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Widening Educational Access For Cambodia's Girls and Ethnic Minorities

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (4 December 2001) - Cambodia's impoverished students, especially girls and ethnic minorities, will have more access to education as a result of two loans totaling US$38 million approved today by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the Education Sector Development Program.

Currently, girls and indigenous people have few educational opportunities, perpetuating the cycle of poverty and low productivity for females. Cambodia needs the more active participation of half of its population in its pursuit of economic and social development. The education system is also characterized by high repetition and dropout rates.

The Education Sector Development Program consists of a policy loan and an investment loan. A US$20 million policy loan will support sector reforms:

• to increase funds for education and ensure that more is spent on pro-poor education;
• to reduce the cost of basic education to poor parents;
• to improve the quality of education;
• to provide incentives to teachers who work under difficult circumstances; and
• to decentralize education service delivery

A US$18 million investment loan will build new schools in poor and remote areas, bringing education within reach of an additional 100,000 children. "Better schooling for rural families will improve farm productivity and incomes," says ADB Senior Education Specialist, Gudrun Forsberg. She notes that Cambodia lags behind its neighbors in agricultural productivity. The investment project will also encourage more responsibility among provincial authorities to budget and plan their own facilities development programs.

Both ADB loans will come from its concessional Asian Development Fund. The US$18 million investment loan will be repayable in 32 years, including a grace period of 8 years. The US$20 million policy loan will have a term of 24 years, including a grace period of eight years. Interest on both loans will be 1 percent per year during the grace period and 1.5 percent per annum thereafter.

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport will be the executing agency for the project, which is due for completion at the end of 2006.

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