HIGH-LEVEL MEETING "TOWARDS A LIFELONG LEARNING POLICY DEVELOPMENT" IN CAMBODIA

HE Dr Hang Chuon Naron, Minister of Education, Youth, and Sport, Cambodia with the UIL project compendium in hand

Mr Le Huy Lam, SEAMEO CELLL Director is presenting the UIL project compendium to HE Nath Bunroeun, Secretary of State, Minister of Education, Youth, and Sport

Within the scope of the project "Towards a lifelong learning agenda in Southeast Asian countries", on 17 November, 2017, representatives from SEAMEO CELLL were invited to join the joint high-level meeting "Towards a Lifelong Learning policy development" and its pre-event meeting that had taken place a day before in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This nation-scale Lifelong Learning event, which was chaired by HE Dr Hang Chuon Naron, Minister of Education, Youth, and Sport, Cambodia, witnessed the participation of nearly 60 Cambodian and international experts and governmental officials from eight Cambodian ministries. The meeting aimed to collect input from the specialists with a view to developing a draft of Lifelong Learning Policy in Cambodia.

Mr Le Huy Lam, SEAMEO CELLL Director, came to the event as one of the resource persons and contributed to the event with his presentation on the regional context of LLL. In his part, he emphasised that among ASEAN member countries, to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor, it is a common understanding that LLL is the best solution. Moreover, due to the fact that LLL is so important for all, it should be paid attention to by everyone. Therefore, in order to bring about positive changes in LLL development, a strong legal framework should be established, a clear plan be developed and most importantly, all ministries, not just ministries of education, join hands to build and implement the LLL framework. 

The meeting was a success with an agreement that more ministries will be invited to participate in the development of the policy so as to further strengthen its implementation and impact. More importantly, a clear plan with systematic steps to develop the Cambodian national LLL policy in 2018 has been presented and endorsed, which clearly demonstrates the nation's determination in improving LLL.