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Smart Axiata and UNESCO renewed strategic partnership to support out-of-school youths nationwide
Phnom Penh, April 10th, 2023 - Smart Axiata, Cambodia鈥檚 leading telecommunications company, reaffirmed its continuous support for UNESCO鈥檚 Basic Education Equivalency Programme (BEEP) as a strategic partner to provide devices and data for out-of-school youth to complete lower secondary education at an agreement signing ceremony with UNESCO Cambodia, Cambodia鈥檚 Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) and the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training (MLVT).
Since 2016 Smart Axiata has supported BEEP in providing accessibility to the platform to enable access for out-of-school youth. Through this support, learners could complete the programme and proceed to enroll in skills training either at the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutes or the General and Technical High Schools.
The BEEP provides flexible alternative education to out-of-school youth to complete lower secondary/basic education equivalent to Grade 9. BEEP offers a total of 11 e-learning subjects which are available online for students to choose and learn from. This flagship initiative is part of the Decent Employment for Youth (DEY) phase II in Cambodia, which is mainly funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
During the partnership phase II from 2020 to 2022, Smart Axiata provided 350 tablet devices and 350 SIM cards with unlimited data, internet packages to allow 500 students to access courses free of charge and 5 laptops for coordination purposes for the ministries administering the programme.
For the upcoming Phase III from March 2023 to March 2025, the mobile operator is committed to providing 500 smartphones to successful graduates, 100 tablets to learning centers, 1,000 unlimited internet packages to support the students to access the courses, and 20 WiFi devices with data to be equipped at the centers in the target provinces.
Ziad Shatara, Chief Executive Officer of Smart Axiata, expressed his delight at the renewal of this strategic partnership.
鈥淪mart is very honored to have been working with UNESCO to support BEEP as the strategic partner since the very beginning in 2016 under the joint effort of MLVT and the MoEYS. This initiative is more important now than ever as human resources development is critical for Cambodia to achieve the goal of becoming an upper middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country by 2050 through an inclusive development approach.鈥
Mr. Sardar Umar Alam, UNESCO Representative to Cambodia emphasized the importance of this partnership.
鈥淭he partnership with Smart Axiata has played a critical role in promoting digital education, lifelong learning and skills development in Cambodia, in partnership with the MoEYS and MLVT. This collaboration sets a model for public-private-partnership to enhance human resource development of Cambodia as partnerships like this, are key for supporting the lower secondary school dropouts to acquire qualifications and skills which enable youth to obtain decent employment.鈥
BEEP has significantly grown since the inauguration of its first learning center in 2019 and now runs 26 learning centers throughout 16 provinces in Cambodia. Over 1,800 learners, including dropouts, low-skilled and unemployed youths, have benefited from the programme. Almost two-thirds of the graduates went on to pursue skills development at the TVET institutes.
BEEP is now gearing up to reach out to more young people by expanding to correctional centers, rehabilitation centers, and among migrants. The Royal Government of Cambodia has recently announced that by the end of 2023 or early 2024, vocational and technical training will be provided to 1.5 million young people from poor and vulnerable households across the country at state institutions, without tuition fee charges, along with a monthly allowance. The BEEP, as a flexible online skills-bridging programme, will play a key role in supporting the realization of this skills development plan.
