During the Khmer revolution, young people were rigidly indoctrinated, but literacy was neglect-ed and almost an entire generation of Cambodian children grew up illiterate. After the Khmer Rouge was driven from power, the education system had to be recreated from scratch. Illiteracy had climbed to more than 40%, and most young people under the age of 14 lacked any basic education. The aftermath of this regime resulted in many difficulties, which we are still facing today. Now, Cambodia is prepar-ing itself to look at the integration of the Economic Community of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The economy of Cambodia is limited in comparison to other countries in the region. In order to foster economic growth, the human re-sources of the nation must be properly trained to compete in a regional marketplace, and thus education must be a top priority.
Today in Cambodia, the development of new mechanisms for the implementation of increased science education is an indispensable need. Further development could be partly achieved through strategic planning conferences – although it is important to recognize that planning alone is not enough. All kinds of coordination and cooperation, therefore, should be rapidly improved as well among all sectors on this issue.
Although just recently founded, the National Mathematic Conference has received significant sup-port from the public, including students and mathematics instructors throughout the nation. The conference has also received recognition from many mathematic societies in the region and globally. “Mathematics and Technology: Research, Education and Applications,” has been considered an important topic in order to show to the public how important math and science education is. To achieve these concepts, numerous conferences have been held in an effort to share experiences, and to develop recommendations from public stakeholders. Recommendations are focused particularly on determining key roles in promoting the study of mathematics and science all over the Kingdom of Cambodia, especially amongst the youth.
From October 21st to October 23rd, Mr. Teav Chhun Nan attended the 2nd National Mathematic Con-ference on Improving Quality and Effectiveness of Mathematics Education in Cambodia. The conference was chaired by H.E. Dr. IM Koch, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS). Pre-senters included Chan Roath, Member of the Organizing Committee in the Department of Scientific Research, MoEYS, Mr. Rod Well M.Ed, Associate Professor at 3 community colleges in Seattle, Washington, USA, and Mr. Craig Barton, Advanced Math Skills Teacher and Math Adviser to TES, UK.
In order to successfully achieve conference goals, the National Mathematic Conference established specific objectives for the three-day conference, as follows:
The conference will also receive feedback and recommendations from participants in order to propose so-lutions to any possible issues, and, if possible, seek for other partners that provide science and technology services. Additionally, they hope to develop new methodologies on mathematics education so to raise Cambo-dia’s science and technology sectors to a competitive regional level.
Below is a brief summary of the outcomes and recommendations from the three-day conference:
By: Mr. Teav Chhun Nan
