Background Information:

The education project in Cambodia is giving 15 young girls the chance to continue their schooling.

Education is critical in developing countries, giving children a chance to take control of their future and escape the cycle of continuing poverty. At the moment there are 115 million children around the world who don't even have access to basic primary education; 65 million of them are girls. The education of girls is vitally connected to issues of health and family, as well as a fundamental individual right.

The project is run by an organisation called PNKA - Phnom Neang Kanrey Association - which was set up by a group of teachers in 1994. They encourage girls to go to school, and at the same time work to change parents' attitudes to girls' education. PNKA has been working closely with Oxfam to help girls who drop out of school to go back and continue their education.

In the year 2000, governments across the world promised to get all children into schools by 2015. Cambodia has made much progress, but there is still more to be done - especially as students continue to drop out of school.

There is pressure on girls in Cambodia, in particular, to drop out because:

• it costs money to send them to school
• they could go out to work and bring small sums of money into their family
• the girls could alternatively be looking after their younger brothers and sisters so that their parents can work
• the schools are often quite far from the girls' homes so they have to find somewhere to stay

The project addresses these issues by:

• paying the girls' school fees
• working with the parents to show how the girls' long term prospects will be improved through education
• improving a pre-school that cares for the girls' younger siblings
• providing dormitory accommodation, food and living costs for the girls so they can live near the school during the week

Whilst they are in Cambodia the students visit a project run by Womyn's Agenda for Change. The organisation campaigns for, and supports, women who have been forced to take low-paid jobs in garment factories, or as sex workers.