A new report on teaching hours in primary school has identified three main “causes” (i.e., “factors”) of lost time in mainstream school. The first is too many school holidays (or students/teachers taking additional days off during holidays), teacher absences from mainstream schooling, and shortening of lessons by teachers. Note first how blame is placed on teachers. Note second how the common practice of private tutoring is not identified as a factor. I’m keen to see the research report’s methods — particularly how questions were asked. This will help understand how these “factors” were identified, which ones were included, excluded, and why.

At the launch event, Education Minister Dr. Hang Chuon Naron, ensured the ministry of education, youth, and sport will address the issue of teaching hours by strengthening regulations:

We will form a working group to intervene in this case in order to strengthen teacher hours and the school regulations.

I’ll review the report’s methods once I get my hands on the actual report.

From Voice of America:

Analysts say Phnom Penh is likely to look more and more to Beijing for support because of growing tensions with its old patron, Vietnam, over border issues.

Cambodia and China have traditionally enjoyed close relations, and they became noticeably closer after 2012 when Cambodia, as host of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, sided with China over the contentious South China Sea issue.

The following year, Beijing provided Phnom Penh with a $195 million loan, which bought 12 Chinese Z-9 military helicopters. In May of this year, China pledged military trucks, spare parts, equipment and unspecified chemicals.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has often touted the relationship. During the inauguration of a Chinese-funded road in Kampong Som province last month, he told a group of farmers that Cambodian-Chinese relations were at an all-time high, and that the two were moving toward a “comprehensive” partnership. China’s development fund for Cambodia for 2015 amounted to $140 million, up from $100 million the year before, he said.

Tea Banh defended the bilateral relationship, saying Chinese aid came with no strings attached and that China had never interfered in Cambodian affairs. He declined to disclose how much aid Cambodia would receive from his latest trip.

The national high school exit examination is a month away. Last year’s crackdown on cheating has forced the 88,000 students expected to sit the examination this year to prepare extra hard. Attendance at study clubs, self-revisions, private tutoring with public school teachers, and  private tutoring at local private businesses appear to be surging. One newspaper article quoted one student as saying,

I stay at school until 7:30 p.m. because I need to study part-time in the afternoon,” he said. “I have a club to study with my friends in which we teach and explain to each other any subjects or lessons that we do not understand.

The new silk road, China’s attempt to “resurrect the ancient Silk Road as a modern transit, trade, and economic corridor that runs from Shanghai to Berlin,” is coming to Cambodian schools. Through grants from the China Foundation for Peace and Development, a soft-power arm of the Chinese government, new school buildings are being constructed. The first building was inaugurated yesterday and 10 more are scheduled to be constructed. Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron stated at the ceremony:

This building is a new testament to the excellent relations between Cambodia and China…It will contribute to developing education sector in Cambodia.

It’s not conventional wisdom to think when wages for employees increase so do profits for businesses. Paul Krugman made a similar argument in his latest New York Times Op-Ed. In it, Kurgman summarizes an argument made in a research study in the USA that found a startling (to many economists) relationship, or lack there of: “There’s just no evidence that raising the minimum wage costs jobs, at least when the starting point is as low as it is in modern America.” So too is the starting point so low in Cambodia that when the government finally allowed last January a rise in the minimum wage for garment industry workers, business did not slow. In fact, business has improved, more jobs have been created, and the overall export of garments made in Cambodia have increased:

Last year, the garment and footwear industry grew by 9.3 percent to $5.8 billion, up from $5.3 billion in 2013. Footwear exports grew even faster, increasing by 23.9 percent to $438 million in 2014 over the previous year.
According to the Cambodian Investment Board, 78 new garment and footwear factories were approved in 2014, with a total value of $452 million of fixed assets. In the first quarter of 2015, 19 more factories, worth a total of $72 million gained approval.
With new factory openings, employment is rising. According to official figures, the total garment worker population increased from 497,200 in 2013 to 580,900 in 2014. During the first quarter, that number hit 605,100.

The New Tokyo Strategy aims to develop human resources in the Mekong Region. In the actual document released at the Mekong-Japan Summit meeting, however, few details were given regarding any planned educational development efforts between Japan and the Mekong countries, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam. The document simply reads:

To achieve “quality growth” and consolidate the rule of law, both sides shared the recognition that it is essential to cultivate and secure human resources, particularly legal and industrial professionals, and skilled workers.

In the last few days, a little more information has come out about the types of human resource development that will likely occur as part of the New Tokyo Strategy. Masashi Kono, the director of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in Cambodia, recently spoke with the Phnom Penh Post about Japan’s efforts in the region. In the interview, he revealed an important detail missing from last week’s summit in Tokyo:

It’s a rare case for Japan to come and invest directly [in Cambodia]. At this moment, we’re promoting the Thailand Plus One or China Plus One [strategy].

For example, a Japanese company already has a presence in Thailand, so it considers setting up in a country nearby – at that moment Cambodia is the first candidate.

The minimum wage may have increased, but if you compare total expenses for workers in Cambodia, it’s still reasonable compared to Thailand or China.

And there are also advantages brought by the special economic zones.

Even in Kitakyushu, some businesses in automotive parts and education expressed interest in Cambodia following our visit. They were very eager for Cambodia.

Still, the [Cambodian] market is small, with just 15 million people, so not many businesses are not considering direct investment or exporting [Japanese] goods here.

The important detail related to “human resource development” is in bold. Why would a city in Fukuoka Prefecture, which is in southern Japan, be interested in Cambodia? On JETRO’s website,  some background on Kitakyushu City is given:

Kitakyushu City developed in line with the key industries including steel, chemical, metal, and ceramics and played a significant role in the modernization of Japan. From this historical context, there is an industrial cluster centered on business establishments concerning automobile, semi-conductor and members/materials. The reason for this robust business climate is drawn from its proximity to other Asian countries, an ample amount of land with a stable supply of water and electricity, low investment costs, and its imperviousness to natural disasters.

Part of the “industrial cluster” in Kitakyushu city is the Kitakyushu Science and Research Park (KSRP). KSRP aims to be a core academic research center in Asia focused on  automobiles, technology, and the environment. The research and industrial focus of KSRP matches  Japan’s strategic areas of focus in the New Tokyo Strategy: Asia’s aging societies, creating green cities, and providing automobiles to the growing middle class. One project within KSRP is to create a “Silicon Sea Belt” (SSB) whereby  Kitakyushu city acts as a hub connecting research centers and industries in South Korea, Shanghai, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and, eventually, the Mekong states like Cambodia. The SSB would focus primarily on semi-conductors. Another project is to create the technology cities need to reduce smog and pollution, a growing problem in many of Asia’s fast developing countries. The various projects within KSRP, which bring together public and private universities, industries, and research centers, are designed to be exported to other countries, thus making some companies in Kitakyushu interested in Cambodia (and also Laos, Myanmar, etc.).

When it comes to “human resource development” specifically, KSRP has one major project: the Hibikino Semiconductor Academy.

In order to support the education and re-education of postgraduate students and engineers from the electronics industry, the Hibikino Semiconductor Academy provides training services along with classroom lectures in cooperation between industry and universities. The training services include practical lessons in which semiconductors are designed, tested and evaluated.

It is likely the human resource development the New Tokyo Strategy mentions is related to the KSRP generally (after all, Prime Minister Hun Sen visited the city after the Tokyo summit) and the Hibikino Semiconductor Academy specifically. I suspect the goals of KSRP will align with Japan’s support for developing universities in the Mekong Region (similar to the Japan-Vietnam university project). This soft-power move will see scientists and engineers from the Mekong regions studying or working in KSRP. When these scientists move back to their home country, they will bring with them friendly relationships with various Japanese businesses. One piece that isn’t known yet, regards the effects these developments will have on primary and secondary education. I suspect the ministries of education in the various Mekong states will start pushing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths (STEM) education to develop the “human resources” needed to enroll in Japanese-supported universities and, eventually, the KSRP.

As national examinations quickly approach this month, many students in Cambodia and Laos hope to use social media sites like Facebook to get an early glimpse of the questions on the test. Radio Free Asia has an interesting story in Laos where government officials deny the cheating while parents speak openly about it:

Another father, who denied to be named, said he was not surprised by the cheating.

“It routinely occurred during the previous school year, but the information was not shared as widely as it was this time,” he said.

Similar issues have plagued Cambodia in the past, but last year’s crack down on cheating has changed the system. As a result of the strict examination procedures — which resulted in high rates of student failure, Universities have seen a rise in enrollment for 2-year associate degree, which does not require students to pass the high school exit examination.

Will Laos implement a similar anti-corruption regime like Cambodia? Is cheating on school examinations rampant in other Mekong Region states like Myanmar or Thailand?

Japanese businesses have historically worked in Thailand, but that country’s political instability has caused the Japanese government to look for other suitors. Cambodia is the perfect location for Japanese businesses (abundant land, cheap labor, and few government regulations) as long as the country’s infrastructure improves. Enter Abe’s foreign policy of the “New Tokyo Strategy” that will build infrastructure like roads and bridges inside Cambodia. This is not only good for Japanese businesses looking for additional stability; it is also good for Abe’s strategy to confront China in Southeast Asia. The Khmer Times has an interesting piece related to this topic about Hun Sen’s special treatment after the Mekong-Japan Summit meeting:

Prime Minister Hun Sen returned Monday from a weekend in Japan that included a day-trip 1,000 kilometers south of Tokyo to Yamaguchi Prefecture, home base of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The Cambodian leader’s trip out of Tokyo followed his participation in Prime Minister Abe’s summit on Saturday with leaders of five Mekong nations – Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

But the Sunday outing to the Japanese prime minister’s homeland indicates Japan’s special courtship of Cambodia.

As in the dating game, it can be beneficial for a country to have two suitors.

Everyone knows about China’s massive aid, trade and investment with Cambodia. But Japan’s courtship is getting more and more serious.

This year’s example was the magnificent Tsubasa Bridge over the Mekong River, the longest bridge in the Kingdom. After opening in April, this Japanese-financed cable-stay bridge now speeds traffic between Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh.

Look ahead, and within five years, Japanese money will have paid for upgrading National Road 4. Trucks, buses and cars will speed between Phnom Penh and the Thai border.

Road work will include construction of a 47-kilometer bypass road around Battambang.

The key here is Thailand, a country with the highest wages, the oldest population, and the greatest political instability among the five nations of the Mekong region. Thailand’s per capita income of $5,390 is five times higher than Cambodia’s income of $1,018.

Japan is literally paving the way for Japanese investors to shift east, out of Thailand, to Cambodia.

From 2010 to 2012, Japanese investment in Cambodia soared 10-fold, from $35 million to $328 million.

In the first quarter of this year, 183 Japanese companies received investment licenses from Cambodia.

From a non-player a decade ago, Japan suddenly is Cambodia’s third-largest source of investment, after Vietnam and China.

Many of these Japanese companies come from Thailand, where Japan has long been the largest source of foreign investment.

So Cambodia has the enviable position of sitting between two rich suitors, each eager to win favor in the Kingdom.

 

The Nation reports on an English training partnership between the English Language Institute of China and the Laos Ministry of Education and Sports:

According to the MoU, improved English language instruction will help Laotians engage more readily in the world’s economic community, which is vital for national growth. Additionally, improved English language instruction will enhance Laos economically and politically when there is full integration of the Asian Economic Community at the end of the year.

Before the 7th Mekong-Japan Summit meeting held on July 4th in Tokyo, Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, published an op-ed in many (if not most) of the Mekong states’ newspapers. In it he articulated a committed relationship between Japan and the Mekong states, which includes Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. He pointed to the importance of the Mekong region to Japan, saying it was the first place he visited after being elected Prime Minister. He also pointed to the infrastructure projects Japan funded in Vietnam and Cambodia. In the future, Abe promised his New Tokyo Strategy, which will be partly operated through the Asian Development Bank, would pour additional money into each country, focusing on infrastructure and human resource development. Some of the specific areas of concern for Japan in the Mekong are said to be the need for more (green) energy, medical systems focused on an aging society, and automobiles as the middle class grows. It is interesting to note (1) the problems Japan sees in the region are areas it has a solution to offer — think Japan’s aging society/universal health care system or the many automobile makers in Japan — and (2) one of the Toyota Foundation’s new grants  specifically addresses the aging society in Southeast Asia, assuming there is one, which would indicate a level of coordination between Abe’s foreign policy goals and the philanthropic arm in Japan.

When it comes to the human resource development, the New Tokyo Strategy says:

To achieve “quality growth” and consolidate the rule of law, both sides shared the recognition that it is essential to cultivate and secure human resources, particularly legal and industrial professionals, and skilled workers.

Both sides also reaffirmed the significance of human resource development in other areas, such as financial infrastructure, education, healthcare, agriculture and food related industries, and women’s empowerment, and renewed their determination to coordinate with private companies and relevant NGOs in this regard.

Future economic growth in the region will be driven by — or is thought to be driven by — particular sectors of the economy, each with a strategic interest to Japan vis-à-vis China. Legal  professionals will make the Mekong states play by the laws and norms of the global economy, something Japan (and the USA) see China, another major development partner of the Mekong region, as not promoting. With the Mekong region’s cheap labor, the development of more industrial professionals will drive industrial growth that will directly compete with China’s, which is experiencing hardships as wages increase. The hope is that more private businesses will set up shop in the Mekong Region instead of going to China. The skilled workers in New Tokyo Strategy, although unspecified, are thus likely within existing industries, namely textile workers. Although textile workers have had difficult labor relations with owners of capital and caused severe health consequences in places like Cambodia, the textile industry accounts for a large part of the economy and has room to grow in the future.

These developments need to be put in the context of the Asean Economic Community, which will begin at the end of the year and allow the free movement of labor and capital within Southeast Asia, including the Mekong region. One likely outcome of the AEC is for highly educated Cambodians or Laotians to freely migrate to wealthier countries like Malaysia or Indonesia or Singapore where their economic prospects would be brighter. This poses a difficult problem with the Mekong region and Abe’s foreign policy: the Mekong region must balance the drive for a highly educated society with the prospect of brain-drain. I suspect each country to walk a fine line: promoting additional educational initiatives while also bolstering low-wage industries. As such, Japan will likely respond in a similar fashion: promote the development of the textile industries while also partnering with higher education institutions to advance certain fields like law or medicine.  It is therefore likely Japan will support higher education institutions in many of the Mekong region’s states, just like it is already doing in Vietnam with the Japan-Vietnam grad school, which will open in 2016, and continue to participate in the Southeast Asian Engineering Education Development Network.

Japan’s recent diplomatic movements span beyond economic development. Not only is Japan offering a counterweight to China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank by increasing funding through the Asian Development Bank where Japan holds the largest proportion of shares, but also it is offering a vision of regional security based on mutual agreement and cooperation, echoing the principles of Asean. This is in direct contrast to China’s unilateral moves in the South China Sea of late. As such, Abe made sure to speak with Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung directly about the country’s security concerns of China’s recent maritime conquests.

On top of this full-court press in the Mekong region, Japan has also sent military personnel to Australia for joint operations between Australia and the USA. This is a further move to show China that Japan is serious in its regional interests.  Japan is receiving additional help from the US as it tries to further engage with Southeast Asia as a counter to China: Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnam’s Communist Party chief, will meet US President Barack Obama next week and  Michelle Obama is planing additional international trips to promote her Let Girls Learn initiative, which originally targeted Cambodia and brought the First Lady to Japan. Since the USA is the second largest share holder in the Asian Development Bank behind Japan, I suspect there is a high level of coordination between Japan and the USA to counter China’s regional goals in the Mekong.