While working as an English Teacher the the Grady Grossman School  it occurred to me there were many problems within the community itself:  alcoholism, violence, mistrust, close mindedness, selfishness, low self-esteem, abusive language, disrespect, fear and controlling behavior.   I contacted my friend Sokchea at the Attitude Center For Education and asked him if he could help us train people to become a good person and good leader.  He agreed.

To do it right, I had to consult with the School Supporting Committee to sense if the Chrauk Tiek people have the interest.    The school director was skeptical because the villagers have a bad habit of not coming to any event unless they get paid. He suggested we give them two dollars per day and provide them lunch.  I was furious.  I told him, “let’s change that habit and invite them to the Attitude Class without any handout or free lunch.” His look said ‘good luck with that.’

As the class day approached closer, I was pleased and somewhat surprised to learn that there were thirty seven people registered to take the class.   At the same time I wondered how many would actually show up, I kept my expectation low to avoid big disappointment.  Actually I was a bit worried.

Surprisingly enough, we had a total of 29 participants.  There were six men and seven women who were School Supporting Committee  members, 4 teachers from our school, 6 teachers from different school nearby, our school principal and another school principal. Not too shabby considering no payment, no lunch and bad timing.  “Stoong season” was in full swing. Everyone was working extremely hard to replant the rice, they had no time for anything else because this is critical that work needs to be done.

Sokchea introduced himself as a mediator who came to share new ideas.  The class started slowly and I could feel that Sokchea was trying to sense what kind of participants were in the class.  There was a mixture of some educated ones like school teachers, school principal, those with no education at all and others who felt in between.  To keep the class in balance, he began slowly so the least educated ones could catch on. He asked us to keep an open mind to allow ourselves to explore and absorb something new, enchanting and interesting.

Before the class, I mentioned to Sokchea some of the major issues like alcohol, violence and dishonesty to see if he could emphasize those.  He spent a good amount of time talking about the consumption of alcohol and why it has bad effect on people’s lives.

Almost all of them admitted that they do have a problem with alcoholism.

One of our SSC members, Kim talked about his own drinking problem.  I am sure Sokchea could smell his breath as he got up and talked in class.   To my amazement Sokchea interacted with Kim without difficulty.  Kim  has little education but soon words began to flow out of his mouth, sharing his own drinking life story with the class.  As he talked, he was nervous and sweating profusely.  He saidthat drinking gives him more energy to work on the rice paddy or farm.  “Sometimes my wife wants me to work on the rice field preparing the ground for example, she would normally buy me a bottle of alcohol and then ask me to go to work.  I like that part and it seems to work well for both of us,” he said with a smile.  Everyone burst into laughter.

For generations, this community has lived  their lives the same way.  Drinking and violence is a norm and often times women are the victims. Their spouses abuse them verbally and physically, injuring their heads and bodies.  Yet, they have no way to stop the abusive behavior.  No one protects them; they are powerless.  One woman told the class that her husband got drunk and they got into an argument,  her husband hit her on the head, splitting her skull open.  He later treated her wound and resumed  their normal life as if nothing had happened.

Sokchea skillfully used his charm and humor to make the class more fun.  Everyone’s face was filled with a sense of satisfaction.  The whole class got excited from time to time.  Sometimes they were dead silent as Sokchea spoke softly about why they continue to treat their love one the way they did.  Is hitting a good way to show someone that you love them? He asked.  He paused a few second for the answer.  Then he screamed on top of his lunge “NO!” This brought everyone to attention.

In order to get better and find happiness everyone in this room needs to look closely into their own life and be willing to make some changes, Sokchea told the class.  As the class progressed, he moved on to talk about corruption, the role of a father, mother or children.  It was eye opening for all.  It is the first time in their lives they have heard something different.   Whether it was honesty, past resentment, unkind acts, hitting, greed, unhappiness, distrust, or conflict; they had to think about a better way to relate to each other.

The second day was interesting.  People confessed to their spouses and wanted to change.

Chey, one of our SSC members brought his wife to the class and told her that he loves her very much.  I am sorry for what I have been doing to you, drinking too much and spending irresponsibly.  It was all my fault and I apologize, he stated in front of the class.  Everyone applauded his new attitude. His wife asked me to be one of her witness to hold her husband accountable for his action.  The class had a big laugh of that scene.  I nodded my head with joy.

Vong Von’s son, Vann also got picked by Sokchea to confess in front of the crowd.  He too ended up apologizing to his father and managed to say “I love you dad!”  He did it hesitantly and did not look his dad in the eyes.   This was the first time in his life that he said this loving word to his dad.  Meanwhile his dad was in deep emotion hearing for the first time  his son express how much he loves him.  To Vann, it was not easy.  He must have felt strange to say thing like that to his dad.  He said it is hard because he keeps all of his feelings inside; he doesn’t know how to express directly. Actually, the majority of Cambodians consider this practice strange, odd or silly to tell your parents that you love them.

We were all encouraged with new hope that this class could bring Chrauk Tiek people a new meaning of life.  A different perspective was introduced.  Many small seeds of attitude changing behavior were planted. My best hope is that happiness and prosperity among the community will begin to sprout slowly but surely. That is what we all imagine.

Since Sokchea had conducted the class, I heard many good comments from the whole community throughout the Chrauk Tiek and beyond.  Some women complained that they were disappointed that no one told them about the class.  They really want to attend.  I promised them that if we have another class, we will let them know.  Three of our SSC are drinking much less now.  Vong Von’s son, Vann, is more calm and appreciative to both his parents and his wife.  A woman from SSC told me that she will try her best to put what she had learned into practice to reduce stress, be more forgiving, kinder, less worry and work toward building happiness for her family.  I am thrilled to hear the positive feed back!

Recently I had heard that many people are making changes: drinking less alcohol, less  physical violence and verbal abuse, and being honest!!

Vanna Lida:

I am 27-year-old female teacher.  I have been teaching at this school for 8 years, first and second grade.  I am married with a new born baby girl.  I live about 10 minutes from school.  Since school started a month ago, I notice that there are quite a few changes.  Students are behaving better because of strict rule: coming to class on time, dressing properly, picking up the garbage and keeping the restroom clean.  The whole school has a new look with nicer landscaping and some flowers around it.  We don’t have much garbage polluting like it used to be.
Teachers and students have better understanding of school’s policy and our common goal, which is earning good education. This is very helpful because it is much easier to talk to each other.  Students do not miss class a lot like last year. But, the challenge is to wait until it is the busy season when their parents need help with rice field work.  I hope that students continue to come to school on a regular basis throughout the school year. Having water available in both of the restrooms is very helpful.  The restroom is much cleaner now, and it is nice to have soap in each restroom. I want to thanks Kari and her entire team who has been so supportive since the beginning.  It is wonderful to have good and reliable representative like you who can assist us and share with us new ideas.

Seang Vannich:

I am a 24-year-old female teacher who has been teaching here for 3 years. I am single and living in one of the teacher residents here at school.  Our school is much cleaner this year.  I enjoy teaching more because most of the students behave better toward teachers in general.  They seem happy to be here at school and want to learn. Since you are here, teachers and students alike are being on time to start and end the classes. I think this year we have a better relationship with our students, which makes our job more pleasant.

I am very pleased that teachers have our own restroom to use, and it is very convenient. I want to personally thank you for being here and all of your hard work.   It is nice that you share with us how to handle students and point out our weakness and strength so we can try to improve our performance.  I also want to tank Kari for everything that she does for us: teachers, students and the whole Chrauk Tiek community.  We can never thank her enough for what she does.

Ngeng Sophea:

I am a 25-year-old male teacher.  I have been teaching here for 2 years.  I teach third and fourth graders.  I live here in the teacher residence.  Since you have been here, there is new spirit among us, especially the teachers. In many ways, our school is in a much better shape whether the garbage, the water supply, the restroom hygienic, new accessories in the restroom such as brushes, broom, soap, water containers etc… I especially enjoy having our own brand new restroom. I plan to make a fish pond after the national holiday, Bon Omtouk, and hopefully it will work well.  I hope the fish will help us financially because food is expensive here.  It is nice of you to give us some vegetable seeds so we can grow a few different kinds of vegetable.

I feel that this is a nice school and there are some benefits that we receive like additional salary, free housing, brand new restroom, solar power and water supply.  Other schools in the area don’t have what we have.  I have friends who are teachers in near by school.  They told me that they wish their school would be as nice as ours. I want to especially thank Kari for her continuing support and all the hard work that she does.  Without her, our lives would be much more miserable as you already know that the salary from the government alone is not very much to live on.  We are grateful for everyone who gets involved to help us out.

Chim Vichet:

I am a 23-year-old, male teacher.  I am single.  I teach here for 2 years.  This year I teach fifth and six graders.   This year, our school improves a lot, from the garbage to the restroom hygienic, to water supply. Students and teachers seem to have new attitude for the better. Our school is almost garbage free and the students’ awareness of their responsibility is amazing since you have been here. It is great that you give us good example by picking up the garbage like you do every day.  The children now understand how we all could play a role to keep our school clean, especially when they see you do it instead of telling them what to do.  I feel that you are a role model to all of us.  I can see now that students’ attendance is very good. I have to admit that this is the first time in my life that I have a nice restroom to use, which is wonderful.  I hope that you will be able to stay here for a long time so our school will continue to grow and improve.  I am not sure what my future would be like, but I hope that I could do better financially and perhaps have a family in the future. I am not sure how long it will take me to reach that point. Like everything else, to get married, it costs money, and I have a hard time saving for it because of my low salary.  We are all in the same boat; we’re struggled everyday to meet ends need.  Despite all the down side, we realize how fortunate we are.  We do better than most teachers because of Kari’s help.  I want to let her know that we appreciate her very much for supporting us all these years.

Among students from the poorest 20 percent of the population, education costs represent 79 percent of their per capita non-food expenditure, according to a 2005 study by the Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and UNICEF. Though the government has steadily increased the education budget as a part of total government spending during to 12.4 percent in 2007, according to UNESCO, households, donors, and NGOs still provide much of total financing for education in Cambodia. According to the UNICEF study, there are some 113 organisations that support 223 education projects in Cambodia, at an estimated cost of US$225 million from 2003 to 2008. Efforts by the Cambodian government to improve education in the country should be recognised, but the work has been inconsistent and greeted with mixed results. So while literacy rates have increased from 62.8 percent in 1998 to 77.59 percent in 2008 (according to government census figures), there was little growth in adult literacy in the period from 2001 to 2006. And though school enrollment across all levels has also gone up, to 92 percent, completion rates are still low. DIANA SAW
Cambodia’s education system is plagued by a range of detrimental factors including an absence of suitably qualified or trained staff, rampant corruption and a lack of morale among low-paid teaching staff coupled with the high cost of schooling.

The starting salary for primary school teachers in the cities is US$30 per month. High school teachers are paid between $50 and $60. These low salary figures in state schools fail to attract quality educators, which has resulted in a vicious cycle of uninterested teachers and hapless students. Educators are saddled with the burden of inadequate resources and a shortage of schools and classrooms, particularly in rural areas, limiting the number of children with access to basic education. Schools often have to be content with poorly trained teachers and little government funding, resulting in insufficient teaching materials and poorly furnished school facilities.

Low compensation forces teachers to collect informal school fees from students, creating a barrier to education for poor children. To supplement their income, teachers offer extra, after-school classes for a fee. Often, teachers will withhold the standard syllabi during school hours, reserving them for the private classes, to place pressure on parents to pay the extra tuition. Students who cannot afford, or who refuse to pay, risk humiliation, failing their exams, repeating their grade or dropping out of school. Although collecting fees is officially banned by the Education Ministry, the practice remains widespread. According to the Times Higher Education Supplement, Cambodian students have long admitted that examinations go hand in hand with money. It still costs around US $2,000 or $3,000 for someone to get into a school of law.

Wealthier parents more concerned with their child’s grades see an opportunity to exploit the system, offering to pay for school repairs or building projects, or giving gifts to teachers and principals in exchange for passes or high grades. Parents and others share their complaints over the customs that have been practised for years in this country – corruption that leads to poor delivery of real education.

Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association, has openly criticised the government over poor management and open corruption in education. Rong Chhun added that the trading of scores for cash has gone on openly since 2001, in which student scores from two semesters are added into their final examinations in the ninth and 12th grades.

Because of this growing corruption, there are a considerable number of undergraduate students who clearly do not deserve a place in the universities. Debby Adams teaches English to second- and third-year-level students at Cambodian Mekong University (CMU), a private institution. “One-third of my students can barely speak English,” she says. “Another third are extremely brilliant students who would excel in any country. My challenge is how to help these top students and not leave the others behind.”

It seems that often there is no incentive for students to study as hard as they should in order to pass their examinations. “There is a reluctance to fail students, as failing students mean dealing with confrontational parents who put the blame on the teacher. It also means extra remedial classes. It’s just easier to let them pass,” says Adams.

Impressive statistics mask a grimmer reality. Academic credentials may not be closely linked to the laurels of political and economic success. However, the culture of corruption, underachievement and worthless paper qualifications is something Cambodia cannot afford or it risks the inevitability of its neighbouring countries’ pulling further ahead of it in development.
________________
Diana Saw manages Bloom Cambodia, aiming to build a successful social enterprise making trade fair through fair wages and fair prices. Bloom Cambodia makes consumer products such as rice bags with recycled materials.

This report demonstrates why SSI exists.  Low teacher wages mean high teacher absenteeism, which leads to VERY HIGH student drop out of PRIMARY school in rural areas. We are about supporting teachers and making schools RELIABLE and ACCOUNTABLE to local communities.

Police Ban Teacher Demonstration Over Salaries

By Heng Reaksmey and Chiep Mony
Original report from Phnom Penh
05 October 2009

Phnom Penh police clashed with demonstrating teachers on Monday, as a union demonstration for higher government salaries was banned.

Teachers are demanding a raise from around $30 a month to $250, a demand the government said was not possible.
Police said the members of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association had gathered in public without a permit. No one was injured, witnesses said.

“One cannot teach on an empty stomach,” said Rong Chhun, president of the teacher’s association.
Meanwhile, the Cambodian Confederation of Trade Unions on Monday requested the Ministry of Labor raise minimum salaries for factory workers from $50 per month to $93, as high food prices continue to eat into monthly budgets.

The minimum salary was “not a lot,” conceded Ken Loo, secretary-general of the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia. “But $50, for the workers, as a minimum, the workers can survive.”
If they work with incentives from factories, working hard to sew many garments, workers can earn up to $150 a month, he said.  “We want to create the incentive for the workers to work hard,” he said.

Each needs a Sponsor to continue higher education in Phnom Penh this year. Each is studying a profession to bring much needed knowledge and skills back to their village.

Developing LOCAL human resources is a KEY to SUSTAINABILITY.

Son Sok Kea 17 years old, girl 7th grade Wants to be a teacher Sponsor Son Sokea for one year of Secondary School $150

Noeun Sokhan 16 years old, boy 8th grade Souy Minority Wants to be a doctor Sponsor Noeun Sokhan for one year of Secondary School $150

Vong Rasmey 14 years old, girl 8th grade, Wants to be a teacher Sponsor Vong Rasmey for one year of Secondary School $150

Chea Srey Pum 14 years old, girl 7th grade Wants to help her community Sponsor Chea Srey Pum for one year of Secondary School $150

Chea Srey Touch 15 years old, girl 8th grade Wants to be a doctor Sponsor Chea Srey Touch for one year of Secondary School $150

Kon Sokea 17 years old, boy High School grade 11 Wants to be a doctor Sponsor Kon Sokea for one year of Secondary School $150

Sok Phally 17 years old, boy 10th grade Wants to learn math Sponsor Sok Phally for one year of Secondary School $150

Choan Ram 18 years old, girl 7th grade Wants to be a teacher Sponsor Choan Ram for one year of Secondary School $150

Sok Theara 19 years old, boy 10th grade Wants to be a chemist Sponsor Sok Theara for one year of Secondary School $150

Kim Sarim 19 years old, boy High School grade 10 Wants to be a teacher Sponsor Choan Ram for one year of Secondary School $150

Sem Kong 25 years old, boy High School Graduate Wants to go to college to study English and computers and become a teacher Sponsor Sem Kong for one semester tuition $180

Sponsors will receive pictures and information,  as well as two letters from their sponsored student.

Please help us make Back-To-School Possible for them!

Thank you.

In every village I visit, the story is the same - “teacher absent often.” This is the problem we are focused on to fix. It is the basic sustainability issue that no one in education is talking about.

At Kang T’bein school, 4 kilometers in the opposite direction, 26 year old Hong Bun Han is teaching 3rd grade. He completed 10th grade himself, so he received no teacher training. He is a “community teacher” but since he grew up here in Trapeang Chhor commune he is often present. I ask the 40 kids in his class who of them attends school often. Only 5 raise their hands. They’ve been gathered here today because they knew I was coming. I go to the next classroom where 42 fourth graders are hanging out. “Where’s the teacher?” I ask. They point to the door where Hong Bun Han is standing. He is the teacher for both classes! Better than the next two classrooms that have no teacher at all. In the 6th grade class, of the 32 enrolled students, only 8 are present. Their government teacher is a young woman from far away Pursat district, and she is absent often. Can you blame her? She has no place to live!

I asked the kids what is their dream. All four 16-year-old girls said they want to be Khmer teachers in this village. Three of the 15-year-old boys said the same thing. One boy wants to be a doctor. Tears sting my eyes. Please don’t give up, continue to study and help each other. I will try to get you a teacher.

The principle Pen Mon is a minority Suoy man. He told me 264 students were enrolled at the beginning of the year. Less than 100 attend now. This school was built the same year ours was by the same organization. It now has an abandoned solar panel on the roof and one broken computer. Back then they had a vibrant English/computer class with a $60 a month salaried teacher supplied by another NGO. Once the donations stopped so did he.  This is the problem with donor-driven approaches - they only last as long as the donor does. They once had a large “victory garden” which is now a dried up field. The gardener left when the donor did and with teachers absent often there was no one to instruct the children on how to take care of it. The large sign on the end of the building says “donated by George Mrus.” I wonder if Mr. Mrus knows about this. The NGO who built the school with his money told me he got “donor fatigue.”

I know how he feels. That is why our approach is community-driven, so the people are empowered to carry on without us.

At Ta Ngoem, the next village, the story is even worse. When we arrive the school is closed because no teachers showed up at all today. They actually have two buildings - the first one built by the same NGO and a second one, bright yellow and newly built by Lutheran World Services, making for a total of 10 empty classrooms. Why anyone would build a second building when they couldn’t run the first is beyond me. From the sign on the building I gather that the “Lutheran Education Fund of the Adelaide Hills, Australia” needed a capital project. Mission accomplished. School built. Pity there are no students in it.

I don’t even want to discuss the one secondary school at Bonteay Proh Neak. The story is the same. There are 7 primary schools that should feed into this secondary school and only 120 kids enrolled in it. It is closed this day, of course, “teacher absent often.” In order to discuss with the Director to allow our 7th grader Sa Ran to retake her test, I had to go wake him up in the hammock under his house.

I call Sam Sundoeun’s boarding house in the city. We have to lower the grade level that kids can come to his place for schooling. The secondary school is useless. We have 7 secondary school students, 4 girls among them who need to come now. He agrees and assures me that his older students can help them “reset the foundation” during the summer break.

Each of these communities has already formed a school supporting committee. We have an education officer living in the village ready to help them get started. All we need is the money to make a 5-year commitment to sustainability.

My Wyoming roots are speaking to me….”Let’s git-r-done” (Don’t let me get donor fatigue).

Tooling around on a bicycle on the dusty backroads of remote regions one can find out many things. Sre Chrap is the next village, deep in the forest, about 3 kilometers away from our school. It’s a place of natural beauty and human misery. The people living here are mostly newcomers displaced to the forest for survival because their rice fields in other parts of the country have been grabbed by the government and sold off to private companies. The only means of survival is fishing in nearby Piem Levia lake and chopping down trees. The woodcutting activity is stimulated by the market for fuel wood in the city. One of the many unfortunate outcomes, aside from the stunningly ignored contribution to global warming created by the destruction of such large, old growth trees, is that the Souy hilltribe who has lived here for centuries is losing their culture. They are animist forest dwellers—without trees they have no ancestors, no medicines and no livelihoods. No one in this government seems to care.

The poverty here is quite indescribable. Along the dusty lane, lined with hut after hut, I meet school age children driving cattle, operating chainsaws, carrying babies. Girls drop out of school to be married off at 15, start having babies and begin the cycle of poverty all over again. I encounter one family squatting on the road in the shade. The mother is holding a baby, and 4 young toddlers hang around her. The oldest, a 10 year old boy, is carrying a rope for driving cattle. I ask why he is not in school. His mother said he dropped out two years ago because “the teacher absent often”. He walked a long way to go to school, and the mother needs his labor to help feed the family. For such families, sending children to school is a huge sacrifice. Keeping their children out of school oftentimes is a matter of survival, and they will give up on education quickly if they see no hope in it. Can you blame them? What treasures of talent lay behind this child’s bright eyes buried forever because no one could be bothered to pay a teacher to mine it?

The story is the same in hut after hut. One family has 9 children, 2 go to school. Girls 13 years old drop out of school for lack of a bicycle and get married. In one village only 3 children are in school.

It’s not for lack of a building. Sre Chrap has a nice, bright yellow 3 classroom school building carved out of the forest and built in 2001 by Lutheran World Services. But buildings don’t teach children, teachers do. I learned that there are more than 100 school age children in the 3 surrounding villages who are not in school.

This is just plain sad. And yet, there is community resilience. In the school yard I meet the principle, Chim Cham, a former teacher from our school at Chrauk Tiek. Four members of his school supporting committee are also present. They heard about the program from our school committee and have already created a committee with 12 members, 4 women among them. They have already been working together to do projects at the school they deem important. They’ve built a fence together with donated materials from the community, and now they are collecting materials to build the principle an office and store room. He asks if we can help support them with 10 bags of cement for the floor and tin for the roof. I am impressed with what they’ve been able to accomplish with nothing. This community deserves our support.

For the 120 students present, there are 2 teachers. They are both community teachers, which means that they live here and therefore always show up, but they have low qualifications. A young woman teaching 50 students in 1st grade has a 3rd grade education herself. An adult literacy class serves as her teaching qualification. The male teacher in charge of second grade has an 8th grade education. Third and 4th grade join together because there are so few students. They are taught by the principle, Chim Cham, the only government teacher with high school and teacher training. There is no 5th or 6th grade. Believe it or not, this underqualified teaching staff is better than government teachers because they live in the community and take the job seriously. The school committee is quite concerned about the government plans to send them qualified formal teachers from the teacher training college in the provincial capital. The result is always the same. Since the formal teachers come from far away and cannot afford to live on the new teacher salary of $30 per month, they simply don’t show up. Would you? They have no place to live, no food to eat, no social life.

Building fences and buildings is something that illiterate people can do very well. What they can’t do is build a community support system for qualified teachers. That’s why they need us. I ask the committee members what they can do to support the qualified teachers to stay here. The answer is simple—provide them housing and generate income to pay them a living wage. If they are willing to make a 5-year commitment to volunteer their time, we can help them achieve that goal.

Please help us, help them. We need a team of people to champion the community of Sre Chrap.

The ceremony was a success, we got our point across with a loudspeaker and a bunch of donated clothes. With many parents in attendance, it was an opportunity to encourage their participation in our program. Building a fence was the first act of community solidarity and participation led by the School Supporting Committee, so I made a big show of appreciation to all the volunteers who helped. The Chairman was quite proud, reading down the list of accomplishments the committee has contributed to the school. I presented him a watch, and each volunteer was called out, applauded and they were given first pick from the clothes. They were thrilled and I was amazed at the goodwill accomplished with the piles of sweatshirts and pants I collected from the lost and found at my son’s school. Clothing that is never even missed by our kids, is providing the only piece their children will wear day and night until they out grow it or it turns into unrecognizable soiled rags. The later is more likely.

The whole thing dragged on way too long with 300 kids sitting in the hot sun, but now that we had their parents attention, it was time explain the scholarship program.

Sam Sundoeun, our boarding house service partner from Phnom Penh said it best:

Do you want your children to work with their labor like you or to work with their brain? Education is the only way to change your life. But we cannot do it without you. To get to the top, we can only provide you the ladder, but the children need to climb by themselves, and the parents need to hold the ladder and push. We ask the community to make a commitment to volunteer their time to help support and sustain the primary school, so we can concentrate on providing scholarships for higher education.

Secondary Scholarships are focused to girls, the minority Souy children, and the talented students who drop out to work. High School and eventually University scholarships are available to boys or girls who make a commitment to come back and work in the village. The volunteer hours that each family contributes to the sustainability of the primary school will be scored on each scholarship application. So the more they contribute the better their child’s chance of earning a scholarship.

At the end of the meeting, 3 high school candidates came forward. One was a girl for the desperately poor neighboring village of Sre Charp. She is now studying 10th grade in a largely empty high school 30 kilometers away. She is good at math and science. She wants to be a doctor in her village.

An official from the provincial Ministry of Education was very impressed with our program. He said he could contact the World Food Program to bring a school breakfast to our school. Great. He said he never heard about this school but he can see that our approach works very well. He told everyone on stage that the most important thing is community participation and the honestly and transparency of the school director. I gave a sideways glance to the school director, whom I know is neither honest nor transparent. But it seems we have an opportunity to put pressure on him from above to straighten up.

Then, I turned to speak with the other visitors on the stage, representatives of the three nearby villages where we want to expand. They took this all in and are waiting for my visit. The biggest problem they each have is that the “teacher skips the class often”. Teacher absenteeism leads to student absenteeism. Later as I walked around these villages I meet family after family with kids who stopped studying after 3rd grade, 4th grade, 7th grade for this reason - the teacher absent to often.

Even a school breakfast is a higher level function compared to the very basic need to have teachers present in the classroom everyday. Why doesn’t the Cambodian Ministry of Education or world aid organizations get this? How would we feel if our children’s teachers were often absent?

We arrive at school late on a Sunday afternoon, and the school committee is busy making a stage out of palm fronds for tomorrow’s “thank you for building the fence” ceremony. The chairman of the school committee invites us to his home for dinner.  His wife has prepared 4 wonderful dishes of stir-fired vegetables, pork and noodles, all donated by members of the committee. We’re the honored guests.

Several members of the committee share the meal, but one stood back. Ek Chun, a tiny Souy man with a gentle demeanor who is always gracious and excited to see me. He sat at the edge of the darkness where the warm glow from the single light bulb powered by the generator did not reach. His wife and sister and their 8 children were with him, but claimed to be full from having already eaten their dinner. Later I realized that they didn’t have anything to contribute to the meal so Chun and his family would not partake.

After we’d finished the meal and pushed back from the table, the women and children were all standing quietly together watching us, a baby on one breast. From the edge of the darkness their smiles glowed. Chun whispered something to Paul, who whispered to me. He wanted to apologize to me for not sending his children to the school for a few weeks. He needed their labor to go to the forest and dig for wild potatoes. They have not had any rice for 2 months. He did not want anyone to know.

I looked at the children’s faces, the empty plates we just finished, the half dish of rice I had left from being too full. I wanted to throw up.

In hushed tones in the dark, Paul, Yoen and I hatched a plan. We drove our van to the market town and woke up the rice seller, and purchased two 50-kilo bags of rice. To avoid arousing attention we coasted in front of Chun’s home with the lights turned off. Under cover of darkness, we carried the two huge bags of rice down the long path to his thatch hut. Chun’s wife clasped her prayerful hands around mine in the darkness with a fierceness of a mother desperate to feed her children. She and Chun bowed profusely to thank me for the rice.

Chun showed me his empty rice barn and explained the bad harvest, he didn’t want to bother me. He wanted me to know they would continue to dig for roots and only use two small cans of rice per day to make it last.

In the glow of candlelight we discussed their oldest daughters education. Sa Ran is 17 and in 7th grade. She missed the last two weeks of school to dig for potatoes. She missed the test to complete the level, she would either have to repeat the grade or drop out. I knew the later was likely.

I told Chun and his wife to make this child’s education a priority no matter what, even if they must sacrifice the others to work, this one MUST go to school. They agree that education is the most important and they do not want their daughter to get married until she completes the highest level. I asked  Sa Ran what is her ambition. She wants to complete 12th grade or higher.  She wants to become a Khmer teacher and come back to this village to teach. Her parents will let her go to the boarding house in Phnom Penh next year. But first she has to get past the 7th grade.

She is studying today. Tomorrow I will go to the secondary school at Bonteay Proh Neak and bribe the teacher to let her retake the test. That shouldn’t be too hard.

Next stop, World Education, the Boston-based NGO funded by USAID. Very insightful meeting. The director, Kurt Brendenberg, has lived in Cambodia since 1996 and has built his approaches to supporting education from the ground up. I like him. He makes more sense then anyone else with whom I’ve discussed the dysfunctional Cambodian schools. He agreed that our grassroots approach is effective and has depth and impact in a way that larger programs don’t. He also agrees that our 5-year commitment is prudent. He showed me statistics that the Aural District of Kampong Speu province where we work has one of the lowest student retention rates in the country – a problem we are trying to solve. So I feel very encouraged that we are on the right track.

I talked with Kurt about SSI working as a sub-grantee of World Education. There is potential for some of our needs to be met in this way, but only a small portion, mostly because of USAID’s geographic restrictions and the focus on lower secondary education. Yet, our objective is the same – to get more kids into secondary school. In the region where we work, where less than 20% of students go onto 7th grade, that just isn’t possible without strengthening the support and student retention at the primary schools first. He hands me a CD containing a “toolkit” of solutions to many of the problems that rural schools face. “Fish Raising” looks promising. Great. Love it. But wait…this all costs money…where is the plan for empowering the community to economically support these programs long after the donor is gone? There isn’t one. Why are we the only ones who recognize the need for SUSTAINABILITY and RELIABILITY in education?

I am not always thrilled with being forced to innovate. I find it frustrating that when people discuss the problems of education, no one seems to want to acknowledge that it is about money. Fact: the biggest contributor to student absenteeism is teacher absenteeism. The reason teachers are absent is that they need more than $45 a month to live on! USAID actually has rules against supplementing a government employees salary. What? So we can work to strengthen a school in every way EXCEPT the most obvious and effective one, which is to PAY THE TEACHERS MORE? Supposedly, we’re waiting for the government to do that. Ummm…yeah, we’ve been waiting 10 years for that…how many children have failed to learn to read in that time? How many of them have ended up scavenging dumps or trafficked into brothels? Since the government won’t do it, the community must, that’s out motto…it’s their children and their future at stake.

I am even more convinced that Sustainable Schools International is the only organization on the planet that is willing to take up the challenge of Sustainability in Education. I did not ask to be a pioneer, but one is sometimes forced to do what needs to be done.

Who’s with me?