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Opinion: Igniting Innovation: How an ICT Hackathon Can Empower Cambodia’s High Schoolers
- Sep 12, 2025
- 5 min read
By Vuthy Khorn
Junior Research Fellow
Future Forum's junior research fellow Vuthy Khorn was published in Cambodianess on September 12th, 2025. Check out the original article HERE, and read it below!
Sometimes the simplest ideas can spark the biggest change. An ICT Hackathon, if championed nationwide, could do more to close Cambodia’s digital education gap than yet another policy blueprint.
With its "new normal", Cambodia is adopting a digitalized society by transforming various key sectors with a strong priority on education. The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) has introduced a series of policies and frameworks, like the Digital Education Strategy for Schools (DESS), the Education Strategic Plan 2024-2028, the Inclusive Education Action Plan 2024-2028, and the EdTech Roadmap, to drive digital education. These policies are blueprints designed to foster technology-enhanced learning ecosystems and equip students with the skills needed for the digital age.
However, quality gaps persist between policies and on-the-ground realities, despite the inclusion of ICT curricula in schools and substantial investments from developing partners, including the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and others. Many high school students from rural areas and low-income households are constrained by having poor access to computers, internet connectivity, a shortage of trained teachers and school-resource allocations. The result is a stark inequality of opportunity, while some students in urban areas become innovators.
This indicates that the current plan and implementation have a geographical gap, an inadequate resource, and qualified teachers who are capable of teaching. However, addressing these gaps will take a long time. So, how about a simple idea about the ICT Hackathon?
A “Hackathon,” also called a Hack Day, “Hackfest,” or “Codefest,” offers a dynamic transformation of digital education from a theoretical exercise into practical production. It is basically a short and focused burst of intense teamwork where a small group tries to solve a big problem and produces an outcome by the end of the event.
It also empowers local communities and leverages a unique community-focused approach, unleashing students’ digital capabilities and fostering a more inclusive and technologically proficient generation.
Let’s explore the possibilities of an ICT Hackathon in the Cambodian education system, which suffers from various constraints.
The Hackathon as a Solution
Cambodia has already seen the success of Hackathons. For instance, initiatives like Technovation Girls, Techpreneur Bootcamp Program, and many others have proven that hackathons can effectively foster entrepreneurship and key skills such as problem-solving and collaboration among high school students.
A Khmer Times article reported in 2023 that the technovation model is vibrant. It brought 19 groups of students together from 66 public and private schools in 15 provinces across Cambodia to join the hackathon. It promoted innovation for knowledge solutions using digital technology and entrepreneurship among students.
Similarly, the 6th Cambodia ICT and Digital Forum has demonstrated the positive impact of the Hackathon by providing a glimpse, such as empowering individuals and communities, fostering innovation and collaboration, influencing policy and governance, bridging the gender gap, advancing education, and ensuring international cooperation.
This says that Cambodian high school students are able to initiate a small idea to tackle their real-world problem in their communities by using technology with the support from organizations. Technovation is the right model to leverage ICT productivity: its mechanism is not just for urban areas, but also for rural areas to ensure the equality and inclusiveness of the competition.
Digital Education Landscape
Cambodian education has been reformed and transformed for a couple of years with digital education inclusion, and several policies have been introduced. One key strategic policy that stands out is the Digital Education Strategy for Schools, which aims to develop the framework of the digital revolution in education.
This strategy empowers schools with autonomy and ensures the participation of all relevant stakeholders at both national and sub-national levels, including the public and private sectors. It is grounded in principles of inclusivity and comprehensive analysis, taking into account national, regional, and international experiences. For instance, in the Phnom Penh Post article, Model School in 2023-2024, 793 schools were selected as target schools for implementation of model school standards, including 96 preschools, 348 primary schools and 349 secondary schools.
With the ICT curricula already included, however, various ICT programs have also been introduced by MoEYS and developing partners. For instance, we can observe programs like Digital Literacy Initiative (DLI), funded by the Dariu Foundation, the Secondary Upper Secondary Education Sector Development Program (USE-SDP2), funded by ADB, and ICT support in general secondary education (2021–2026), sponsored by KOICA, and many others.
These programs aim to bridge the digital divide and to ensure that students are prepared for the demands of the modern, technology-driven world, resulting in many Cambodian high school students being positively impacted.
Also, Cambodia has a young and increasingly digitally savvy population, with over 65 percent being under 30. The number of mobile phones as of January 2021 was equivalent to 125 percent of the total population, and demand for ICT skills is expected to increase in the next two years, averaging 40 percent for ICT firms and 20 percent for non-ICT firms.
Existing policies, the implementation of those policies via substantive programs, and students' overall awareness all demonstrate the massive possibilities of technology and the readiness of Cambodian students to use it.
International Lessons
Many countries around the globe have demonstrated the positive impact of Hackathons. For instance, Khon Kaen University, in collaboration with MIT Sana and faculty members from Harvard Medical School, initiated a mHealth Hackathon to improve health care delivery in the northeast of Thailand, resulting in the improvement of health literacy, tracking disease trajectories, and outcomes among rural communities.
Countries like Uganda and Colombia, for instance, initiated mHealth hackathons and developed mobile apps to tackle and raise awareness of tracking vaccine emergencies and provide health education to remote communities. It has been proven that hackathons bring students, developers, and professional healthcare providers together to create simple but important tech solutions.
This indicates that with the right target and support, students could be positively impacted by initiatives. The Hackathon is not just bringing change, but also the communication and inclusiveness of development, especially for those left behind.
And, in particular, it will help students to innovate to tackle issues within their communities. Furthermore, the potential is not restricted to countries that currently use it: there is no reason why Cambodia cannot do so too, and to a similar effect.
Reframing the Future of Digital Education
MoEYS has established a framework for digital development; however, to bridge the gap, its vision should be operationalized through grassroots initiatives that empower students and schools. The concept should be locally-based and locally-driven, albeit with national-level support.
Cambodia can transform students from passive consumers of technology into active creators. For instance, with the support from KOICA, Cambodian high schools could produce local products to tackle the real-world community’s issues with technology.
Another example of a school indicates that, despite being aged and having constrained resources, like many other public rural schools, with ABA support, it could make the community stronger and more resilient. It is about the school leadership and community engagement.
Cambodian students have already stepped forward for ICT use, even with the constrained resources, but students could initiate a small idea to tackle community issues with low-tech solutions. By empowering students through an ICT hackathon, the nation could unlock its full potential and build a generation that is not only digitally literate but also innovative, creative, entrepreneurial, and transformative.
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