Prisoners read books at the Library Center in Prey Sar prison in 2018. DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRISONS
Reading NGO Sipar announced the launch of its new “Education in Prisons” project following the conclusion of the “Prison Library Project” after a decade of success.
Working with the General Department of Prisons (GDP) and the Police Academy of Cambodia (PAC), Sipar’s “Education in Prisons” is an innovative new project aimed at providing creative learning for the Kingdom’s jail population.
The project is to be launched at a national seminar jointly chaired by French Ambassador Jacques Pellet and GDP general director Chhem Savuth at Phnom Penh’s Himawari Hotel on July 20.
The event will mark the start of the project to refashion prison libraries into multimedia centres to encourage lifelong learning in Cambodia’s detainees, while exhibiting a new and innovative approach to their sustainable education, Sipar said in a press statement.
“The project focuses on key areas, including sustaining education programmes through literacy classes and new curriculum development in all prisons with the implementation of creative and cultural activities.
“It also aims to improve education programmes by introducing digital offline resources developed by digital training NGO Passerelles Numériques,” it said.
“Education in Prisons” will improve detainee learning, Sipar added, with the new project costing €380,126 (over $384,000) over three years to turn all prison libraries into multimedia learning centres following Ministry of Education policy.
With the new project set to be unveiled, Sipar hailed the importance successes of the previous Prison Library Project.
“Following a decade of successful implementation, the Prison Library Project concluded this year. The project dedicated its budget of $1,650,000 to addressing the needs of GDP staff, prison guards and prisoner library assistants.
“This was to build their capacity in prison library management, strengthening and developing the education services as well as the Reintegration Program in partnership with the Department of Non-Formal Education at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport,” it said.
It also instructed core trainers – prison and correctional centre officials – in integration programmes with project partners such as Mith Samlanh and M’lop Tapang, Sipar added.
“The Prison Library project was deemed a great success in providing correctional centres nationwide with various training-of-trainers sessions. This was a long-term project with the main financial aid coming from Agence Française de Développement, the EU and the Pierre Bellon Foundation,” it said.
Chuob Sarim, the director of the Prey Veng Provincial Prison, said the Sipar project had contributed greatly to the development of detainees and improved mental health at the prison.
“The Prison Library Project was very important. Detainees can read books in the library, which can help them deal with their incarceration and missing home, while reading books also increases their knowledge,” he said.
Sarim said the Prison Library Project will continue as he supports Sipar’s new Education in Prisons programme.
Sipar was founded in 1982, actively working with underprivileged populations in Cambodia to develop reading and end illiteracy, it says.
It has concentrated its activities on developing reading, education through the accessibility of books and the fight against illiteracy.
