Cambodia Region: East Asia and the Pacific Income Group: Low Income Source for region and income groupings: World Bank 2018 National Education Profile 2018 Update OVERVIEW In Cambodia, the academic year begins in October and ends in July, and the official primary school entrance age is 6. The system is structured so that the primary school cycle lasts 6 years, lower secondary lasts 3 years, and upper secondary lasts 3 years. Cambodia has a total of 2,997,000 pupils enrolled in primary and secondary education. Of these pupils, about 2,112,000 (70%) are enrolled in primary education. Figure 3 shows the highest level of education reached by youth ages 15-24 in Cambodia. Although youth in this age group may still be in school and working towards their educational goals, it is notable that approximately 5% of youth have no formal education and 24% of youth have attained at most incomplete primary education, meaning that in total 29% of 15-24 year olds have not completed primary education in Cambodia. FIG 1. EDUCATION SYSTEM FIG 2. NUMBER OF PUPILS BY SCHOOL LEVEL FIG 3. EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT, YOUTH (IN 1000S) AGES 15-24 School Entrance Age: Post- Secondary Primary school - Age 6 Upper Secondary Secondary 8% No Education 276 Complete 5% 5% Duration and Official Ages for School Cycle: Primary Incomplete 24% Primary : 6 years - Ages 6 - 11 Lower Secondary Lower secondary : 3 years - Ages 12 - 14 609 Upper secondary : 3 years - Ages 15 - 17 Academic Calendar: Primary Complete 9% Primary Starting month : October 2,112 Secondary Incomplete 49% Ending month : July Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics Data Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics 2015-2017 Data source: EPDC extraction of DHS dataset 2014 SCHOOL PARTICIPATION AND EFFICIENCY The percentage of out of school children in a country shows what proportion of children are not currently participating in the education system and who are, therefore, missing out on the benefits of school. Figure 5 looks at the percentage of youth of secondary school ages who are out of school in Cambodia. Nearly 42% of female youth of secondary school age are out of school compared to 41% of male youth of the same age. For youth of secondary school age, the biggest disparity can be seen between the poorest and the richest youth. FIG 4. PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN OF PRIMARY SCHOOL AGE FIG 5. PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN OF SECONDARY SCHOOL AGE (AGES 6-11) OUT OF SCHOOL (AGES 12-17) OUT OF SCHOOL 100 100 90 90 80 80 70 70 57 60 60 50 50 41 42 44 42 40 40 29 30 30 26 20 15 20 % of Children Out of School of Out of Children % 9 8 8 % of Children Out of School 10 3 10 #N/A 2 0 0 Male Female Urban Rural Richest Poorest Total Male Female Urban Rural Richest Poorest Total Quintile Quintile Quintile Quintile Gender Urbanicity Income Total Gender Urbanicity Income Total Data source: EPDC extraction of DHS dataset 2014 Data source: EPDC extraction of DHS dataset 2014 Figures 6 and 7 look at indicators of participation, completion, and progression in the education system. Figure 6 displays gross indicators (which include under- and over-age students) and net indicators (which include only on-time students of official school age) for student intake, participation, and flows. In Cambodia, the gross enrollment rate in primary education is 108% for both girls and boys combined. This decreases to 69% in lower secondary, with a student transition rate to secondary school of 87%. In Cambodia, the primary net enrollment rate is 91% and the primary completion rate is 90%. Both of these indicators provide a sense of the progress a country is making towards universal primary education -- a key UN Millenium Development Goal -- and, for Cambodia, suggest that the country has yet to achieve universal primary education. Figure 7 displays the repetition rate in primary education, showing the specific grades in which students are more likely to repeat. It suggests that of the first 5 grades of primary in Cambodia, students are more likely to repeat grade 1. The repetition rate in grade 1 is 11.2% (for both males and females), which is 4.8 points higher than the average repetition rate across primary grades of 6.4%. FIG 6. STUDENT INTAKE AND FLOW FROM PRIMARY TO SECONDARY SCHOOLS FIG 7. STUDENT REPETITION BY GRADE AND LEVEL IN PRIMARY SCHOOL male by grade female by grade % Male Female Male Female male primary female primary 120.0 % 109 109 106 14.0 103 97 12.7 100.0 92 91 90 92 89 87 85 12.0 80.0 72 67 10.0 9.5 9.2 60.0 8.0 7.6 40.0 29 29 6.0 6.0 6.0 20.0 4.6 4.6 4.0 3.4 0.0 2.4 2.0 Gross Intake Net Intake Gross Net Enrollment Completion Transition to Gross Gross Enrollment lower Enrollment Enrollment secondary 0.0 Prim G1 Prim G2 Prim G3 Prim G4 Prim G5 Primary Lower Upper Secondary Secondary Data sources: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), EPDC calculation based on UIS data (see Data Table for year) Data source: EPDC calculation based on UIS data (see Data Table for year) LEARNING This section provides information on indicators of learning, which lend insight into the FIG 8. COMPARISON OF ACCESS AND LITERACY quality of educational provision. In this profile, learning is measured through literacy 100 rates, which are important because literacy is a foundational skill needed to attain 66 th percentile higher levels of learning, and national performance on learning assessments. Figure 8 demonstrates where Cambodia stands in comparison to other low and middle income countries in access to education, measured as the primary school net enrollment rate, and youth literacy. Compared to other countries, Cambodia ranks at the 44 percentile in 33rd percentile access and at the 40 percentile in learning. Figure 9 compares youth and adult literacy 75 rates and shows that, in Cambodia, the literacy rate is 92% among the youth population; this is higher than the average youth literacy rate in other low income Other countries countries. Cambodia (Youth) Literacy 50 25 33rd percentile 66 th percentile FIG 9. LITERACY RATE AMONG YOUTH AND ADULT 25 50 Access 75 100 (Primary NER) POPULATION Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) (see Data Table for year) Male Male Female Female % 0 20 40 60 80 100 FIG 10. PERFORMANCE ON LEARNING ASSESSMENTS 92 age 15-24 100% 93 90% 80% At the highest Cambodia 87 performance age 15+ 70% 75 benchmark 60% no data no data 50% 79 age 15-24 40% Below the lowest 75 performance Percent Students of Percent 30% benchmark 20% (median) 71 age 15+ 10% 51 LowIncome countries 0% Cambodia Cambodia Reading Mathematics Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) (see Data Table for year) EDUCATION EXPENDITURE Figures 11 and 12 compare Cambodia's per pupil expenditure (PPE) and pupil teacher ratio (PTR), where data is available, to those of other low income countries. PPE indicates a country's commitment to education at each school level. In Cambodia, PPE in primary education as a percentage of GDP per capita is 5%, lower than the median PPE in primary for low income countries, which is 9%. In Cambodia, the PPE in primary is lower than the PPE in secondary. PTR is a proxy learning quality and resource availability indicator. In Cambodia, the PTR in primary education is 41.7, meaning that on average there is one teacher for every 41.7 primary school students. This is higher than the median PTR in primary for low income countries, which is 40. In Cambodia, the PTR in primary is higher than the PTR in secondary. FIG 11. PER PUPIL EXPENDITURE (PPE) BY SCHOOL LEVEL (% OF FIG 12. PUPIL TEACHER RATIO (PTR) BY SCHOOL LEVEL GDP PER CAPITA) 18 45 42 16 40 14 Low Income 35 Low Income 12 countries (median) 30 countries (median) 10 25 25 8 20 21 6 6 15 5 Cambodia 4 Cambodia 10 5 2 Pupil teacher ratio (PTR) % of per % capita GDP 9 15 40 26 20 0 0 Primary Secondary Primary Lower Secondary Upper Secondary Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) (see Data Table for year) Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) (see Data Table for year) DATA TABLE In this table, the values of different education indicators for Cambodia are compared to all countries, to East Asia & Pacific, and to low and middle income countries. The percentile rank that is given indicates Cambodia's standing relative to these country groups. A higher percentile rank indicates better relative performance than a lower percentile rank. Percentile rankings above 66% are considered high and colored in green, rankings between 33% and 66% are considered average and colored in yellow, and rankings below 33% are considered low and colored in red. For example, the gross enrollment rate for females in primary education in Cambodia is 106%. For this indicator, Cambodia ranks in the 73 percentile relative to all countries, meaning that 73% of countries have lower gross enrollment rates than Cambodia. As another example, the survival rate to grade 5 of primary school for males in Cambodia is 79%, and Cambodia ranks in the 27 percentile relative to all countries, in the 18 percentile relative to East Asia & Pacific, and in the 36 percentile relative to low and middle income countries for this indicator. KEY PERCENTILE RANK RELATIVE TO… Low and All East Asia Middle Countries & Pacific INDICATOR VALUE YEAR Income‡ DATA SOURCE Literacy rate, 15+, Female 75 2015 32% 17% 40% UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) Literacy rate, 15+, Male 87 2015 34% 23% 43% UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) Literacy rate, 15-24, Female 93 2015 33% 23% 41% UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) Literacy rate, 15-24, Male 92 2015 31% 17% 39% UNESCO Institute for Statistics