During a recent mission to Cambodia, Senior Operations Officer Aya Kibesaki sat down with Dr. Hang Chuon Naron, Cambodia’s Minister of Education, Youth and Sport to discuss Cambodia's excellent results in education over the past years and what the country’s goals are for the future.

The Minister explained that the 3 greatest results so far have been increasing enrollment rates, providing equitable access to education and improving gender equality.  He described how the previous $57.4 million grant from the Global Partnership for Education contributed to greatly improved synergies within the education sector working group and how this led to harmonization of policies under their education sector plan.

“We have seen that those investments have paid off,” the Minister remarked.  He further explained how investments in early grade reading contributed to improved results and how the scholarship program allowed children from poor families to have equitable access to education.

The Minister told Aya that the new $38.5 million grant from the Global Partnership for Education will help Cambodia to ensure that education is relevant to economic needs and helps create higher skilled jobs for the Khmer people. He also expressed confidence that the Global Partnership for Education will continue to allow Cambodia to grow.