Policy and reform

The transformative policy, institutional reforms, and student- and teacher-centered approaches are key to the progressive improvement of the upper secondary education (USE) subsector in Cambodia. The dropout rate of 8.0% among science scholarship recipients was low compared with the national average of 18.5% in USE, and science stream students performed better in the grade 12 exam in terms of higher scores compared to their peers in the social science stream.

The program reaffirms the importance of ADB's long-term engagement in local governance reform. Its success can be attributed to policy actions in such areas as revenue generation, budget reform, and enhanced planning processes that were the emphasis of previous ADB programs. New policy reform areas such as Ease of Doing Business arose from dialogue with the government on new priorities.

Subsidiary regulations can have a significant impact. For example, in support of the Ease of Doing Business Act, the various joint memorandum circulars issued by government agencies had an immediate impact.

The use of IT has become part and parcel of fiscal decentralization efforts. Before the program, most agencies were hesitant to invest in IT infrastructure and resorted to grants from development partners. The program encouraged the government to appreciate the importance of sustaining the systems from the local governments' own budgets, greatly reducing the risk that the systems would not be sustained.

Policy reforms should resolve issues, such as by defining the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders and operationalizing service delivery through appropriate institutional arrangements. Policy reforms should articulate how budgetary resources will be shared at different government levels and how resources from public and nonpublic sources will be mobilized for sustainability.

The mobilization of students has been a major factor that contributed to effective capacity utilization and to the success of the program. Mobilization is usually hindered by (i) the perception that skills training is inferior to general upper secondary and tertiary education, and (ii) the view that skills development is a pathway for the academically less-performing students. SImilarly, there is a huge need for training of trainers, and qualified trainers must be recruited to ensure the quality of training and to maintain the supply of competent technical trainers.

Private sector participation in skills development is still limited at each stage of the skills development value chain. The limited enterprise support in such trainings may be caused by the lack of recognition and understanding of mutual benefits that could be derived by training institutes and enterprises.

Urban–rural disparity in training outcomes can be wide, partly because of unequal access to industries and the wage labor market. The national apprenticeship scheme and industrial training institutes are closely linked with employers; the scheme has resulted in impressive employment rates. Skills training providers who cater to rural areas have the greatest challenge in creating jobs. Disadvantaged social groups are normally less involved in skills training.

Ensuring the sustainability of skills development programs requires (i) continually upgrading training programs, modules, curricula, and trainers' skills; and (ii) maintaining and upgrading training equipment and facilities. All of these require considerable resources and can hardly be borne by the implementing institutions. Basic government support, along with resource mobilization, is important to sustain the quality and relevance of skills development programs.

The concerns of women and family members regarding their safety during travel and within the work environment—especially in jobs that involve migration, working on the shop floor, or extensive field visits—are barriers to hiring women. The challenges highlight the need for focused interventions, such as building women's confidence, providing self-defense training, and counseling family members.