Hang Choun Naron’s Optimism

“… but in any problem there is always an opportunity.”

Education minister Hang Choun Naron, 29 August 2014, Interview with Radio France Internationale

“They [new graduates] don’t have any knowledge of business, and any knowledge they do have is [from] textbooks, and that part of it is extremely ancient.”

Jitu Manghnani, country manager of Tata International, Phnom Penh, 13 September 2014, The Cambodia Daily

“So why does the government sector still need to stick to the classic principle that lets government alone do [education funding]? And why don’t you consider to find [sic] a way to move up the productivity of the workers already existing in your enterprise?”

Labor Ministry spokesman Heng Sour, 13 September 2014, The Cambodia Daily

“It is at primary and secondary school that young people will gain the foundation of knowledge and interpersonal skills that will carry them through life. Primary and secondary schooling must be a policy priority which, if not, will hamper the future competitiveness of Cambodia.”

Sandra D’Amico, managing director of human resources firm HRINC, Phnom Penh, 13 September 2014, The Cambodia Daily

“[Military] Brigade 70 is in need [of more soldiers to quell labour unrest], so I have agreed to recruit 700 more soldiers in 2015.”

Defense Minister Tea Banh, 1 September 2014, The Cambodia Daily

Minister Hang Choun Naron is definitely not a pessimist; he can see that the letter “O” in the word “problem” represents “opportunity”, not the last letter in Zero.

He certainly has an unenviable job of fixing the education system that has been left dilapidated for almost four decades. According to him, now 73% of investors think Cambodian university graduates fail to meet their needs; 65% of them think vocational training graduates do not match their skill requirements. He says a lot of graduates cannot find jobs. And he plans to turn these nasty indicators around.

Indeed, the minister has two important things that are going for him: his enthusiasm and his enthusiasm. Anyway, will he be free to perform, or will they tie one of his hands behind his back?

The first indication is not encouraging. His planned no-cheating message for students is compromised when his premier imposes an unscheduled resit that also may come with a lower test standard after his clean Bac II exams producing such low pass rates.

The challenge is that his government does not share his priorities. For the government that keeps on claiming education is their priority, its education budget fails to match its rhetoric. According to Education Secretary of State Nath Bunroeun, the government allocates to education less than 2% of the country’s GDP; he says it should be at least double, if not triple.

With peanuts, it is uncertain how the minister improves the teacher quality. The recently announced salary increase for teachers from $105 to $138 per month by April next year will do little to keep their concentration on teaching; they need $250. Even the minister himself complains the teaching profession has not recovered from its demise forty years ago. It has perfected the art of transmitting information from teachers’ notes to students’ notes without passing through the minds of either. Hence, what kind of teacher quality can the minister get for $138 from next April?

To complement the peanuts, the government becomes creative, and turns to private sector, claiming that if businesses invest in their own workers’ skill, they will make more money. The only catch is skill development that will make any difference begins from primary schooling, and never ends. And if the businesses refuse to pay up for the whole schooling, Cambodia will be stuck with a mediocre workforce for more generations.

Nevertheless, the mediocrity has its own merit – it provides cheap labour that the government heavily promotes to attract foreign investments. And to ensure the cheap labour lasts, it recruits new mercenaries to help squash any labour unrest, while starving teachers.

Anyhow, the minister seems so overwhelmed with the challenges that he claims his 2014 ministry budget is $554 million, which far exceeds the widely reported $335 million. Perhaps he could not face up to his government’s ideal of “nothing works better than mediocre labour”. He may just turn into an optimist who, while falling off a cliff, would yell, “See, I am not injured yet”.

Ung Bun Ang

20ix14

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Hang Choun Naron's Policy Pitfall

“It is true that quality education is quality teacher, but if the students do not work, good teachers will not solve the problem”.

Education minister Hang Choun Naron, 30 August 2014, Interview with Radio Free Asia

“There will be no exceptions at the second exam. At that time, you will at least be held in pre-trial detention for one month—that would be long enough to remove your name from the payroll… You are the teachers and if you mistreat or cheat your own students it would not be different from a father raping his daughter.”

ACU president Om Yentieng, 28 August 2014, The Cambodia Daily

It seems like a chicken and egg situation – which one comes first, students, or teachers? The education minister is decisive: it must be students. He says the students are more important due to the fact that better teachers prefer Phnom Penh, yet the Phnom Penh’s pass rate is lower than those of two isolated provinces in the recent Bac II exams. His logic is flawed – he ignores the overwhelming evidence that the Phnom Penh rate is much higher than the national average. Hence, his policy that focuses on students by making them studious, moving curriculum emphasis from arts to science, and strengthening teacher training, may be ineffective.

First, the ministry has implemented the teacher training program countless times in the past few decades, and the outcome is that students must rely on outright cheating to achieve the over 80% pass rate. Thus, the minister’s policy of strengthening it will more likely exacerbate a resources misuse.

Second, the change of emphasis from arts to science is sound. The minister is right Cambodia needs more engineers and technicians, making math and science subjects imperative. But the challenge is how to move from arts that many think is easy – though Mozart’s IQ exceeds 160 – to science that requires a well-functioning left brain hemisphere. Of course, students with an Einstein IQ could work their way to anything. But the majority will require teachers who are well-qualified and well-resourced; otherwise, both the teachers and students will be stumbling in the dark to nowhere.

Third, the minister’s policy of making students work, or work harder, is appropriate. He may be right tightening exam processes will induce students to work hard, but the unscheduled resit he must organize to appease his premier is likely to lessen the policy effectiveness. If a higher pass rate is necessary to maintain profits of the premier’s personal interest groups that run universities, any manipulations – including resit and lower test standard – will encourage the students to continue behaving as if study is an option.

The best way to inspire students to work hard is to improve a variable that constantly comes face to face with them: the teachers. Only teachers can make complex subjects, like math and science, fun to learn and easy to absorb.

Nevertheless, to carry out their role effectively, teachers need decent remunerations for a respectful life. They would stay focused on teaching effectiveness and on students’ progress, not on their stomach. There would be no need for them to keep their classroom enterprises, or moonlighting elsewhere to survive.

A scrutiny of pass rates for expensive private schools in Phnom Penh confirms teachers come first. Theirs are much higher than the Phnom Penh average; and a better logic is that rich parents are not stupid enough to pay top dollars for mediocre teachers.

Anyhow, it appears the dilapidated education will continue for more decades, yet. The recent ACU’s threat of jail time for teachers is outrageous, but it is consistent with the mentality that keeps teachers in the dump.

Ung Bun Ang

10ix14

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Pseng-Pseng is published on the first, tenth, and twentieth day of every month. Previous issues are archived at pseng-pseng.blogspot.com

The Ghost Power

“When [public servants salaries] going through bank accounts, ghosts do not know how to get the money; thus there is no need to look for ghost officials, ghost soldiers, ghost police officers, or any ghosts. It requires a passbook, and ghosts cannot hold the passbook.”

Premier Hun Sen, 17 February, 2014

«បាន​ន័យ​ថា ខ្លួន​ខ្មោច ខ្លួន​នៅ​ទទួល​យក​ប្រាក់​ខែ ដូច្នេះ លើក​នេះ​យើង​ចាប់​ខ្មោច​ម្ដង។ មាន​ន័យ​ថា បញ្ហា​សាមញ្ញ​ទេ គឺ​អ្នក​ដែល​រក្សា​ក្របខ័ណ្ឌ​ខ្មោច​នេះ​ទុក ហើយ​យក​លុយ​របស់​ជាតិ យក​ដាក់​ហោប៉ៅ​ខ្លួន​ឯង អ្នក​នោះ​ត្រូវតែ​ប្រឈម​មុខ​នឹង​ការ​កេង​យក​ផលប្រយោជន៍​ដោយ​ខុស​ច្បាប់»។

Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) president Om Yentieng, 17 August, 2014, Radio Free Asia

The ACU president seems to disagree with the premier who boasts they can stop ghost public servants at the bank, despite the latter’s claimed ability to communicate with King Father’s spirit at the latter’s cremation. Om Yentieng may see the ghosts are too cunning to let any passbooks stand between them and the money. Hence, he moves the battlefield from the bank to workplaces.

It is uncertain how or why the ACU president comes to believe the premier is wrong. It is quite possible the premier’s 29 January directive that all public servants’ salaries go through their bank account is not fully implemented. If not, why not? But again, this is not the first time his directives are ignored.

Or, the direct credit system alone does not, or cannot, work to starve the ghost public servants who are so much appealed to the earthy attraction of money. It can certainly make it more convenient to access the pay. (A Ghostlike Reform, Pseng-Pseng, 28ii14).

The ghost power is demonstrated in the latest case of jailing three villagers in Chantrea district of Svay Rieng province over a 64 hectare land dispute between at least 50 local families and a military police (MP) officer reportedly from Phom Penh. The case has been ongoing for more than a decade; and obviously, nobody has bothered to report it to the premier, who assures those who care to believe him that none is to be locked up for any land dispute.

The MP officer wins the case incognito. The supreme court rules the case in his favour, but Supreme Court vice-president Khoem Pan refuses to talk about it. Commune police chief in Chantrea Has Siyet says he could not remember the case details. Svay Rieng provincial prosecutor Hing Bunchea, who carries out the arrests, says he just follows the court order.

This MP officer is treated like a ghost. Though they refer to him as Soem Chhean, not many know, or are prepared to reveal, his identity. Svay Rieng provincial MP commander San Bun Than hangs up when asked if he knows Soem Chhean. Phnom Penh MP commander, Major General Roth Sreang, denies Chhean is in his unit. National MP spokesman Kheng Tito pleads ignorance, saying he is unable to tell if Chhean is an MP officer at all. It seems this ghost is so formidable that he must be under an unmentionable patronage.

Hence, back to his search for ghosts in all government workplaces, the ACU president would need all the luck he can muster. He is dealing with ghosts who are usually invisible; and worst still, their unmentionable patrons may lie beyond the ACU reach as well.

Still, some little ghosts will be caught and made an example of. The ACU game is to be seen doing and achieving something – just enough to intimidate small potatoes and to keep the gullible longing for reforms thrilled, without doing any real damage to the patronage system that has benefited a few so much for so long.

Ung Bun Ang

01ix14

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(Pseng-Pseng is published on the first, tenth, and twentieth day of every month. Previous issues are archived at pseng-pseng.blogspot.com)