Gender-equity goals in Cambodia are intimately linked with socio-economic and cultural biases that are embedded in the very system of education and in the society as a whole. There are, however, strong indicators that the vicious cycle in Cambodia's education system could be broken, and here the commitment of key stakeholders and partnership modes between the government, donor agencies and non-governmental organizations in introducing innovations to the system is critically important, as illustrated by the multipartite projects currently piloted in different areas of Cambodia. This is, of course, premised on the notion that the Cambodian government and education authorities will play their part in achieving the goals of the comprehensive and integrated Education Sector Support Programme and the National Plan in Education for All. By the year 2010, Cambodia hopes to achieve universal access to and completion of primary and lower secondary education. To achieve this goal, Cambodia's gender-equity goals should thus be linked to strategies to improve the quality of education in all aspects. This includes: provision for improved school readiness and attendance; quality curriculum and instructional materials' development; improved quality of teacher training and service; improved access to textbooks, instructional aids and other learning materials; improved instructional time in a quality learning environment; improved school management; and community participation, etc. To allow all of this to happen, it should be equally recognized that to secure policy implementation on equitable access and quality improvement in education in Cambodia is to increase public spending on basic education so as to reduce direct and indirect costs to parents (the major access barrier, especially for girls and the poor) through a fair increase in teachers' salaries. This would eliminate the need for informal parental payments to teachers, and lead to a significant increase in school operating budgets that are decentralized and efficiently managed at provincial/district and school levels. This needs to be linked to a reform in educational regulation and legislation. (Contains 7 notes.)