Cambodia - Helping communities help their schools

91757 Cambodia: Helping communities help their schools July 1, 2002 Cambodia’s education system was devastated in the 1970s by war and continues to suffer. Teacher skills are weak, with 91 percent of primary teachers reaching the level of lower secondary school or less. Repetition and dropout rates are high. Large numbers of schools still face shortages of textbooks. Schools have to make up for lack of funds by seeking contributions from students and communities. But in three of Cambodia’s 23 provinces, people are working to make the schools better. Through the Education Quality Improvement Program, which is funded by a US$5 million learning and innovation credit, teachers and communities from Takeo, Kandal, and Kampot provinces are coming together in workshops to talk about ways to improve their schools. The workshops are facilitated by "animators" who help spur discussion and creative thinking so that communities can put together plans to request grant funding to increase enrollment and attendance and promote achievement. At one recent workshop, teachers and community members decided their teachers needed more training; others wanted to create a library; and one group said it needed to set up classes after hours so that more girls could go to school. After the workshops, clusters of schools present their plans for funding to the Ministry of Education, guided in this project by a national steering committee, which includes local NGOs. This bottom-up approach is a radical change in the way education has been managed in Cambodia, which is in the process of decentralizing its highly centralized education system. After a year and a half, schools are showing significant improvements in repetition and dropout rates. By helping communities and teachers have a stake in their local schools, Cambodian children can have a chance at a better future Updated: July 2002