Program targets poor performing schools

The program will boost primary education. KT/Chor Sokunthea

The Education Ministry and the Development Partnership Fund have agreed to target nine provinces to develop quality primary education.

The program, phase three of the Global Partnership of Education, was launched yesterday for 40 districts in the provinces.

The provinces targeted include Battambang, Kampong Thom, Kratie, Mondolkiri, Oddar Meanchey, Preah Vihear, Ratanakkiri, Siem Reap and Stung Treng.

Santosh Khatri, chief of the Unesco education unit, said the target provinces had been picked based on high Grade One repetition rates and high primary dropout rates.

“This project will help children to study for their future,” he said.

Last week, the ministry’s Capacity Development Partnership Fund accepted another multi-million dollar grant from the Global Partnership for Education to improve the quality of education for students lacking economic support.

The GPE, with the ministry, approved a $20.6 million grant to support Cambodia’s initiative to improve the quality of primary education.

The grant is expected to consolidate the efforts of the ministry, Unesco, Unicef as well as Cambodia’s other education development partners such as the EU, Sweden and USAID.

Nath Bunroeun, a ministry secretary of state, said the project focused on students at primary school, especially in Grades One, Two and Three.

“With this partner, the ministry will focus on nine provinces with a high student dropout rate. In other provinces with high dropout and repetition rates, the ministry will take care of them with our other partners,” he said.

A ministry report says Cambodia’s education system has made steady and encouraging progress in recent years.

Net enrolment rates for primary education increased from 87 percent in 2001 to 94 percent in 2015, and enrolment in early childhood education across the country grew by almost 2.5 times between 2005 and 2015.

Khmer Times
Sen David