After three days of intense training and planning sessions facilitated by SCC, the School Support Committee (SSC) at Phoum Stung Primary School formulated their 2009 plan to improve access to and quality of education in their community. Participants included the village chief, assistant village chief, school director, assistant school director, a village elder and several prominent community members. The unique issues that the SSC chose to address in their development plan highlight the importance of understanding underlying community problems that affect education and the benefit of drawing on community-based resources to address such problems.
Phoum Stung Primary School and the community that it serves are the second group to participate in an SCC-facilitated development plan workshop. Both the School Support Committees at Phoum Stung and Wat Mon Thyean, where the first workshop was held, raised the lack of value parents place on education as one of the biggest problems. To address this issue, the Phoum Stung community will introduce a life skills class, in which students in grades 4-6 learn to grow fruit and vegetables. The students will be encouraged to use their gardening skills at home so that parents can see the practical benefits of their children’s education. The Phoum Stung School Support Committee also intends to call a village meeting in February to inform parents of the importance of education. They will also design and place signboards that depict the value of education in pictures (thereby catering to illiterate residents) in high-traffic areas throughout the village.
Domestic violence is common in Phoum Stung, and the School Support Committee is concerned about the impact that domestic violence has on students. In a PRA needs assessment conducted in the community in June 2008, both teachers and parents attributed students' irregular attendance and poor performance to domestic violence. As a result, as part of the school development plan, a community member will provide counseling services to students. Teachers will also call parents to meetings to discuss violence and the impact it has on children.
Lastly, the School Support Committee identified poor hygiene practices as on obstacle to education. Frequent illness prevents children from attending school, and prolonged illness often results in drop outs. Working with the Community Health Representative the School Support Committee will identify families with poor hygiene practices and invite the family members to a health and hygiene workshop. Follow-up home visits will be conducted to monitor the workshop's impact. This solution relies entirely on resources already available in Phoum Stung Village, highlighting the value of schools working closely with communities. And, from SCC's perspective, working together with communities ensures that we enhance, rather than undermine, their existing capacity.
SCC has been working with the Phoum Stung community since October 2007. By supporting the community to identify their unique education-related problems and solutions, SCC is helping to ensure that the community has the ability to drive change without SCC’s help in the future.
