At program appraisal, Cambodia had made significant progress in improving basic education, particularly for girls. However, disparities based on gender, geographic location, and household economic status persisted. Education faced several challenges in meeting the country’s Millennium Development Goal of universal 9-year basic education. These challenges included lack of access to lower secondary schools (LSSs), high repetition at the primary level, and high dropout rates at the lower secondary level (grades 7–9). Overage students, both girls and boys, were prone to dropping out of school. Low completion and high dropout rates were the dominant issues facing secondary education.
To help address the situation, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved the Third Education Sector Development Program in September 2012 for a loan of $30 million. Supported by a policy-based loan of $12 million and a project loan of $18 million, the program’s expected impact was the achievement of universal 9-year basic education. Its intended outcome was increased lower secondary enrollment. Planned outputs included (i) improved access to LSSs, (ii) improved quality of lower secondary education (LSE), and (iii) improved LSE subsector management. While the policy component was nationwide, most project investments targeted 14 provinces in the Tonle Sap and border regions, where student progression and completion were below the national average.
At completion, the program (i) constructed and expanded education facilities, increasing the capacity of the education system, particularly in remote locations, to enroll students; (ii) provided housing for teachers, with priority given to female teachers and families, encouraging them to work in remote and disadvantaged schools; (iii) provided multistorey dormitory for teachers from major ethnic minority provinces, allowing them to undertake pre- and in-service training programs; (iv) installed water and sanitation facilities in schools, which helped ensure hygiene and increased productivity of LSS students and staff member;
(v) provided opportunities, through the school improvement grants (SIGs) program, for disadvantaged students to complete their 9-year basic education; (vi) delivered strengthened in-service training (INSET) to mathematics and science teachers through improved student-centered learning approaches, modernized curricula, coaching and mentoring programs, and web-based teacher training, which have encouraged students to remain in school; (vii) increased the knowledge and life skills of LSS students through employability programs that have also increased their chances of getting stable jobs; (viii) strengthened school management leadership and management skills through school-based management and modular training programs; and (ix) improved LSS through scaled up support for innovative interventions such as the school-based enrichment program (SBEP), SIGs, school support committees, web-based INSET, action research methods, and better monitoring of students.
While there were shortfalls in 3 of its 17 output targets, the program successfully achieved its outcome targets. Against the targeted increase of 5% (7% girls), the lower secondary gross enrolment rate rose to 53.8% (58.9% girls) in school year (SY) 2017/2018, representing an increase of 8.9% (15.7% girls) the SY 2011/2012 baseline. Against the same targeted increase of 5% (7% girls), the lower secondary net enrolment rate climbed to 40.7% (46.1% girls) in SY 2017/2018, representing an increase of 35.6% (40.5% girls) from SY 2011/2012.
The program had the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports as executing agency and the Directorate Generals of Administration and Finance and of Education as implementing agencies.
