Caring Parents, Smart Kids

Over the past decade, Cambodia has made important strides in education—more schools have been built, more children are enrolling, and child survival rates have improved. For example, Early Childhood Education enrollment among 5-year-olds rose from 61.4 per cent in 2014–2015 to 71.4 per cent in 2024–2025¹. Lower secondary enrollment also increased significantly, from 53.3 per cent to 69.5 per cent over the same period¹.

These numbers reflect real progress. But they also reveal who is still being left behind. Children from poor families, rural areas, ethnic minority communities, and those with disabilities continue to face barriers to learning and are underrepresented in classrooms. Children with disabilities face even greater barriers to education, being twice as likely to never attend school as their peers.

To address the urgent challenges facing young children and adolescents, UNICEF, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS), is launching a national campaign aimed at improving early childhood development.

Early Childhood and Inclusive Education: “Caring Parents, Smart Kid” Campaign

The journey to education begins long before a child enters a classroom. But for many, that journey is obstructed from the very start. In Cambodia, only 43 per cent of children aged 3–5 are enrolled in preschool². This low enrollment is compounded by widespread malnutrition: 22 per cent of children under five are stunted—indicating chronic undernutrition that has impaired their linear growth and development—and 9.6 per cent are wasted, meaning they are too thin for their height due to recent and severe weight loss, often resulting from inadequate dietary intake or illness.

These conditions undermine brain development and school readiness, leaving many children unprepared when they begin formal education.

Key challenges also include:

• Undervalued play and responsive caregiving, despite their importance for early learning and cognitive development.
• Limited access to information and tools for caregivers to support learning at home.
• Parental migration and work commitments, which often leave grandmothers or older siblings—who may lack literacy and resources—in charge of childcare.
• Shortages of trained preschool teachers, safe facilities, and inclusive environments, especially in rural areas.

These early disadvantages contribute to later dropout rates. In the 2024–2025 school year, 4.1 per cent of children dropped out of primary school. The situation worsens in secondary education, with 15.5 per cent dropping out of lower secondary and 13.7 per cent from upper secondary¹. While more children are entering school, too many are still falling through the cracks before completing their education.

The Solution

“Caring Parents, Smart Kids” empowers caregivers to prepare children for school through simple, everyday actions that support growth, learning, and well-being.