School buildings ‘failing test’
Two years out from the 2015 Millennium Development Goals’ target of universal access to education, Cambodia remains plagued by school infrastructure shortages, with a scarcity of classrooms and decrepit facilities that threaten students’ safety, NGOs and teachers say. …
At Slorkram Primary School in Battambang, teachers and students fear the roof may cave in at any moment. …
Battambang isn’t the only province facing poor school conditions. The Ministry of Education Youth and Sport’s 2012-2013 Education Statistics and Indicators survey reveals that a fifth of all Cambodian public schools lack “good walls”, almost half of schools lack running water and nearly a third don’t have a toilet.
In Ratanakkiri, the province with the least-developed school infrastructure, 73 per cent of schools do not have any water.
A 2012 NGO Education Partnership student survey found that only 17 per cent of more than 2,200 respondents said their school had electricity. …
However, the ministry’s survey shows that 1,377 new schools were built for the 2012-2013 school year, a development educators say is a mixed blessing that may come at the expense of school renovations. …
Laignee Barron and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/school-buildings-%E2%80%98failing-test%E2%80%99
