Education

Overview

In 2021, the net attendance rate reached 94 per cent in primary school, while the completion rate was 84 per cent.

All children have the right to learn, whatever their circumstances. Adequate support to learning is crucial for them to develop to their full potential.

Over the past decade, there have been substantial increases in the number of children enrolling, attending and completing school in Cambodia.

© UNICEF Cambodia/2024/Bunsak But — UNICEF Cambodia/2024/Bunsak But

Challenges

Many girls and boys are continuing to fall behind, particularly those who live with disability or in poor households, for reasons such as poor-quality teaching and learning as well as low school attendance. Many of them end up dropping out altogether. Many children experience violence in their classrooms, adolescent girls miss class because of inadequate WASH facilities, children with disabilities still experience discrimination, and many parents do not understand the value of education and cannot afford to send their children to school, particularly in rural and deprived areas.

Unprecedented crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic have set children even further behind, with many still suffering from devastating learning losses as a result of school closures. Today, intensifying weather-related hazards linked to climate change pose even greater risks for children’s ability to learn. To respond to these emerging challenges, we work to enhance the resilience of schools and communities to withstand extreme weather events, and we empower children and young people to mitigate and adapt to climate risks.

Around 305,000 primary and lower secondary school-aged children and adolescents are still out of school.
School completion rates are still staggeringly low across the board—84 per cent at primary, 52 per cent at lower secondary and 28 per cent at upper secondary levels.
A significant number of students fail to meet the minimum proficiency levels in essential skills like reading and mathematics. National learning assessments for Grade 6 in 2021 also showed a drop in learning outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic, with 45 per cent of pupils below basic proficiency in Khmer and 75 per cent below basic proficiency in mathematics.
The primary out-of-school rate for children with a disability in Cambodia is 61 percent, compared to 4 per cent for children without a disability.
Only 67 per cent of ethnic minority children complete primary education, 17 percentage points below the national average.
Girls generally outperform boys in assessments, but are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects (23 per cent) compared to boys (48 per cent).

Solutions

UNICEF Cambodia’s Education Programme, part of the 2024–2028 Country Programme, aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) and works to ensure every child realises their right to education as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

Education is an investment in the future of children and the country. UNICEF envisions a learning environment where all children, especially the most disadvantaged, acquire the foundational and 21st-century skills they need to succeed throughout their lives. To do this, UNICEF works with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and other partners to improve quality of teaching and learning and to build a healthy, safe school environment that encourages parents to send their children to school, supports students to stay in school, and ensures that children are able to learn well while they are there.

Build a resilient education system for every child

We advocate for policy changes that strengthen and improve the relevance and resilience of the education system, focusing on issues such as digital education, equitable teacher deployment, teacher career development, inclusive education and 21^st century skills development. We strengthen systems to collect and analyse data on dropouts, learning outcomes and more to help guide new and existing policies, strategies and programmes.

Unlock access to quality education for the most vulnerable

To ensure that every child learns, we focus on equitable and inclusive access to education for the most vulnerable, including children with disabilities, children from ethnic minorities and children living in rural and urban poor areas. We champion innovations—including community pre-schools, early grade reading and mathematics, life skills and digital education, inclusive education, multilingual education for ethnic minority children and school-based teacher mentoring—that address the most pressing challenges for vulnerable populations, support learners of all ages to build foundational and transferable lifelong skills, and ensure students are supported if they ever fall behind.

UNICEF supports teachers’ continuous professional development through pre-service and in-service training and mentoring in methodologies that address specific needs of different age groups and disadvantaged populations.

Enhance the climate resilience of schools and integrate climate education into the curriculum

When schools flood or classrooms overheat during a heatwave, children cannot learn. UNICEF advocates for long-term policy solutions that help schools manage, respond to and recover from environmental challenges. The curriculum includes education about climate change and environmental knowledge and skills, with the goal of preparing students for future challenges as well as actively involving them in initiatives to build a sustainable environment. The local life skills education (LLSE) programme, which equips lower secondary school learners with the knowledge and skills to tackle social and environmental issues, including climate change, has empowered over 250,000 young people to take action and inspire change in their communities.

Help parents and communities give every child the best start in life

We address harmful norms and traditional beliefs that prevent children—including children with disabilities, children from economically disadvantaged households and ethnic minority children—from going to school and staying in school. We work with caregivers and communities to increase the demand for quality education and improve family and community support for children’s learning and development. The nurturing care parenting programme, which helps parents and caregivers support their children’s early needs, has reached 28,000 women and men with critical information on good health, adequate nutrition, security and safety, early learning and responsive caregiving.

Create a safe learning environment

We work across sectors to build a learning environment where every child is safe and protected. We advocate for legislative reforms that prohibit corporal punishment and promote positive discipline. We also equip schools with adequate water and sanitation facilities, so that children don’t get sick from contaminated water or lack of hygiene and adolescent girls or children with disabilities do not drop out or miss school.