Follow up at the schools......

By God's grace we have had 5 good years and completed 5 schools - Chhom Trach, Ta Peuv, O Ta Saeng, Phum Lieu and Phum Ley. Some villages have done better than others.

We have followed up at Chhom Trach a lot more than the others because it is the poorest of the villages, and have been very heartened by the progress it has made. Recently the poly students repainted the exterior and it really made a difference. We are always impressed by the show of their flag lowering ceremony at the end of the day. To imagine the lids were at one time running around naked and filthy, and now being able to line up in a discipline fashion to do the flag lowering ceremony. Just brought a lump to the throat.

The main reason we visit the villages this time round was to continue to impress upon the schools and the students/teachers that we haven't forgotten about them and that remained concerned about their progress. In particular we wanted to encourage the students to be diligent in their studies and to work hard. To this ends we created a scheme to give out prizes to the top 5 students from each grade. We actually started this last year, so this would be second time we are doing this in the school. I think it is making an impact on the kids and teachers.

Can we put a student hostel in Baray?

Schools in Cambodia, for obvious reasons, are sited in urban centres or along major roads. For this reason, many of the rural communities that are distanced from the main roads have very limited access to the school system. That is why we have been trying to plant small lower primary schools in remote villages, so that young children can have a chance to develop some literacy and numeracy skills. As they grow older, we hope they can then travel slightly longer distances to upper primary level schools or even secondary schools.

Recently we have been thinking of how to support older children from these remote villages who have been able to make it academically to high school, but now face the problem of having to commute the great distances between their homes and the high school in Baray.

One solution we might be able to offer is to provide a small hostel in Baray that could house about 10-15 boys. A 2 storey 12 x 6m structure with toilet and kitchen facilities would provide adequate dormitary types facilities, and would cost about US$25,000 to erect. We have already identified a young Christian man who can be an "older brother/mentor" for the kids staying at the hostel.

In addition, we will need about US$720 per year to support each student at the hostel.

We are thinking and praying about this badly need resource for the students. If you have any ideas, or think you can help, please contact me. If the concept works, we can consider having a separate hostel for young girls. Also badly needed.

Only 5%? Seems a lot more than that....

From The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 662:

“The Representative of UNESCO in Cambodia, Mr. Jinnai Teruo, said that Cambodia has made a lot of achievements in recent years in the equity of school registration, the quality and effectiveness of education, and the success in strengthening educational infrastructure, especially the registration in primary schools that increased from 93% in 2008 to 94% in 2009.

“He added that nevertheless there is still no equity in the registration between children in urban and in rural areas. This issue calls for increased attention towards those children, so that they too can go to school; infrastructure should be built for those without the opportunity to receive education who are at present not in schools, so that Cambodia can become successful in the Education for All plan."

"“Mr. Im Sethy (Minister of Education, Youth and Sports) added that ‘Our rate of school registration covers only 95% of the respective age group. That means 5% of the children cannot go to school, as they live in remote areas, but we are planning to gather them to register to attend school.’"

Khmer language Scripture Union Books for Baray

We are looking for a sponsor for 40 sets of a number of Khmer Language Scripture Union children's Books for distribution to churches and schools in the Baray District.

The books are:

1- Friends Jesus Made Introducing children to Bible reading ($0.50)
2- Children's foundation Introducing children to faith in Jesus ($2.00)
3- God Command Teaching Children about God's Law ($1.00)
4- Pray The importance of Prayer ($1.00)
5- True God’s word Teaching children through the whole Bible ($2.00)
6- Adventure in the deep Sea Vacation Bible School lesson for children ($2.00)
7- Children Ministry Seminar Teaching the teacher about the basics of childrens' ministry . ($1.25)
8- Game Book (This is not an SU book but from EFC-CC) ($3.00)

The whole set costs US$12.75, so we will need about US$500 to supply 40 sets.

If you feel you can help, please let me know.

Education in Cambodia

The following is extracted from the Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) 12 year Education for all (EFA) plan.

in 2001/2 there were supposed to be approx 5700 primary schools catering for an approx (1998 data) 2.34 million kids of primary school age (6-11 years). This works out to a commendable 400 students per school. On paper at least. Many of the schools are inaccessible to the rural community and poorly attended.

Primary school attendance rate (2000) is an abysmal 67.6%, and the Gr 6 survival rate is even worse, at 47.8%.

At the turn of the millenium, at the United Nations, the world community adopted a Millenium Declaration that as recently renewed in 2008. This 'Millenium Development Goals' pledged to “spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty.”

The Education Goal (Target 2.A) was to "Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling"

Based on this, Cambodia has a long, long way to go.

Global figures on Primary School Enrollments (MDG report 2008).