Minister of Education, Youth and Sport Chuon Naron presided over the June 8 opening ceremony of a parent education package implementation workshop.
He declared that the protection and development of small children plays a crucial and important role in providing a solid foundation for in The Kingdom’s development of human resources.
“In order to achieve the government’s vision of protecting and supporting the development of young children, all children from birth to six years of age need to receive protection and development services – especially the poor and vulnerable,” he added.
The education ministry said that in the last 10 years, pre-school classes have increased from 8,911 in the 2013-2014 academic year to 14,956 in the 2022-2023 academic year. The 2022-2023 academic year saw 8,452 public kindergartens, 3,459 community kindergartens and 3,045 private kindergartens registered with the ministry.
It added that 64.8 per cent of 5-year-olds had accessed some form of formal education. The ministry noted that it is necessary to increase multi-sectoral investment so that all children can access early childhood education, as it is an indispensable foundation for life-long learning.
“We have also encouraged parents to play an active role in making sure their children receive an early childhood education. By doing so, they acquire knowledge from kindergarten teachers and other professionals. This helps parents to understand the importance of child protection and development,” the Ministry concluded.
