Development of an Orientation Center Library in Cambodia

In 2022, the Michelin Foundation supported the development of a Khmer-French bilingual multimedia Orientation Center Library in a secondary school in Cambodia. 

In a post-covid context, after two school years during which schools were closed, the project to develop a library with a bilingual multimedia orientation space in the Preah Sihanouk high school in the province of Kompong Cham was implemented by SIPAR, a French NGO expert in the promotion of reading and the fight against illiteracy, working in Cambodia for 30 years.

The project aims to help increase the career prospects of young high school students in the province, in line with the rapidly changing labor market, with particular emphasis on careers for which French is an asset, while improving their self-learning abilities and personal development.

In this perspective, the project ensures:

• to make accessible to 3,100 students (including 1,630 girls) from 7 to 12 years old, without social or gender distinction, documentary resources promoting independent learning, personal development and cross-disciplinary skills,
• to meet the information and support needs of young people in their orientation,
• to promote the technical, scientific and digital sectors, especially among girls,
• promote French-language study options to the 670 students in bilingual classes,
• to initiate relations between private companies and the establishment through the organization of career forums.

The existing high school library has therefore been refurbished to be transformed into an attractive and efficient bilingual documentation information center, managed on computers by librarians with enhanced capacities, and giving students access to a bilingual multimedia Orientation Area equipped with printed and digital media.

This project was implemented in partnership with the Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and with the NGO Passerelles numériques as well as with the support of the French Institute of Cambodia.