Headlines
National Policy for Non-Formal Education (NFE) (November 2002)
National and International Literacy Day (November 2002)
Exhibition of Various Forms of Culture from Colonial Time to Independence (September 2002)
Training Course for Combating Human Trafficking (September 2002)
Setting up NFE-MIS (June 2002)
Primary and Lower Secondary Curriculum and Textbook Writing and Editing (January 2002)
Textbook "Small Scale Enterprise" (September 2000)
Report on National Literacy Survey Results (January 2001)
Development of Primary Non-Formal Education for Working Children

National Policy for Non-Formal Education (NFE)
  To get good results of NFE in Cambodia, the royal government of Cambodia has developed a national NFE policy, signed by the Prime Minister on August 2002. It has 6 pages, in which the royal government defines the strategic policy as follows:

- Create opportunities for all people to have access to life long learning.

- Promote literacy and continuing education by creating a link to provide credit, jobs and vocational skills to make a happy livelihood possible.

- Provide regularly the information on vocational, scientific, and technical knowledge to all people.

National and International Literacy Day
  The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) annually celebrates National and International Literacy Day on 8 September. In 2002, the MoEYS celebrated Literacy Day at the Wat Phnom resort. This ceremony was attended by the deputy prime minister, ministers, the secretariat of state, the vice-governor of Phnom Penh municipality, all-level local authorities, directors of NGOs and international organizations, officials, students, literacy learners and people, in total 2,000 persons.
  Before celebrating this ceremony, an examination on literacy: "Stop HIV/AIDS" was prepared for literates from all the provinces in Cambodia and from various organizations in order to choose the best learners to receive awards on National and International Literacy Day. After finishing the ceremony, there was a procession from Wat Phnom resort to the Independence Monument. Through this ceremony, everyone in Cambodia would clearly understand NFE.
  The MoEYS (NFE Department) organized a National Workshop on Capacity Building for NFE officials who are in charge of NFE, from 25 to 30 November 2002. People from all provinces in Cambodia participated in this workshop.
(November 2002, Pech Savry, ABD correspondent)

Exhibition of Various Forms of Culture from Colonial Time to Independence
  The exhibition, with its accompanying publication, dealt with various forms of culture during Cambodia's transition from colonial regime to independence (1950s and 1960s). The necessary task of building a cultural identity for the new nation was paralleled by a desire to make that new identity 'modern'. This troubled impulse led to the adoption of several new forms of art: Lakhaon Niyeay (or speaking theatre), film, modern painting, modern architecture, modern music and the novel. While the exhibition presents primarily visual examples of each new form, the accompanying publication offers more in-depth information on each form as well as interviews with some of surviving participants of these movements.
  We did not raise the subject of the culture after independence out of nostalgia. Rather we felt that the problematic task of creating a contemporary Khmer culture continues to be a significant issue today. The ways of thinking through this problem offered by the preceding generation seem to provide an important resource for rethinking the problem today. We hope that through our exhibition, people became interested in this topic and would pursue the areas sketched here in much greater detail and with much more individual expertise than we can bring to our brief overview. This exhibition was held at the end of July 2002.
(September 2002, Pech Savry, ABD correspondent)

Training Course for Combating Human Trafficking
  To enhance the capacity of NFE staff to understand clearly and be able to use the textbook "Combating Trafficking in Women and Children"; the NFE Department organized a training workshop. This workshop, which was financially supported by UNIAP, was held from 8-10 August 2002.
Those who participated were provincial NFE personnel, heads of CLCs, contracted literacy teachers, personnel of NFE department, personnel of concerned ministries and some organizations, 42 persons in all.
   This training course aimed to build up the participants' ability to conceptualize deeply on teaching methodology and have a foundation and capacity for teaching and using this textbook.
   Contents of the course included:
- Combating the trafficking of women and children in Cambodia,
  the region, and the world.
- Strategies and the measures to prevent human trafficking.
- Transgressors and their penalties.
- How to use the textbook.
- Making the lesson plan.
(September 2002, Pech Savry, ABD correspondent)

Setting up NFE-MIS
  Concerned about the lack of data, information and indicators of NFE (non-formal education), the NFE Department organized the workshop on developing Non-Formal Education Management Information System (NFE-MIS) from 4-8 December 2001. Through this workshop, the MoEYS has established a NFE National Task Force to manage and conduct the NFE-MIS. The Task Force comprises leaders and staff of NFE Department, Department of Planning, and Department of Primary and Pre-school, and some organizations: UNESCO, UNICEF, OXFAM, etc.
  The NFE National Task Force organized NFE Technical Working Groups and District Implementation Teams to implement the work plan for the pilot NFE-MIS in two districts (Kang Pisei district, Kampong Speu province and Damnak Chang Eur precinct, Kep ville).
  The purpose of NFE-MIS is to conduct collections of data and information, and process it. The pilot NFE-MIS implementation will run from May to December 2002 according to the tentative work plan prepared.
(June 2002, Pech Savry, from ABD 33-1)

Primary and Lower Secondary Curriculum and Textbook Writing and Editing
  Since 1979 until the present the Non- Formal Education Department (NFED) has had no primary and lower secondary curriculum textbooks in the NFE Section for Children and Adults. So, to satisfy this need, the NFED is developing and editing such textbooks for children and adults.
  An expert from Thailand gave a presentation on how to develop the curriculum from 15 to 17 of January 2002, citing experiences in developing the NFE curriculum in Thailand .
  There are 2 textbooks for NFE Primary Education: Literacy and Numeracy books. And lower secondary textbooks are for courses in Cambodian language (494 hours), Mathematics (362 hours) Social Studies (Geography, History and Morality) (312 hours), Practical Science (Physics, Chemistry and Biology) (290 hours) and Vocational Skills (108 hours).
(Pech Savry, January 2002)

Textbook "Small Scale Enterprise"
  A workshop on "Small Scale Enterprises for Neo-Literates" was held from 12 to 15 March 2001 at Mahasaing CLC (Mahasaing Commune, Phnom Srouch District, Kompong Speu Province), organized by the Non-Formal Education Department (NFED) and supported by UNESCO. The neo-literates who participated in the workshop covered such themes as motorbike repair, radio and television repair, haircutting, hairdressing and tailoring, and have used thus knowledge to earn money in their own districts.
  At the end of August 2001 a committee from NFED conducted a survey to collect information on Small Scale Enterprise activities of participants in their villages.
  Based on the case study and the above research, the NFED developed the textbook "Small Scale Enterprise" in September, which contains the following: 1) Initiative in establishing small scale enterprise, 2) Social support, 3) Marketing survey, 4) Planning for setting up small enterprises, 5) Sources of credit for small enterprises, 6) Estimating selling prices, 7) Marketing, 8) Others.
  Through this manual it is expected that the Cambodian people will be able to alleviate poverty and improve their living conditions, as well as develop the communities. (Pech Savry, September 2001)

Report on National Literacy Survey Results
  Literacy activity is one of the Non-Formal Education programmes. The eradication of illiteracy is one of the key points for the improvement of living conditions, both spiritual and material. It can also help alleviate poverty and meet the aims of the Royal Government, because the development of the country also needs the development of human resources, in the area of knowledge, practical experience, and morality. The most effective way to develop human resources is to provide education through non-formal means.
  In order to respond to this need and to have accurate data for non-formal education, at the end of 1999 UNDP and UNESCO provided technical and financial support, and experts to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports to carry out the National Literacy Survey, which has produced good and usable results. Now, the National Literacy Survey and the data analysis have been completed, and the results are as follows:
   The total population is 11,437,656, of whom 6,547,226 are aged 15 and above. 37.1% (equivalent to 2,429,020 people) are literate, 26.6% (equivalent to 1,741,562 people) are semi-literate, and 36.3% (equivalent to 2,376,646 people) are illiterate.
   The ceremony was presided over by H.E ToL Lah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, on 8 September 2000.
   He said that "All the above figures show the literacy situation for those aged 15 and above. The report of the Director of Non-Formal Education Department shows that the rate of illiteracy is increasing year by year, because of the number of children who are not attending school or who drop out. As a result, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and the community have been able to help only 30 to 40,000 people a year to become literate, whereas the newly illiterate are increasing at a rate of 40 to 50,000 each year." (Mok Phoeurn, January 2001)

Development of Primary Non-Formal Education for Working Children
  Non-Formal Education Department (NFED), Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MOEYS) collaborating with ILO/IPEC has developed primary non-formal education for working children and out-of-school children who are the victims of the Civil War and left illiterate as orphans or street children. In this collaboration, NFED will develop 10 components, i.e. literacy and numeracy skills, vocational and pre-vocational skills, health education (including HIV/AIDS education), life skills, civic education, human rights, social science education, quality of life improvement, community education and sport and recreation. At the initial stage, NFED has developed 4 components since November 1999, namely literacy and numeracy skills, vocational and pre-vocational skills, health education and life skills for those children.
  Currently, NFED is planning to develop the remaining 6 by the end of 2000 in order that those children will have opportunities to go to NFE classes.