Save the Children collaborates with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports to improve access, quality and management of primary education through support and development of Child Friendly Schools in some remote areas of Cambodia.

In rural areas of Cambodia drop-out and repetition rates in schools are very high where one in four children are not in primary school. By  the time children reach secondary school attendance rates are as low as 29% for male and 26% for female children. Families living in poverty, informal school fees paid to teachers, lack of access to pre-school activities, low quality of education provided in school, language barriers (rural dialects), outdated curriculum's and teachers with poor teaching skills are just a few of many obstacles facing children in their access to education in their early years.

We work with communities to improve children’s access to education, particularly focusing on high risk children, such as children with disabilities, girls, and orphans. We provide them with bicycles when they live very far from school, school materials and medical attention.

We undertake small-scale construction of classrooms where communities do not have a school building or where schools operate on two or more shifts per day, shortening learning hours to a bare minimum.

We provide teacher training in child-centred classroom practices including the development of teaching and learning materials. We also enable teachers to conduct remedial classes for students who have fallen behind in their education, as well as conduct literacy classes for young people who have missed out on schooling. We work with the school community to improve health and safety such as; building of toilets, provision of clean drinking water, creation of rubbish-free school yards, and supporting life skills information and awareness for children including health, hygiene, HIV/AIDS, recreation and sports.

We build capacity of local education officials and support community engagement and ownership including; parent-teacher committees in school management, encouragement of  community support for children remaining at school, and community participation in school building and grounds maintenance.

Rewrite the Future Education Program

The Rewrite the Future Education Program is part of the Save the Children International Alliance's ‘Global Challenge' to reach 3 million out-of-school children, and improve the quality of education for a further 5 million children worldwide. The goal is to contribute to the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of ‘Universal Primary Education'.

In Cambodia, Save the Children works with 16 Child Friendly Schools in 2 remote districts in Cambodia - Dambae and Oreang Ov in Kampong Cham Province. The project will build upon the successful results attained so far and continue to fund the project staff costs, construction activities, and project activities that have proven to be highly effective in providing basic education to school children in the project areas.

Much of our work in Cambodia has been made possible by a generous gift from the Estate of the late Henry Baldwin.  Henry was a passionate and committed humanitarian and we are proud to be able to use his gift to fund Save the Children's Rewrite the Future Education Program. 

Human stories

Sopheak

Sopheak*, 13, is studying in Grade 5 at a school in Dambe district, Kampong Cham province. She is the second child in a family of 4 children, 2 of whom are female. Their parents are farmers.

Sopheak is studying very hard to pursue her ambition of becoming a nurse. She always comes to school and does all the tasks that her teacher assigns to her. She spends her free time explaining lessons to her classmates and reading books at the school's library or at home during the evening after finishing household chores.

Sopheak likes her teacher because he comes to teach regularly, never uses corporal punishment and puts all his effort into helping students learn better. This includes producing new teaching materials, assigning specific tasks for students and motivating students to actively participate in group discussions and encouraging them to ask if they have any questions.

Sopheak says, "My classmates and I enjoy going to school because my classroom environment is good. Before, our teacher only used text books to teach us. Now he uses different methodologies and teaching materials to make lessons interactive and to help students understand their lessons better. My study has improved a lot. I gain good grades and which are better than in previous years. I found myself and other students are more confident to speak up in class."