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Description of Project

Implementing agencies
The project will be executed by UNESCO and implemented by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports through its university and 24 teacher training institutions throughout the Kingdom.

Region/country covered
Cambodia

Duration
July 2002-July 2005

Context/problem being addressed

The International Telecommunication Union reports that fewer than two in ten thousand Cambodians use the Internet, while nearly 3,000 out of every 10,000 Singaporeans do so.

Although the Government is committed to the EFA goals, its capacity to achieve these goals is rather limited. Presently, only a few public secondary schools in the capital are equipped with computers to enhance the ICT skills among children and youth, but these computers are not connected. In October 2001, the first national conference on ICT awareness for 300 senior officials and policy makers was organized in Cambodia, with financial and technical support from UNESCO and UNDP. At this conference, Government had requested donors for assistance in formulating an ICT policy, legislation and a national action plan for capacity building, education, training, and infrastructure development.

The high illiteracy, high incidence of poverty and large number of out-of school youth remain a key challenge for education and poverty reduction in Cambodia. This project is based on the premise that the innovative and appropriate use of ICT can help reach those excluded from learning and improve the quality of learning and quality of life for all. Through ICT, disparities in educational access and quality can be reduced, and education systems can enhance the knowledge and skills of their learners and promote creativity, critical thinking, and self-learning, thus facilitating the achievement of the national EFA goals.

Target audiences

  • Training on ICT in education concepts and ICT usage for 600 teacher trainers and lecturers (35 % female) in 24 teachers colleges and the Royal University of Phnom Penh in Cambodia, and for 50 curriculum specialists and book editors.
  • Providing ICT access to 1,000 primary and secondary school teachers (40 % female), especially those in deprived areas.
  • Providing ICT access to a minimum of 5,000 children and youth (45 % female) who are enrolled in formal education and participating in non-formal education programmes, especially those in deprived areas.
  • Establishing the National ICT-based Clearing House to serve all users in and outside Cambodia.

Objectives

The long-term objectives of this project are to contribute towards achieving the EFA goals, reducing poverty, bridging the digital divide and promoting digital inclusion through the use of ICT in education which aims at:

  • increasing access to learning opportunities anywhere any time, in the national language (Khmer) and other languages, including for educationally deprived groups,
  • improving the quality of education by developing innovative models of ICT use and of ICT-based education, teaching-learning methods, and curriculum/materials development, distance education and communication, and
  • enhancing indirectly the freedom of expression, efficiency in communication and the knowledge-based economy of the country.

Short-term objectives:

  • To assist the government in developing a national policy and strategy on ICT in education as an integral component of the national Poverty Reduction Strategy and EFA Plan of Action.
  • To experiment and adopt the best practices for the integration of ICT in both formal and non-formal education programmes in order to increase access to education, enhance educational quality, and improve learning performance, especially among populations traditionally most excluded from education.
  • To strengthen the training and professional development of teacher trainers, teachers and non-formal education facilitators in the integration of ICT in education.
  • To establish a National Clearing House in order to produce, collect, process, utilize and disseminate local contents and link it to other relevant institutions, including to UNESCO Bangkok’s clearinghouse.

Strategies
Firstly, this project will promote and develop ICT in education at the university and teacher training institutions, enabling them to act as levers both for system-wide reform at the macro-level and for change in teaching and learning processes at the micro-level. Each year a total of 5,000 new teachers are produced by these institutions.

Secondly, the project is designed to reach out to the deprived groups through mobile ICT teams, using all means of transportation and portable hardware. It is based on the fact that the rapid development of ICT presents MoEYS with a unique opportunity to make a major – and multi-sectoral - contribution to the expansion and reform of education in Cambodia and therefore to contribute towards achieving the overarching goals of Education for All.

Thirdly, the project will ensure community involvement both in formal and non-formal programmes. Besides the integration of ICT in formal teacher training programs, they will also be used in non-formal learning environments, as Community Learning Centres and temples. Teachers, students and villagers will be able to send messages through e-mail and search for information through the Internet or CD-ROMs. Once the demand and popularity is created, the project is likely to receive local support for long-term sustainability.

Outputs

  • A national policy and strategy on the effective use of ICT in education formulated and adopted.
  • ICTs integrated into the training of 25 teacher training centres (1 at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, 6 at the Regional Teachers Colleges, and 18 at Provincial Teachers Colleges),
  • 600 teacher trainers and 2,000 teachers are trained on the concept and best practices on ICT in education, as well as the personnel of two CLCs and nine other non-formal learning environments.
  • A minimum of two mobile ICT in education units established to serve at least 20 deprived schools and communities.
  • Technical capacity of 50 staff members of the National Curriculum and Book Development Centre in the use of ICT for web-based action research, the production of educational contents, editing and publishing upgraded.
  • The National Clearing House for producing, storing and disseminating local and foreign contents through the ICT in Education network established.
  • Local contents on selected subjects/topics produced and disseminated through the ICT-based network.
  • A platform or forum for interactive discussion among educators established and a freedom of expression promoted.

Activities

  • The development of an enabling environment and policy support through capacity building and a national rapid ICT usage survey
  • Piloting the ICT use in teacher training institutions, curriculum and book development centres, schools, community learning centres, and through mobile ICT services
  • Training and professional development for teachers and education personnel
  • Support to the formulation of national policy and strategy to expand and improve the use of ICTs by teacher trainers, teachers and non-formal education facilitators;
  • Creation of the National E-Learning Clearing House
  • Develop web-based and electronic information resources, online databases, and virtual libraries
  • Establish an electronic platform for professional discussion and networking to promote information exchange by subject areas, stimulate debate and innovation, reduce isolation of teachers, and introduce new educational methods, contents and techniques.
  • Monitoring and evaluation

For further details, please contact:

Supote Prasertsri
Education Programme Specialist
No. 38, Samdech Preah Sothearos Blvd
Phnom Penh
Cambodia
PO Box 29
Tel: 885-23 426 726/ 217 444. ext. 104
Fax: 855-12 426 163/217 022
E-mail: s.prasertsri@unesco.org