MANILA, Dec. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved two loans totaling 45 million US dollars to help about 4.2 million students gain access to quality basic and upper secondary education in Cambodia.

    The project, which builds on the work of ADB's first Education Sector Development Program, approved in 2001, will establish a market-responsive education and training system that will help increase the level of education attainment in the workforce and, consequently, boost household incomes, the Manila-based ADB said in a statement Friday.

    The project supports the implementation of the Government's Education Strategic Plan (2004-2008) and the Education Sector Support Program (2004-2008), and will help Cambodia achieve education-related Millennium Development Goals, it added.

    It comprises a 20 million-dollar program loan and a 25-million dollar project loan.

    The program will be carried out over three years from the second quarter of 2005 to the end of 2007, and the project will be carried out over five years to December 2009.

    A 500,000-dollar technical assistance grant accompanies the project to strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport to plan and implement education reform and governance for decentralization.

    Despite improvements in Cambodia's education sector in recent years, significant challenges remain. Only about 75 percent of the country's workforce has had primary education or lower, and less than 3 percent have upper secondary diploma, or graduate qualifications, the ADB said. Enditem