Statistics show that most children in Cambodia who have become victims to child sex trafficking and rape have been school students at some stage before they were trafficked or abused [ECPAT Cambodia, 2010]. Therefore, Child Wise believe that teachers can play a vital role in identifying and protecting vulnerable children from these horrific crimes.

Child Wise has conducted a pilot Teacher Training Project throughout 2010. Within this pilot, Child Wise have been training teachers at local schools how to understand, identify and respond to child abuse and to prevent children from being exploited or trafficked. Child Wise believe that equipping teachers with knowledge of the risks faced by children and the strategies to protect children greatly improves the chance that vulnerable children will receive the protection they deserve in the school environment. Each teacher trained will be exposed to hundreds of children over their career – therefore, equipping teachers with the knowledge of how to identify and respond to signs of abuse and exploitation could subsequently provide a safety net for all of the children under their care. A teacher training curriculum has been developed and over 50 teachers have been trained under the pilot project in 2010.

Following the success of the pilot project, Child Wise is working in close cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports to finalise a National Teacher Training Manual and implement the first National Training of Trainers (TOT) Workshop. The first Teacher TOT Workshop is planned to be held in January 2011. Child Wise and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports in Cambodia are working to identify two representatives from each of the six Regional Teacher Training Centres in Cambodia to attend the workshop in January. The representatives will then use the curriculum to lead trainings in their own Regional Teacher Training Centre with the assistance of Child Wise staff in March 2011. Child Wise are excited to introduce the Teacher Training Manual into Regional Teacher Training Schools because it will ensure that thousands of teachers will be trained on how to protect children under their care from abuse and exploitation.