Enhancing inclusive quality and accessible education for all
Education is at the heart of UNESCO’s mission to build peace, eradicate poverty and drive sustainable development. It is a human right for all throughout life.
As the United Nations lead agency for all aspects of education, UNESCO provides global and regional leadership in education, strengthens education systems and responds to contemporary global challenges through education with gender equality as an underlying principle.
Key Data about Cambodia’s Education Sector
Our Priorities in Cambodia
In Cambodia, UNESCO, through its long-standing partnership with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) and partners, has been advancing the SDG 4 Education 2030 agenda.
We enhance institutional capacity through sector-wide education policy advice, planning and coordination of national education frameworks, alongside the implementation of the Education for Sustainable Development 2030 country initiative, and the .
We support teacher reform to enhance their capacity and improve education quality.
We promote skills for work and life through flexible learning pathways to improve literacy skills and basic education for factory workers and out-of-school youth.
Key Figures
Well-trained, supported and valued teachers are essential to ensuring quality education for all and meeting the education targets of the 2030 Agenda.
Yet worldwide, including in Cambodia, the profession has difficulty in attracting, recruiting and retaining new talent as it suffers from a rather low status and a social standing which does not correspond with the importance attached to the profession. Many of them lack basic qualifications and training to keep pace with the latest changes in education, including digital learning and transformation. In short, teachers are too few, classrooms are too crowded, and teachers are overworked, demotivated and unsupported.
UNESCO works with the MoEYS to strengthen its institutional capacities to assess teaching needs and develop evidence-based policies in relation to teacher management and continuous professional development.
UNESCO connects education to the fast-evolving world of work through its promotion of skills for work and life. Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) empowers youth and adults with the abilities, knowledge, values and attitudes for decent work and contribute to building a peaceful, healthy, just and sustainable world.
In Cambodia, school dropouts remain a challenge today, especially at the lower secondary level, with economic factors being the main reason for young Cambodians leaving school early. Lacking the required academic qualifications and skills, many are excluded from obtaining decent employment.
UNESCO, in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (MLVT), Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS), launched the Basic Education Equivalency Programme (BEEP), as the only alternative learning pathway, to provide out-of-school youth with basic education equivalency and skills development opportunities.
UNESCO promotes the power of literacy for all throughout life as it is an intrinsic part of the right to education. Literacy improves lives by expanding capabilities which in turn reduces poverty, increases participation in the labour market and has positive effects on health and sustainable development. Women empowered by literacy have a positive ripple effect on all aspects of development.
In Cambodia, UNESCO works with the MoEYS for the development, monitoring and implementation of the National Lifelong Learning Policy, and to address the needs of disadvantaged groups, particularly women and girls.
Women make up 85 percent of the total workforce in the garment sector. The lower-skilled roles are often occupied by women with lower educational attainment and from rural areas, who remain underrepresented in management and supervisory roles. Factory Literary Programme (FLP-SkillsFuture), implemented by UNESCO and the MoEYS, supports young women and girls working in factories by equipping them with literacy, numeracy and critical thinking skills, while empowering them to better understand their rights at work and improve their work performance and communication.
