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Srae Trach is the name of a new isolated annex of Tasanh Cheung village in Tasanh commune (Samlaut district, Battambang province), located in the forest around 10 kilometres south-east of the district head quarter. It was set up in the year 2001, three years following the re-integration of this district into the Government. Like the other people in this remote district, the residents of this new place live hard lives. Their incomes are completely dependant on the seasonal agriculture, i.e. rice planting, soy bean, sesame, corn etc. In the harvesting season 2004, most of their agricultural products were destroyed by prolonged drought. This is the main cause of the food shortage for people in this area. The people of these villages are becoming poorer and poorer; they have to force themselves to sell their labours (locally employed by well-off people) to earn extra money. Many children are forced to join in this kind of opportunities - eventually becoming uneducated children. There are several reasons behind these unfortunate situations, resulting in children being unable to attend school. There are possible workloads that children are obligated to perform for their families, lack of education facilities and schools in general and the distance to the government schools, that are too far from their villages. We observed that the trails connecting to the main road are often in bad condition and that there is difficulty accessing them when it rains and a high risk of landmine accidents. It is understandable that many of the children maybe left unimpressed when at school. There were no play grounds, games or entertaining sessions that attract children. The schools are constructed with basic thatch roof, bamboo-made table, dirt floor and binding-grass empty walls, which leaves the classrooms exposed to heat and dust etc. Children (Cambodian children in general) are very prone to skip school/class. They have grown up with none or little encouragement and/or no motivation to attend school, as this was the way in which many of their parents were brought up. If the children try hard enough they can go to the government school but it takes a lot of efforts, in term of walking through jungles for at least one and a half hour from their village to the existing schools. In an interview CVD’s employed school teacher, Mr. Kel Rady, 42 years old, mentioned that in the year 2004 there was a community meeting held, initiated by villagers. The purpose of the meeting was to find ways to set up a small classroom for grade 1, so that their children could learn just to read and write. “After the meeting, the villagers agreed to setting up a temporary school. The villagers submitted a request to the commune council and the district authority from which they only received a negative response” Rady recalls. “Another meeting was held to find an alternative solution; it resulted with the great vision, that they could make a small contribution by combining efforts amongst themselves. With this small contribution from the villagers, a small and very temporary school was built with thatch roof, bamboo wall and wooden frame” continued Rady. “When the school building was completed a few weeks later, the villagers once again submitted a proposal to the commune and district authority to request for a teacher; however they were told that no teacher could be sent to that area because it is very remote. Teachers did not want and could not stay there” Rady said. When asked why he was selected to be a teacher for this school, Rady replied, “In this village, everyone knows that I have some educational background and they asked me to voluntarily teach the children in the village. I agreed to the request and started the class. I asked for money amounting to 100 or 200 riels ($ 0.04) from the students’ parents to buy chalk and necessary supplies, and I had to make clear to the villagers that the amount is not considered an obligation or for my personal benefit but it is to support the activities. All members of the community could still have their children attend school even if they could not afford to pay the amount. I know they are poor. I am also poor amongst the poor families in the village. I don’t know how long I will be able to voluntarily teach the children. I need to work to support my own family as well, and I may have to leave the children any day. It is really much appreciated that CVD comes in time before I have to leave the students.” Since the village is isolated, no NGO has targeted this village for their operation area. In 2004 the Promoting Civil Society Transformation, known as PCST project, conducted a random survey in order to identify the village most in need for community development and education facilities. The project included the village into the proposal that was submitted to its funding agency “Terre des Hommes – Netherlands”. Fortunately the project was approved for another two years from 1st October 2004 to 30th September 2006. After receiving the funding agreement from TdH – NL, CVD started to conduct another assessment to determine the needs of the existing school in this village. The findings of the assessment showed that the school was in a very bad condition and needed repairing urgently. The project constructed a new school building to replace the old one. It was completed in January 2005. Additionally, the project was able to support a teacher with a monthly wage of US$ 50.00. In Srae Trach alone there were 32 students enrolled for 2004–2005 scholastic year. “The villagers feel very happy with this new school and hope that their children will have a good future. They no longer have to worry about their children walking long distances across the dangerous forest to the government school” said Rady with a smile. Mr. Kel Rady, CVD’s teacher, said that he was very happy and thanked CVD, and especially the donor who supports this project. He would like to ask the donor to continue funding this project for some more years until the government can afford to build permanent schools and teachers can be positioned in these villages. |
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Cambodian Vision in Development
Battambang, Cambodia