Re: Hun Sen also singled out higher education institutions as deficient, calling master's and doctoral programs "too easy"

my driver paid 2000 US$ for his master degree in driving
and cheating the police check points .




n Mar 19, 3:23 am, Chim <Chi...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2009031924862/National-news/Re...
Report faults school quality
Written by Sam Rith and Robbie Corey-Boulet
Thursday, 19 March 2009

IN a wide-ranging assessment of the Kingdom's education system, Prime
Minister Hun Sen called on Wednesday for officials to enhance the
quality of education programs at all levels while extending the much-
touted enrolment gains seen in recent years.

"At the same time as we build more primary and secondary schools, we
have to improve quality as well," he said, citing higher education
institutions as particularly deficient.

His remarks concluded the National Education Congress, a summit that
brought government officials, NGO members and development partners
together for three days of at the National Institute of Education.

The summit coincided with the release of a report by the Ministry of
Education, Youth and Sport detailing its performance during the
2007-08 academic year and outlining future targets. Though the report
points to many "positive achievements" in the education sector
stemming from "the clear guidance of the Royal Government of
Cambodia", it also describes an array of challenges - from
understaffed preschools to unregulated higher education institutions -
that could prevent Cambodia from meeting targets under its Education
Strategic Plan (2006-2010), Education For All Plan (2003-2015) and
Millennium Development Goal pertaining to education.

Inside higher education
The report's assessment of the Kingdom's 63 higher education
institutions is decidedly negative, both in terms of quality and
access.

"Some HEIs using the name University obviously have neither the
capacity nor the possibility to be a proper HEI," the report states,
using an acronym to refer to the institutions.

Hun Sen also singled out higher education institutions as deficient,
calling master's and doctoral programs "too easy".

"Some master's and PhD students cannot type on computers," he said. "I
don't want just 10 students out of every 100 to get a quality
education."

Even those that offer high-quality programs, moreover, are in many
cases failing to prepare the Kingdom's well-educated students for jobs
in growth sectors, according to the report.

Most HEIs "offer the same degree programs" in fields for which
employment opportunities are limited while ignoring "national needs"
such as science, technology, mathematics, agriculture and health, the
report states.

"There are not enough students in these fields," it states.

Accessing these institutions, meanwhile, is becoming increasingly
difficult. Though the number of available scholarships increased last
year, the percentage of students receiving scholarships among those
who passed grade 12 exams decreased, the report states, adding that 12
percent of students who receive a scholarship for their first year of
higher education ultimately drop out "because of financial
difficulties".

The report also notes that the "HEI budgets are inadequate and lack
transparency in implementation" and calls for a budget increase, among
other initiatives, to address quality and equity issues.

The early years
The number of children enrolled in pre-school increased by 9.7 percent
in the last academic year, from 124,654 to 138,038, including 69,500
girls. The report states, however, that "preschool teacher deployment
is still very low in remote areas" and that a lack of funding could
hinder the expansion of preschool programs in the future. Moreover,
there are few programs for children with disabilities and children of
ethnic minority groups.

At the primary school level, the net enrolment ratio increased by 1.2
percent to 93.3 percent. The Millennium Development Goal pertaining to
education calls for Cambodia to achieve universal primary enrolment by
2010.

The goal also calls for a 100-percent survival, or retention, rate for
grades one through six. Though this rate increased by 3.2 percent last
year, it remains, at 52.5 percent, far short of the target.

Though acknowledging that primary school targets under the Education
Strategic Plan have not been met, the report argues that education at
the primary school level "is improving gradually year by year" on the
strength of expanded teacher incentives, enrolment campaigns,
improvements to libraries and "the prevention of violence on
children", among other factors.

Problems plaguing primary schools include a lack of teachers in rural
and remote areas, "insufficient access to textbooks" and poor
infrastructure, the report states.

Secondary school
Lower secondary enrolment increased by less than 2 percent to 637,529
students, or 63.8 percent of the 2008 target of 1 million students.
The net enrolment rate was 34.8 percent, less than half of the 2010
MDG target of 75 percent. The ministry is aiming for a 40-percent
lower secondary enrolment rate for the 2008-09 academic year.

At the upper secondary level, the enrolment rate was 14.8 percent,
short of the 2008 target of 18 percent. A total of 260,965 students
were enrolled at this level, or 86.9 percent of the 2008 target of
300,000 students.

Three new high schools were established last year, while 26 lower
secondary schools were upgraded to include all secondary grades. There
are 315 high schools in the Kingdom.

In opening remarks Monday, Richard Bridle, a Unicef representative who
spoke on behalf of development partners, captured the tone of both the
report and the summit generally, saying, "While Cambodia has made
remarkable progress in the expansion of access to education over the
past 10 years, the quality of education remains a major issue across
the sector".

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