Policy Alone Inadequate: Youth Advocate

Cambodian students from the Royal Cambodian Administration school in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (Photo: AP)

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Tuesday, 11 May 2010

"Many young people today are jobless, even though they have a higher education. I wonder if they can get jobs without having to pay bribes.”

Facing a rising number of young people who are graduating school, looking for work and entering society in general, the government is drafting an official national youth policy. But advocates from the growing demographic say a policy alone is not enough.

“If we have only the document, but no institution to implement it, it will be useless,” Sun Chansen, president of the Khmer Youth Association, told “Hello VOA” Monday.

Sun Chansen, whose association represents six non-governmental organizations that work with young people, said a national youth council must be created to enforce the policy.

A draft of the 10-point policy was opened for final input from organizations late in April, and the final draft is expected to be brought to the Council of Ministers by the end of the year.

The policy broadly sets out rights and responsibilities for Cambodia’s young people, including economic activities.

A caller to “Hello VOA” on Monday, who gave his name as Kongkea, from Takeo province, said the policy won’t work unless the government addresses unemployment.

“Many young people today are jobless, even though they have a higher education,” he said. “I wonder if they can get jobs without having to pay bribes.”

But Sun Chansen said a body to implement the policy must be set up before questions like unemployment can be addressed.

SRP MP Son Chhay: 30 percent of youths were unemployed during the last decade

Sok An asks for education relevant to labor market

Friday, 13 June 2008
Chun Sophal
The Mekong Times

Higher education institutions should tailor their courses to the domestic labor market, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An suggested Thursday.

“The number of unemployed will increase if we do not develop human resources in response to labor market,” he told over 1,000 graduating students in Phnom Penh. “Higher education institutions have to prepare academic programs that can meet the labor market’s demands, because the government wants to harmonize labor forces.”

With an expected 200,000 people entering into the labor market annually by 2011, Sok An said the Kingdom must plan how to best employ its human resources.

Garments, tourism and agriculture are Cambodia’s pillar industries, Sok An continued, and all three have potential for job creation. “We know that targeted human resources development is the backbone of any nation’s development,” he said. “[E]ducational institutions must strengthen quality in order to meet demands.”

Iv Thong, rector of the National University of Management, said that his university school is currently formulating a strategic plan focusing on the human resource needs of Cambodia in the 21st century.

The government should create proper employment for the tens thousands of jobless students and youths, said Sam Rainsy parliamentarian Son Chhay. “[T]he best way to help provide jobs to those youths is for the government to urge aged government officials to retire,” he said: “We see that over 30 percent of youths were unemployed during the last decade. It is a worry.”