March 2008 - Posts

• SCC is Voted onto the Board of NGO Education Partnership

  Andy Hill, Schools for Children of Cambodia's Strategic Advisor, was voted onto the board of NGO Education Partnership (NEP, http://www.nepcambodia.org/), a membership organization of 75 NGOs working in the education sector, at the NEP annual general meeting on March 24. Andy will join representatives from World Education, Disability Action Council, World Vision, and Save the Children Norway to comprise the 2008 Board of Directors. NEP plays a key role in coordinating efforts among NGOs, acting as a channel for dialogue and advocacy with Cambodia's Ministry of Education, and building the capacity of organizations working in the education sector. SCC's representation on the board of NEP is expected to increase the visibility of SCC amongst other NGOs for the purpose of establishing partnerships and coordinating work and to establish close relationship with the Ministry of Education. Andy Hill will serve an 8-month term. Posted Mar 29 2008, 05:28 PM by Andrea Messmer Filed under: scc news andy hill nep ngo education partnership board of directors

• SCC Participates in Mid-Term Review of Government's Education Strategies

  Schools for Children of Cambodia participated in a mid-term review of the government's progress toward implementation of its Education Strategic Plan (ESP) and Education Sector Support Program (ESSP) this week. In the review, SCC staff highlighted what's gone well and what improvements are yet to be made with respect to the Ministry of Education's program priorities for 2006-2010. On-time provision of new first grade textbooks in 2007 and increases in teacher salary levels were among the highlights, while shortcomings ranged from inefficient deployment of teachers to slow disbursement of school funding. SCC's report was submitted to the Siem Reap Provincial Office of Education as well as the Ministry's Department of Planning for discussion in an April forum. All members of NGO Education Partnership, a membership organisation of education-related NGOs that acts as a channel for dialogue and advocacy with the Ministry of Education, were invited to participate in the review. Schools for Children of Cambodia sees great value in providing input to the government, as it is a means for shaping policy, improving implementation, and influencing sustainable change. Posted Mar 13 2008, 11:24 PM by Andrea Messmer Filed under: scc news esp essp government NEP NGO Education Partnership

• Librarians and Administrators Learn Library Management and Storytelling

  Schools for Children of Cambodia (SCC) sponsored seven librarians, teachers, and administrators from its supported schools to attend week-long Library Management Workshops held February 25-29 and March 3-7. The workshops, organized by Shanti Volunteer Association (SVA) and JICA in partnership with Cambodia's Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, aimed to improve the quality of library activities as a means of improving overall quality of primary education. Cambodia's Teacher Training Colleges do not have formal librarian training programs, so this was the first opportunity for education providers at SCC-supported schools to be exposed to discussions on library management, storytelling, and the impact of reading on child development. When we visited her library at Khnar Primary School after the training, Pheap, the librarian, was busy adding book codes to the 50 children's storybooks that she received at the end of the workshop. She was enthusiastic to share her new knowledge with us and was excited that her book labels will help make her book loan program run more efficiently. Pheap, Khnar Primary School's librarian, proudly displays her newly cataloged books: Posted Mar 13 2008, 11:16 PM by Andrea Messmer Filed under: scc news khnar books library management training storytelling

• Sponsored student do role play

  On February 15, 2008, SCC held a meeting with 25 sponsored secondary school students on the riverside in Siem Reap.             We did role play, gave text books for distribution, and had lunch cooked by a student’s mother. Some students had very good attendance or had good performance so we gave prizes and certificates to them. And we paid all students for their private classes.             To follow-up with sponsored children at their houses is not easy because students have to go to study at private classes a few hours in the morning and come back they have to get ready to go to school. We do not know for sure when they are at home. A group meeting like the one on 15 February helps us make sure that we meet each student at least once per month.             At the moment we have 28 students to go to study at three secondary schools in Siem Reap. They come from different villages, but some of them study in the same school. Monthly meetings let them get to know each other, share what they understand or do not understand at school, and understand why they are good at some subjects and why they are not good at other subjects. A student receives for certificate for getting number one in class Sponsored students find a soluntion for weakness students Posted Mar 13 2008, 03:59 PM by Jay Chea Lim

• SCC Withdraws Support for Lolei Primary School

  Schools for Children of Cambodia (“SCC”) is committed to improving the quality of basic education and exemplifying honesty and transparency in all that we do. To maximise our impact, we seek to adopt schools that share our values and are willing to work together with us to meet common goals. Following a change in management at Lolei Primary School (“Lolei”) in October 2007, repeated events at the school have demonstrated that the new education providers do not share SCC's aims & values. To inspire change, SCC undertook repeated coaching of the school management and staff along with repeated discussions with the local community. However, these differences have continued and have severely limited progress at the school. Accordingly, SCC has withdrawn its support of Lolei as of March 1, 2008.  The parties have agreed that the Lolei staff and local community may reconsider their position and apply for SCC support for the new 2008/09 school year. SCC will reallocate its resources to support other schools that do share our aims & values. SCC adopted Lolei Primary School in 2003. SCC support over the last five years has included reconstruction of three classrooms; provision of a mobile library, teaching and learning supplies; extracurricular classes, including English language and traditional Khmer dance; and monthly teacher salary supplements which successfully eliminated informal school fees. SCC support has facilitated the addition of grades 4-6 and an increase in enrollment from 150 students in 2003 to 292 students in 2007. Posted Mar 01 2008, 10:26 PM by Andrea Messmer Filed under: SCC news lolei support withdraw

• Textbooks Enable Secondary School Students to Study at Home

  Can you imagine trying to learn and study without textbooks? For many students in Cambodia – at both the primary and secondary levels – textbooks are a luxury. Insufficient government funding and leakage of books into the market result in textbook shortages at schools. SCC's sponsored students cited lack of textbooks among the contributing factors to poor school performance. Although students sometimes share books – one for every three or more students – in the classroom, they don't always have the opportunity to take books home to study. As a result, SCC has copied 73 secondary school textbooks and loaned them out to students who are under SCC scholarship. Books were distributed at the monthly sponsored student get-together on February 15. SCC intends to collect the books at the end of the school year for reuse in subsequent years.   SCC Project Coordinator, Jay, sorts and distributes textbooks to students:     Students collect their textbooks: Posted Mar 01 2008, 07:54 PM by Andrea Messmer Filed under: SCC news textbooks sponsored students secondary school