The European Union has contributed just under $2.4 million to Cambodia for the safe re-opening of schools and the continuing education of children, as part of their support for COVID-19 response and recovery.

Using this support, a nationwide back-to-school campaign has been launched by the Ministry of Education, the EU and Unicef which provides practical guidance to children, parents, teachers and school personnel on how to make schools as safe as possible to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission.

According to a Unicef press statement yesterday, the campaign will continue through next year and expand to include valuable and engaging information, not only to make schools safe, but also to create healthy and caring environments for children to learn and thrive.

Critical hygiene supplies are also being delivered to all 11,500 of the country’s pre-schools and primary schools. The EU’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 are contributing to the provision of hygiene supplies to all 1,771 secondary schools in Cambodia.

Minister of Education Hang Chuon Naron said: “We welcome the additional support from the EU for our schools and students across the country during 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 EU and other CDPF partners will go a long way towards giving confidence to communities that students can now return to safe and supportive learning environment.”