campaign and dropout prevention within both urban and rural community, insufficient scholarship for
underprivileged/disadvantaged students, and lack of community support (Heng, et al., 2016) should be
considered.
Even though everyone has the right and freedom to choose any school they want to study,
ED2008: Development of Education in Cambodia and Fieldwork 4 Lecturer: Dr. Tao Nary
Royal University of Phnom Penh Master of Education Program
majority of them cant do it in Cambodia, especially in the remote and rural areas, because most of the
good schools are in the city or towns, which are far from their homes. Moreover, all private schools are
not free of tuitions and other additional services comparing to all the private or independent schools in

Sweden. In Sweden, both public and private schools are free of tuitions and charges for other materials
or services such as teaching materials, school meals, health services or transportation (Ogisu &
Williams, 2016, pp. 13 & 15), and the school quality and facilities are not much different between rural
and urban areas, public and private schools. On the other hand, the Swedish education system is more
diversified and accessible for everyone to get through the system and the advantages of their education
in any school of their choices. Everyone always has the access to go back to school at any time they
want. This can be assumed that the Swedish education system is more equitable in terms of access to
education at any level, especially basic education, than Cambodian education system which is being
reformed towards more equitable and qualified access for all citizens.

Centralization vs. Decentralization

Centralization and decentralization are two common concepts which have been used in
educational management. Centralization refers to the managing system or concept whereby the central
body or administrative authority for education has the complete power overall resources, in decision
making, in policies making, etc. while decentralization refers to the extent to which the authority has
been passed down to the individual school (Brennen, 2002). Neither of the concepts has been used
without another since each of them might lead towards over control or chaos in the system. With rapid
development of technology or rapid transformation from a traditional, agricultural society into a more
advanced industrialized society, decentralization has been the main focus of the educational
management. In the 1990s, Sweden started to reform its education system towards a more
decentralized one in response to the rapid transformation of its society into a more advanced
industrialized one. The reform aimed to improve the social welfare, to produce active citizens, to
improve the efficiency of the institutions, and to meet the market demands (Ogisu & Williams, 2016,
pp. 33-34). Municipalities and schools have been given the responsibilities in planning and managing
all the school activities, and they are driven by objectives rather than following the guidelines and rules
from the government. In contrast, Cambodian education system is very centralized, and the ministry of
educationthe government agencyis solely responsible in providing and planning everything. All
schools have to follow the uniformed guidelines, rules, and policies provided by the ministry to carry
out their daily administrative and academic activities. As the result, the efficiency of the system and
quality of the outcomes are still limited and dont sufficiently respond to the market needs and rapid
transformation or development of the modern industrialized society. As shown in the successful story
ED2008: Development of Education in Cambodia and Fieldwork 5 Lecturer: Dr. Tao Nary
Royal University of Phnom Penh Master of Education Program
of the Swedish education system, Cambodia should learn the lessons from the Swedish successful
experiences. It should make its education system less centralized to encourage more involvement from
the communities, stakeholders, interest groups to play their roles and work together towards the
achievement of the objectives.

Conclusion
Aftercriticallyexaminethroughthecoursematerialsandotherrelevantsourcesofinformation
abouttheeducationsystemsofSwedenandCambodia,itcanbestatedthattheeducationsystemof
Cambodiastillneedsmoretimeandstrongereffortsandcommitmentsinitsreform.Rapidchangesin
society,labormarket,andtechnologyusuallyhavestrongimpactoneducationsystemsincethose
changes introduce new demands on the educational system to produce the qualified outcomes
sufficientlymeetingthedemands.Tohaveaqualifiededucationsystemthatcaneffectivelyrespondto
the future demands, Cambodia needs to overcome many current challenges, some of which are
discussedaboveinthisessay.Goodpoliticalenvironmentandstabilitycanreallyhelplayavery
strongfoundationforthedevelopmentofallsectorsincludingeducation.Withoutthisstabilityand
strongwillingnessfromtheleaders,nothingcanbedevelopedsmoothlyasitcanbeclearlyseen
throughitsrecenthistory;however,thepresentpolitical,social,andeconomicconditionsarestable
andgoodenoughforustoconcentrateandmobilizeallthepotentialresourcestodevelopthecountry.
Furthermore, the education system needs to be more thoroughly reformed in order to ensure and
providetheequitableandequalaccessforeveryonetowardsqualifiededucation,andtoreduceor
eliminatetheinefficiencyofthesystems.Withqualifiededucationsystem,studentswillbeequipped
withrightqualification,skillsandknowledgewhichwillhavemorepositivecontributionandimpacts
onlongtermandsustainabledevelopmentofthecountry.

ED2008: Development of Education in Cambodia and Fieldwork 6 Lecturer: Dr. Tao Nary
Royal University of Phnom Penh Master of Education Program

References:
Brennen, M. A. (2002). Centralization versus decentralization. Retrieved December 23, 2016, from
http://www.soencouragement.org/centralizationvsdecentralization.htm
Buchanan, H. N. (2012). An educated population is essential to a nations prosperity, yet some
politicians are demonizing our educational system for political advantage. Retrieved December
17, 2016, from https://verdict.justia.com/2012/03/29/an-educated-population-is-essential-to-a-
nations-prosperity-yet-some-politicians-are-demonizing-our-educational-system-for-political-
advantage
Heng, K., Sok, S., & No, F. (2016, June). School dropout in Cambodia: A case study of Phnom Penh
and Kampong Speu. Research Report. Phnom Penh: Royal University of Phnom Penh.
McCartney, M. D. (2015). The roles of education in national development. Retrieved December 17,
2016, from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/role-education-national-development-dr-donald-m-
mccartney
MoEYS (2016). Education congress report 2014-2015. Phnom Penh: MoEYS
Ogisu, T. & Williams, H. J. (2016). The backstory of education in Cambodia. In Kitanumra, Y.,
Edwards, B. D. Jr., Chhinh, S., & Williams, H. J. (Eds.), The political economy of Schooling in
Cambodia: Issues of quality and equity (pp. 15-34). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
United Nations (2015). Education for all (EFA): Overview. Retrieved April 6, 2016, from the
United Nation website: http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/briefingpapers/efa/index.shtml
USAID (2016). Cambodia: Program review. School Dropout Prevention Pilot Program. Retrieved
October 18, 2016, from http://schooldropoutprevention.com/country-data-activities/cambodia/
Wikander, L. (2010). The educational system in Sweden: From a uniform towards a dual model. In
Riis, U. (Ed.), Four essays on educational systems and reforms in modern times (pp. 5-42).
Uppsala University.

ED2008: Development of Education in Cambodia and Fieldwork 7 Lecturer: Dr. Tao Nary