Cambodia’s New Technical and Vocational Education and Training Policy

This issue summarizes Cambodia’s new Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Policy 2017–2025, formally approved by the government on 16 June 2017. It intends to help promote understanding of the policy among the wide range of TVET stakeholders including ministries, training institutions, employer and employee associations, development partners, civil society organizations, and Cambodia’s youth. The new policy will guide the formulation and implementation of strategies for skills development and will facilitate better coordination among those involved in skills development in Cambodia. The policy was developed through a consultative process with technical assistance from ADB with the goal of transforming and modernizing Cambodia’s skills development system to better serve new labor force entrants, existing workers, and Cambodia’s future development.

Key Points

• Cambodia’s demographic dividend offers great opportunities, but its human resource base remains largely low-skilled. It will be critical for Cambodia not only to improve education and technical and vocational training for young people entering the labor market, but also to upgrade the skills of the existing workforce.
• Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is indispensable to socioeconomic development as it produces the skilled workers and technicians an evolving and modernizing labor market needs.
• The National TVET Policy will guide the government’s skills development strategies and coordinate all parties involved.
• The policy presents a clear vision, goals, objectives, and strategies to develop human resources with the competencies and skills that promote socioeconomic development today and in the future.