Location
CAMBODIA: nationwide (25 provinces)
Background
Cambodia’s educational challenges have been persisting over generations, with poor rural families strongly marginalized and excluded from education. The consequences of parents’ low education levels are reflected in the high repetition and drop-out rates of children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds.
The failure to address inequality, stigmatization and discrimination based on wealth, gender, ethnicity, language, location and disability, is holding back progress towards realizing and Education for All in Cambodia.
There are currently around 220,000 children of primary-school age children who are out of school. This does not only jeopardize their own future, but also that of their entire country.
Our Actions
Our answer to these issues is based on 4 cornerstones:
Improving ACCESS
Promoting QUALITY
Strengthening the SYSTEM
and INFLUENCING for policy and behavior change.
Our objective is to contribute to a comprehensive and inclusive Cambodian education system that caters for every child, including children with disabilities, of indigenous background, girls, poor children, those living remotely and over-age students (i.e. those older than what would be considered the usual age for the Grade they are in).
Our initiatives to achieve this include:
- Conducting teacher training focused on child-centered approaches for 3,010 teachers, which includes training on inclusive education, re-entry, gender, child learning, and other pedagogy skills).
- Developing or improving outdoor facilities and infrastructure, and renovating classrooms, cultural rooms, school libraries and library systems.
- Ensuring the enrollment of at least 45,000 out of school children (OOSC) in formal or non-formal education system of which 50% are girls.
- Retaining 45,569 children i school throughout a full cycle.
- Running focus groups and dialogue with social workers for 13,390 parents.
- Implementing tutoring services for students with learning difficulties and those repeating their grades, as well as implementing a re-entry program.
- Providing the required support for children with disabilities, girls, under-underprivileged students, and children of ethnic minorities to access school (transport, infrastructure, etc.).
- Providing safe and friendly school environments for children and community.
- Setting up bilingual classrooms (with classes both in Khmer and the community’s local language).
- Improving school service provisions and developed the capacities of the Department of Education at all levels.
Partners
- Social Development Action
- CARE International
- Disability Development Services Program
- Epic Arts
- Friends International
- Goutte d’Eau/DamnokToek
- KAPE
- Komar Pikar Foundation
- Mith Samlanh
- NGO Education Partnership
- Non-Timber Forest Products
- Pour un Sourire d’Enfant
- Plan
- Rabbit School Organization
- Save the Children