The education system in modern Cambodia has progressed very slowly. Cambodia got its first high school in 1930. As Cambodia regained freedom from France, the government of Prince Norodom Sihanouk paid attention and made educational machinery functioning during 1950s and 1960s. Schools providing elementary and secondary education were established in different country parts. Universities / institutes of higher education, and vocational and technical training institutes were also established. But unfortunately the civil war and the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime vanished all the efforts made by earlier government in the field of education.

It is estimated that by the end of the Khmer Rouge time, between 75 and 80 percent of Cambodian educators either were killed, died of overwork, or left the country. At least half of the written material available in the Khmer language was destroyed.

In 1979, as PRK Government came into power with help from Vietnam, education system once started flourishing up. The PRK government has made significant improvement in providing education beginning from elementary school to higher university education. In this period Cambodian students were also offered scholarships from neighboring countries.  But there were shortage of resources government was involved in civil war, the government put limitations on number of enrolments in elementary schools and universities. This leads to widespread corruption in Cambodian education system. Significant changes were made in Cambodian Education System following Paris Agreement and UN sponsored elections in 1990s. Many new schools build, the percentage of the national budget for education increased, reaching 7.7 percent in 2000 and 15.67 percent in 2001 (GAD/C 2002). Many new private schools build in Cambodia especially at the secondary and higher education level.

Now, providing education at all level right from primary level schooling to university level education is responsibility of the government’s Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. The ministry is responsible for providing adequate infrastructure and resources to government schools and universities and keeping an eye on both government and private institutes if they are providing developmental education. Though level of education is still low and Cambodia has to strive to strengthen its’ knowledge economy.

• Participation in education
• Primary enrolment
• Secondary enrolment
• Tertiary enrolment
• Progression and completion in education
• Resources for education
• Literacy rates

Participation in education

Pre-primary		1991		1999		2002		2004		2004 Regional average
GER (%)	MF		4	(2)	6		9		9	(2)	40
	M		5	(2)	6		9		9	(2)	41
	F		4	(2)	6		9		9	(2)	39

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Primary enrolment

Primary		1991		1999		2002		2004		2004 Regional average
GER(%)	MF		87		99		132		137		113
	M	(2)	96		106		139		142		114
	F	(2)	77		92		125		131		112
NER(%)	MF	(2)	69	(2)	85	(2)	92		98	(2)	94
	M	(2)	75	(2)	89	(2)	95		100	(2)	94
	F	(2)	63	(2)	81	(2)	89		96	(2)	94

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Secondary enrolment

Secondary		1991		1999		2002		2004		2004 Regional average
GER(%)	MF		29	(2)	16		22	(2)	29		73
	M	(3)	41	(2)	21		27	(2)	35		73
	F	(3)	17	(2)	11		16	(2)	24		73
NER(%)	MF		...	(2)	15	(2)	21	(2)	26	(2)	69
	M		...	(2)	19	(2)	26	(2)	30
	F		...	(2)	10	(2)	16	(2)	22

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Tertiary enrolment

Tertiary		1991		1999		2002		2004		2004 Regional average
GER (%)	MF		1		...		3		3		23
	M		...		...		4		4		24
	F		...		...		1		2		21

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Progression and completion in education

School life expectancy ISCED 1-6 (years)	(2)	10
Percentage of repeaters, primary (%)		11
Survival rate to grade 5 (%)	(1)	60
Gross intake ratio to last grade of primary (%)		82
Primary to secondary transition rate (%)	(1)	83

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Resources for education

Pupil / teacher ratio (primary)		55
Public expenditure on education :
as % of GDP		2.0
as % of total government expenditure	(5)	14.6
Distribution of public expenditure per level (%) :
pre-primary	(4)	1
primary	(4)	73
secondary	(4)	21
tertiary	(4)	5
unknown	(4)	-

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Literacy rates

Literacy rates		1990		2000-2004		2000-2004 Regional average
Adult  (15+) %	MF		62.0		73.6		90.8
	M		77.7		84.7		94.7
	F		48.8		64.1		86.8
Youth  (15-24) %	MF		73.5		83.4		97.9
	M		81.5		87.9		98.2
	F		65.6		78.9		97.5

For more information on education in Cambodia, Click Here.