Life History of Dr. Set Seng,
Director, Phnom Penh Teacher Education College (PTEC)～Our long journey together since 2000
toward the development of Education in Cambodia～

Dr. Set Seng, the Director of Phnom Penh Teacher
Education

College(PTEC),

has

been

oneof

thecounterparts of JICA projects since 2000 (STEPSAM,STEPSAM2, STEPSAM3, and E-TEC projects). He is
specializedincontributing

tochemistry
theeducation

developmentandof

has

been

education

inCambodia with PADECO for more than 20 years.

-Please tell us about your childhood. What was your dream?

I was born in Pearang District, Prey Veng Province (about 40km away from thecapital city, Phnom Penh) in late 1970s in a family of farmers. At that time,
Cambodia was in the hardest time in its history and people, including my family,
was facing a lot of difficulties during Khmer Rouge regime.
I was lucky enough to have a place to learn in a walking distance from my homewhen I became the age of primary school in 1981. But it was just under mango
trees at the beginning and we moved to a monks’ house later.
Actually, I had never dreamed of becoming a teacher in my childhood, but I wished
to be a government official as it was a common dream of people in remote areas tohave better life.
When I was small, I was not a good learner, as I spent most of the time in the rice
field helping my parents as I am the eldest child in the family with two sisters andone brother. However, when I was at high school, I studied hard to successfully passthe Grade 12 completion exam (national examination) in 1994.
At that time, only two students from my high school, including myself, could passed
the exam. In Prey Veng province, there were only 8 students who passed it. Thismotivated me to go to Phnom Penh for university.
-So, was it the time that you decided to be a teacher?

No. Actually, it was not so easy. When I passed the Grade 12 completion exam,
everybody around me didn’t expect me to continue to university, as my family
couldn’t afford to support me to study in Phnom Penh. And I didn’t have any
relatives in Phnom Penh, either.
But my father brought me to Phnom Penh to look for a pagoda which can allow meto stay. We visited many pagodas for 3 days, however, we couldn’t find anyone andwe decided to go back home with hopeless. It was very hard and we didn’t have
any idea.
Several days later, however, we came back to Phnom Penh again and found a man
we had known before at a pagoda who could accept me to stay with him. There
was a family living in the pagoda who were selling Cambodian noodle (Kuyteav)and I helped their business all day long from 4:00am till 6:00pm for 3 months justfor 3 meals, and learnt nothing except an English class for 1 hour from 6:00 to7:00pm. The English teacher allowed me to learn free of charge. I was too busy toregister for university and just only Agricultural university was still open forregistration. I applied for it and spent one year at its pre-university course. I moved
to a new pagoda near the agricultural university, where I could eat after monk. I
made good relationship with a cook (a nun) of the pagoda though helping her inthe kitchen, so that she always kept food for me.
After completing the pre-university course, I applied the entrance exam for 3universities. Actually, I wanted to study agriculture, but only the faculty of chemistryat Royal University of Phnom Penh accepted me in late 1995. Meantime, I got
married and my wife’s family was famers just next to the pagoda I stayed, in thesuburb of Phnom Penh. Therefore, I helped working in the farm planting rice andvegetables and I sometimes worked at a garment factory at the night time while
studying at the university, while my wife worked in a small NGO as an early gradeteacher for children from the poor family. That was my starting point to be a teacher.
-Then, what was your journey to be the counterpart of JICA project?

After completing the bachelor degree in 1999, I advanced to the National Instituteof Education (NIE) to be a chemistry lecturer. When I completed NIE in 2000, it wasa coincidence that JICA has started STEMSAM and they requested Ministry ofEducation, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) to recruit outstanding students to work as
lecturers in NIE and work as counterparts with STEPSAM Project.
There were two choices for me at that time; being a chemistry teacher at highschool somewhere in the country or remaining at NIE to be a chemistry lecturer
and a counterpart of the STEPSAM. As I already had a wife and a child, I wanted tostay in Phnom Penh. Therefore, from a strong encouragement of my wife, I decided
to challenge to take an exam to be a lecturer at NIE and a counterpart of theSTEPSAM, though it was very competitive.
I remember that Mr. Takahashi (PADECO) was one of the interviewers. At that time,
my English was very poor but I tried my best to talk and talk without caring of rightor wrong, so I still can’t believe, but I could pass it and became the chemistry
lecturers at NIE and the counterpart of STEPSAM in 2000.
-What did you learn from JICA projects and how it impacted on your career?

It was very good learning opportunity for me. STEPSAM was the most impactful formy development, as we had many trainings, workshops, and weekly meeting with
JICA experts, where I could develop myself. I remember that I was required tosubmit reports very frequently, but my reports were very poor at the beginning. I
really appreciate Japanese experts who helped me to improve them. At the sametime, I could improve my English as well. It was truly a great experience.
During the STEPSAM, I got chance tohavea3-monthtraining

atAichi

University of Education in Japan in 2002,and then got a scholarship from JICA totake a master degree in Okayama
University in 2004. Then, I continued tobe a counterpart at the STEPSAM2 aftercoming back to Cambodia.
Dr. Set Seng at STEPSAM2

Then, I could continue my degree to Ph.D under JSPS scholarship, and I joined inSTEPSAM3 and E-TEC continuously, which couldn’t happen if I didn’t encounter JICA
in 2000. My life might be totally different.
Throughdiscipline,

JICA

projects,responsibility,I

learnedpunctuality,attitude, ways of planning, ways ofmentoring, communication, etc fromJapanese experts.
Dr. Set Seng (wear in gray) at STEPSAM3-How are you applying what you learned through JICA projects to your current
work?

The ways of working and managing, that I learned through JICA projects, are very
effective at my current work as well. We need to have ownership and it is important
to be creative to do new challenges.
Normally, people in Cambodia tend to stay in their comfort zone. But at PTEC, I
keep encouraging my staff members to be creative as we need to do new things tohave new result for the country. We plan together, we follow-up together, we see
the results together, and we solve problems together, through regularly meeting
based on what I learned through the JICA projects.
Now there are around 300 staff members to manage at PTEC and at attachedschools, which is not easy for me. But I always open the doors of my office, so thatanyone can visit my office easily todiscuss

whattheywant.

Ibelieveproblems never end unless we talk. AndI consider all of staff members, including
the top managements to cleaners, as
PTEC family and place the teacher
education quality as common goal for thecountry. This is the mindset that I
learned through JICA projects.
Dr. Set Seng (center) at E-TEC project-What is your goal to achieve in your career?

I don’t have any particular goal of my career, but my dream is to see the educationin Cambodia to be more developed; I wish every school to be able to provide
opportunities of good learning to students, students can get the skills of creativity,
critical thinking, and collaborative communication, etc. I want to be involved in it
and I want to commit for it as much as I can.
A country can be developed only by human resource, and human resource comesfrom schools. Therefore, good education is crucial.
Although we still have a lot of challenges at TEC, but we will try our best to improve.
Now we have plan to develop more TECs in other regions. We are happy to shareour experiences and support it.
-Looking back your childhood, and imagine that primary school yourself is here.
What message do you want to tell to the boy?

Never give up! Be positive!
Don’t place too much pressure on yourself, but keep going and you will be successful.
If I look back myself in primary school time, I can’t believe that I could complete
my high school, university, master degree, and Ph.D, because of my family status.
But if you continue your effort, surely you’ll reach the better place.
Whenever we move, we can go.
Even we face hardship, the God never let us die.

Dr. Set Seng at the e-Interview (July 2023)