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llowing a civic-parliamentary partnership approach, βHealth and governance in the COVID and post-COVID regional contextβ contains texts that present for readersβ consideration facts and insights from a variety of stakeholders, with the aim of contributing towards corruption-prevention and inclusive and informed decision-making in the ASEAN region.
The volume is motivated by the AIPA Resolution on Creation of Annual Consultative Working Group Cofacilitated by AIPA and PCAsia to Promote Transparent Data and Knowledge Sharing in Health Emergency Preparedness and Responses (Res.43GA/2022/Org/11) adopted by AIPA Member Parliaments on 23 November 2022 during AIPAβs 43rd General Assembly. The partnership approach utilised in these collected texts can be particularly important in the context of health crises, when policies can be formulated without safeguards such as citizen engagement, parliamentary research and budgetary analysis, which tends to increase the risks of inefficiency and corruption.
This research paper examines the progress and challenges of Cambodia’s education and skills development sector, focusing on lower secondary, upper secondary, higher education, and vocational training. In recent years, significant progress has been observed across all levels of education, with improvements in gross enrollment and completion rates. For instance, lower secondary education saw gross enrollment rates rise from 59.9% in 2019β2020 to 68.6% in 2021β2022, while completion rates increased from 47.3% to 59.7%. Higher secondary education completion rates improved to 55.5% by 2021β2022, and STEM enrollment in higher education rose from 19.6% in 2013β2014 to 31.2% in 2022β2023. Similarly, vocational training graduation rates showed upward trends, reaching 53,723 graduates in 2021β2022. However, challenges such as high dropout rates, rural-urban disparities, and skills mismatches remain significant barriers to equitable and quality education.
The βAtlas of Parliamentary Diplomacy 2024β aims to provide perspectives and information in support of the 45th AIPA General Assembly, being offered under the chairmanship of the National Assembly of Lao PDR. With the specific objectives of informing those working in preparation of the General Assembly and in raising overall awareness of the meetingβs theme of βThe Role of Parliaments in Enhancing Connectivity and Inclusive Growth of ASEANβ, the Atlas chapters include articles and maps on (1) ASEAN Connectivity, (2) Inclusive Growth, and (3) The Role of AIPA and Its Member Parliaments.
