Catherine has been attending school online for most of this year but today she was able to meet with her class in a study group at another student’s house.

You might remember that study groups were phase 2 of the Ministry of Education’s plan to reopen schools last August. It’s taken seven months to get to this phase again after the February 20th Incident caused Cambodia’s most serious outbreak of COVID-19 to date. Study groups are a small number of students meeting with teachers in individual homes.

Catherine’s class only has four students so they are able to meet in a study group. Many students in her age group have temporarily dropped out of school which is why her class is down to four students. We’re expecting this to rebound after schools are able to fully reopen. Charlotte, who is in a class of thirteen, will continue studying online for the foreseeable future. The delineation is also based on age. Charlotte has become very capable of learning effectively online but online classes have been a difficult challenge for four year old Catherine who desperately needs to be more physical.

Cambodia continues to vaccinate rapidly. It’s anticipated that 75% of the total population, including over two million youth ages 12 to 17, will be fully vaccinated by the end of the year. Reaching 75% of the total population is a remarkable achievement considering that, as of the 2020 census, approximately 28% of Cambodians are in the 0 to 15 years old age group. This means that 75% of the total population is within a few percentile points of 100% of those eligible to receive a vaccine. The Ministry of Education is working on a plan to fully reopen secondary schools (what we call middle and high schools in the US) next month. There hasn’t been an announcement about primary schools (what we call elementary schools) yet but, at the latest, we’re expecting them to reopen by January.