While Cambodia has dedicated considerable resources to improving access to quality education, there is still a sizable population of children who cannot access school: children living in poverty, ethnic minority children, children from geographically remote areas, children with disabilities, over-age children and young girls who face a unique set of gender-based challenges.
For the 2020/21 school year, The Ministry of Youth Education and Sports Public Education Statistics & Indicators found the net enrollment of children aged 6-11 in primary school stood at 86.7%, indicating that over 13% of primary-school-age children were not enrolled in school. The report also revealed that over 60% of the country’s primary schools are without access to water and over 25% without access to latrines.
To address these issues, our projects range in scope from improving access to water and health sanitation facilities to increasing access to quality education for out of school children to creating more resilient livelihood opportunities for marginalised communities. Our strength is in our numbers and much of our work is only possible through the partnerships we have developed with local authorities, civil society organisations, school management boards, private sector representatives and government ministries.
Aide et Action has been working in Cambodia since 2003 to help improve the education system and make access to a quality education a reality for more children, if not all, with a focus on the most disadvantaged, marginalized and remote children and communities. A major step was taken in 2014 when we partnered with Educate A Child (EAC), a global programme of Education Above All Foundation, to create The Cambodian Consortium for Out of School Children (CCOSC). Today, this Consortium consists of approximately 30 organisations committed to ensuring no child gets left behind.
