1. Introduction

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) has adopted its policy to abolish start-of-the-year school fees in an attempt to reduce the current direct and indirect cost burdens on poor families. To this end MoEYS has also been implementing a number of targeted interventions independently and in collaboration with other private agencies, NGOs and donors to provide social protection for children from poor families in the form of scholarship assistance to both primary and secondary education. These initiatives have stimulated greater access and increased retention and reduced drop out rates for the poorest students. The Primary school scholarship program has been implemented in all ESCUP-supported schools as they included this intervention in their Cluster School Improvement Plans which aim to promote equitable educational opportunities for children in underserved populations. As well, this initiative is an integral aspect of the inclusive education strategy which aims to assist in the achievement of the EFA goal. The Primary School Scholarship Program has been instrumental in helping to lower drop out rates, which are frequently caused by parents' inability to pay direct and informal education costs.

2. Primary Objectives/Outcomes

• To reduce absenteeism and student drop out rates.
• To promote small material incentives to help poor children to stay in school.
• To establish/strengthen community systems that monitor/follow up on absent students.
• To strengthen communication and liaison between schools and parents.

3. Target groups

Scholarship support will be provided to children from grade 1 to grade 6 who are at high risk of dropping out and school-age children who are not enrolled in primary school, for example those children who: 1) are affected by HIV/AIDS; 2) have a high number of siblings; 3) are orphans, 4)only have one parent; 5) live with their relatives; 6) are from families who don't have land; 7) have a history of dropping out; 8) are frequently absent and are in danger of dropping out of school due to a lack of educational materials; 9) are poor and handicapped; 10) are from families of low socioeconomic status and children whose parents are old or infirmed.

4. Facilitators

1. Cluster Scholarship Committee: This committee has the following membership. (The chairperson and vice-chairperson are elected).

• Advisor, a representative of the District Education Office
• Chairperson, a chairperson of a Parents' Association of one of the schools in the cluster
• Vice-chairperson, a director of one of the schools in the cluster
• Treasurer, the director of the school whose Parents' Association chairperson has been selected as chairperson of the committee
• Members, the directors of all schools in the cluster and the chairpersons of all the Parents' Associations/ School Scholarship Committee

2. School scholarship Committee

• Advisor, the commune chief
• Chairperson, the chairperson of the Parents' Association
• Vice-chairperson, the vice-chairperson of the Parents' Association
• Treasurer, school director
• Members, village chiefs in the school catchment area, active members of the community, teachers

5. Information on implementation

A two-day training workshop will be conducted with Scholarship Committee members. During the last day of the training, the forward work plan will be developed and implemented by the committee:

1. Develop selection criteria for scholarship recipients
2. Allocate budget for each school and plan for scholarship packages/ items and distribution frequency
3. Disseminate information and make sure poor families in the village can access information.
4. Distribute application forms to parents and collect the complete forms for short listing
5. Interview parents or guardians, scoring and second listing according to the total interview scores.
6. Make a final announcement after dealing with the appeals.
7. Submit a cash request according to types of scholarship packages needed and purchase materials
8. Meeting with parents for scholarship materials distribution.
9. Submit the report and relevant document to central office and liquidate the cash advance.
10. Ongoing monitoring and follow up activities including household visits.

6. Resources Needed

• Materials for scholarship support - $7 per child
• Surveyors - $1 per day per surveyor
• Stationery (for surveys)
• Travel money (for monitoring)