JAKARTA - Cambodia has registered nearly 6,000 former migrant workers returning from Thailand for Recognition of Prior Learning testing, KhmerHome said on July 6, citing Labour Ministry spokesperson Sun Mesa.

The Khmer-language report said more than 5,400 registered workers had already received certificates. 

It said the programme helps former workers returning from Thailand gain formal recognition for skills they developed through work experience, making it easier for them to seek jobs in Cambodia.

Recognition of Prior Learning, known as RPL, is not ordinary classroom training. 

Cambodia’s Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training issued a March 25 notice saying RPL testing would turn practical experience and previous skills into official skills-recognition certificates that workers could use to seek better jobs and higher incomes from April 24.

The first phase focuses on eight construction skills: masonry, tiling, formwork installation, plumbing, building electrical wiring, scaffolding, steel fixing and electric welding. AKP reported on March 26 that the Royal Government would cover the assessment cost for all participating workers.

“The success of these participants is a meaningful reminder that skills developed through hard work and real-life experience are valuable assets that deserve full formal recognition,” Labour Minister Heng Sour said during a May 18 visit to the Battambang Institute of Technology, according to the Phnom Penh Post.

The programme is tied to Cambodia’s wider effort to absorb workers who returned from Thailand. 

AKP reported on March 26, citing the Labour Ministry, that about 650,000 former Cambodian migrant workers who returned from Thailand had secured employment, including roughly 330,000 in enterprises, companies, factories and large farms. 

Another 320,000 had found work in construction sites, handicrafts, restaurants, agriculture and retail.

KhmerHome said RPL assessments were being carried out at nine competency assessment centres nationwide. 

It also linked the programme to Cambodia’s TVET target of training 1.5 million people, saying more than 270,000 people had received technical training from early 2024 to the first quarter of 2026, with about 80% gaining job opportunities and others starting their own work.

The World Bank said in a June 11, 2025 report that Cambodia was already using RPL to assess returnees’ skills, certify them and connect them with jobs. 

The report also warned that participation in returnee programmes remained low, and that governments often lacked clear information on who had returned, when they returned and where they had gone.