UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

10/11/2023 | News release | Distributed by Public on 10/11/2023 07:21

The Royal Government of Cambodia reaffirms its commitment to supporting teachers on World Teachers' Day

H.E. Dr. Hang Chuon Naron, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of MoEYS, speaking on World Teachers Day
©Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport

Teachers have a unique opportunity to shape the futures of countless children and youth, leaving an enduring impact on their lives. They play a vital role in nurturing the next generation and equipping them for success in a rapidly evolving world. Yet, globally, many countries struggle to attract qualified individuals, especially young people, to join the teaching profession.

World Teachers' Day, commemorated annually on October 5th, serves as a tribute to the pivotal role teachers play at the classroom, school, and education system levels. Teachers are not only champions of classroom learning but also drivers of school excellence and catalysts of transformative education. This year's global theme for World Teachers' Day 2023 is "The teachers we need for the education we want: the global imperative to reverse the teacher shortage." It underscores the necessity of supporting a respected and valued teaching profession to attract and retain qualified educators.

This year, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) and UNESCO organised a national event for World Teachers' Day on 5 October at the Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC) in Phnom Penh, under the national theme "Teachers are Pillars of School Reform Towards Excellence". The theme highlights the central role of teachers in the ongoing education sector reforms. The event was presided over by Samdech Moha Borvor Thipadei Prime Minister Hun Manet, accompanied by H.E. Dr. Hang Chuon Naron, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of MoEYS, and Mr Sardar Umar Alam, UNESCO Representative to Cambodia. It brought together around 2,000 participants, including MoEYS leaders, officials from line-ministries, teachers, school principals and development partners.

During his speech, Samdech Moha Borvor Thipadei Prime Minister Hun Manet reconfirmed the Royal Government of Cambodia's (RCG) commitment to supporting teachers in the important role they play and announced an increase in the compensation for pre-service teachers to almost double the current rates starting from January 2024, while continuing the support for in-service teachers. H.E. Dr. Hang Chuon Naron, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of MoEYS emphasised the potential of teachers to create a ripple effect in society, "teachers play a vital role in improving the quality of education in the classroom, forming the backbone of school reform and the education system as a whole."

The Cambodian government has been investing in teacher development as one of the key priorities to achieve transformative change in the education sector. Over the past decade, Cambodia has taken steps to improve teacher compensation, align teaching qualifications with international standards, and establish a national system that offers continuous professional development (CPD) opportunities for teachers across the country.

UNESCO has been a key partner supporting Cambodia's teacher education reform. Between 2018 and 2022, the MoEYS and UNESCO successfully executed the Strengthening Teacher Education Programme in Cambodia (STEPCam), one of the largest teacher education initiatives, with financial backing from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). Through STEPCam, the MoEYS has established a national system capable of providing CPD to over 120,000 teachers and education staff, enhanced teacher educators' qualifications to a Bachelor's level, upgraded infrastructure at 11 provincial teacher training centers to benefit nearly 250 teacher educators and 1,300 student teachers annually. Furthermore, innovative teaching and learning packages for Grade 1 to 3 mathematics have been developed with a comprehensive teacher training and mentoring programme for primary school teachers, benefiting over 230,000 early-grade students.

In August 2023, Cambodia unveiled the new Pentagonal Strategy - Phase 1, which will guide Cambodia's shift to an upper-middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country by 2050. Human resource development has been identified as the first strategic priority, emphasizing the importance of quality education to ensure human resources that will drive Cambodia's socioeconomic development.

Mr Sardar Umar Alam, UNESCO Representative to Cambodia, reaffirmed that teachers would remain a priority of UNESCO's support to Cambodia, building a robust system for teacher development, teacher recognition, and raising the professional status of teachers in the country. "Successful education transformation calls for more investments in teachers, ensuring that their rights are taken into account and their status are uplifted…On World Teachers' Day we would like to thank our teachers for the work they have done and continue to do."

To support Cambodia in achieving the vision articulated in the Pentagonal Strategy, UNESCO will continue to work closely with the MoEYS and development partners as it embarks on the implementation of a new GPE-funded programme in 2024, which will build on the results of STEPCam and scale up its support to teachers. In addition to further investments in continuous professional development and early grade learning, UNESCO will work closely with the MoEYS and development partners on the upgrade of the initial teacher education system in accordance with international standards. In line with the fifth Strategic Pentagon on the "Development of Digital Economy and Society", UNESCO will provide support for the digital transformation in education, by investing in the development of ICT competencies among Cambodia's teaching force to enhance the quality of education.

For further information about World Teachers Day, please contact:

Sopha Ang, STEPCam Project Officer, UNESCO Phnom Penh Office: [email protected] or Tel: 012 982 117