PHNOM PENH: The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports has announced new school standards for the next academic year in an effort to improve the quality of education in Cambodia. In an announcement dated November 14, 2023, Minister of Education Hangchuon Naron said that a standard school model will be implemented for kindergarten through high school and will focus on school governance, curricula, extracurricular activities, student health, and parent involvement.

“Model schools are schools that achieve the five standards, including student achievement standards, teaching and learning standard, community participation, operational standards and administration and school accountability,” he said.

A campaign for clean schools will also be launched, with schools receiving a Prime Minister Hun Manet Model School Award.

The goal of the standards is to strengthen knowledge, discipline, ethics and student behavior, in addition to care for student health and the involvement of parents, guardians and the community in education. They will begin to be implemented on December 1, 2023 and will be up for review in September 2024.

Speaking at this year’s Teachers' Day on October 5, Prime Minister Hun Manet announced that under his leadership, improving the quality of education is important to his administration and promised to elevate public schools to a high quality education. He underlined the importance of K-12 education to developing a society with quality human resources.