Education Ministry officials on Monday confirmed that the ministry would no longer organize or oversee the junior high school exam, delegating the process to individual schools.
As part of Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron’s reform of the graft-riddled education system, his ministry will forgo coordination of the grade 9 exam, saving money that will be channeled toward efforts to safeguard the grade 12 national exam.
“By delegating [the grade 9 exam] to schools, we can save money for the more important grade 12 exam,” Mr. Naron said via text message Monday.
Mr. Naron announced earlier this year that students’ results in the grade 12 exam would be the lone factor in the ranking of students seeking placement at state universities.
By decentralizing the grade 9 exam, the Education Ministry will save funds previously spent on the wages, transport, accommodation and meal allowances of the hundreds of proctors that monitor exams.
These cuts, Mr. Naron says, will allow him to double the wages of proctors for the grade 12 exam, hence reducing the risk they might try to extract bribes from students.
Ros Salin, chief of Mr. Naron’s cabinet, said Monday that the ministry would still play a role in maintaining the standard of the grade 9 exam, but could not give further details.
Ouk Chhayavy, vice president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association and a high school teacher in Kandal province, said that decentralizing the grade 9 exam would encourage corruption as students transitioned out of junior high school.
“Not [centrally] organizing the national exam for grade 9 will definitely increase corruption as it will be easier for students to pay bribes to school directors or teachers in charge,” she said.
Sao Sothy, a teacher at Sothearos High School in Phnom Penh, said that the changes devalued the junior high school certificate.
“To [decentralize] the national exam for junior high schools is part of in-depth education reform but I think it just makes students become lazy and there will be an increase in absenteeism,” she said.
The grade 9 exam is set to be held in mid-July.
