The Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, the European Union Ambassador to Cambodia, and UNICEF’s Representative jointly travelled to Siem Reap to assess the progress Cambodian schools are making in re-opening safely.

According to a press release of UNICEF, the delegation was welcomed by H.E. Pov Piseth, Provincial Deputy Governor of Siem Reap, and staff at Samdach Tekcho Hun Sen Angkor Thom High School. The event highlighted the three organisations’ ongoing mutual commitment to protecting children’s right to education, despite strenuous new challenges presented by the COVID-19 global crisis.

The European Union has contributed €2 million to Cambodia’s on the safe re-opening of schools and the continued education of children, as part of the support to the COVID-19 response and recovery.

Through this support, a nationwide back to school campaign has been launched by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) and UNICEF, providing practical guidance to children, parents, teachers and school personnel on making schools as safe as possible and reducing the risk of COVID-19 transmission.

This campaign will continue through 2021, expanding to include valuable and engaging information not only to make schools safe but also a healthy and caring environment for children to learn and thrive.

In addition, critical hygiene supplies are being delivered to all 11,500 of the country’s pre-schools and primary schools.

The European Union’s contribution to these efforts, through the UNICEF-managed multi-donor Capacity Development Partnership Fund (CDPF), is complemented by other CDPF partners, including Sweden, USAID and the Global Partnership for Education. These partners together are contributing to the provision of hygiene supplies to all 1,771 secondary schools in Cambodia.

H.E. Hang Chuon Naron, Minister of MoEYS, welcomed the additional support from the European Union for schools and students across the country at this very challenging time.

“This support will enable us to ensure children have continued opportunities to learn, despite the challenges COVID-19 is creating. The support for safe school re-openings from the European Union and other CDPF partners will go a long way towards giving confidence to communities that students can now return to safe and supportive learning environments,” H.E. Minister underlined.