A primary school in the north-east of Cambodia is reaping the benefits of a newly structured and supported School Support Committee.
CARE Cambodia has supported Kor Hokseb primary school through training sessions on school management and community relations for the past year. The committee is also taught to monitor student and teacher attendance, and follow up on why there might be absences.
The school introduced a more effective structure to the committee in 2015 under the guidance of CARE, with president, vice president, treasurer and cashier posts, which brings it in line with the new Ministry policy.
They meet once a month and discuss issues including absences, the environment, security and needs including repairs. They also hold a campaign at the beginning of the academic year to encourage families to enrol their children in school and inform the community about the importance of education.
“School attendance rates have improved over the past few years. The main reason for students missing school is during the harvest, and when parents are busy at the farms,” School Support Committee member and school teacher Korng Moa said.
School Support Committee vice president Tit Van said it was important they worked with the community to improve education in the community, so that future generations could get good jobs, reduce poverty in the region and also reduce corruption in the area.
“We’re happy we can join the CARE training so we can improve the school,” Mr Tit Van said. The School Support Committee acted quickly to repair the roof during the year after damage for the rain.
School director and School Support Committee president Chim Soriya said they look forward to learning more techniques with the help of the District Training and Monitoring Team and CARE to encourage more children to attend school.
“There are less dropouts now than five or 10 years ago. Currently, our Grade 6 class has 16 students after starting prep with 30. Some have dropped out, but not many. Other children have changed to go to other schools,” she said. She said they talk to parents and communicate with the community through household visits, phone calls, and also discuss issues at community events or ceremonies.
Learn more about the School Governance project >
The School Governance project is funded by the Capacity Development Partnership Fund.
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