The dust from the from the dirt yard blows around as laughing children run by. From the outside the buildings are falling apart. The orange-ish paint is chipping and there are bars on all the windows. Pad locks lock up the blue shutter-type doors, that hang on their hinges. Inside, the classrooms are dimly lit, as the sun is relied upon as the main light source. Wooden desks are pushed together to ensure that all 30-50 students can fit in the small classroom.
Cambodia's schools are evidence that this country is still recovering from the devastating Khmer Rouge Regime, where all educated were inhumanly treated and killed. While the state of education is improving, the speed of it's improvement is slow. Although, The Ministry of Education has set in place great student-centered goals, the implementation of these goals have no follow through and no middleman to insure that each child's best interest is being sought, leaving numerous amounts of children illiterate upon entering middle school. Not to mention the corruption that takes place between the walls of these tattered classrooms. For most, their grade is dependent upon their attendance to extra classes, meaning extra school dues (personal money for the teacher) - stretching their schools hours until 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, and their compliance in helping their teachers harvest their personal rice fields during harvesting season, and the occasional providing their teacher with rice, the staple. Too often teachers use education as a leverage combined with coercion to supplement their small salary.
Due to poor finances, lack of resources, and a large population of uneducated adults, the Khmer Rouge has left this country struggling to pull out of it's oppression (Isaiah 1:17). Initially, the more I learned about the state of education, the more overwhelmed and frozen I felt in my attempts to help. Frozen yet inspired. Knowing and seeing that the children are the country's future hope, and their education is at stake, We (Ream, AGHO Director, and I) have started to focus on 5 village preschools. We have visited and observed each one with the goal of being able to guide them towards a greater education. To educate the teachers on child development and how to build a classroom environment that enhances and encourages learning.
In the Cambodian education system a child enters school at age 6 into grade 1. The desired hope for working with preschools is that children will be beginning readers and writers before they enter school. To give a child a jump start. As of now, in the public school system if a child gets left behind, catching up is a losing battle.
In the Cambodian education system a child enters school at age 6 into grade 1. The desired hope for working with preschools is that children will be beginning readers and writers before they enter school. To give a child a jump start. As of now, in the public school system if a child gets left behind, catching up is a losing battle.
A Greater Hope Orphanage, AGHO, where I am currently volunteering, has started one of these preschools. The directors Kit and Ream Carson, have a deep passion for offering a greater education to Cambodia's children. As 'Daddy and Mommy' to 40 children, daily, they are instilling Biblical foundations into each life, raising them up to impact their country for Christ. Their vision is to start a public school that will be rich in education and void of all corruption. Their foundation being, that these children may 'gain hearts of wisdom' (Psalm 90:12). They are opening the doors to grades 1 and 3 this fall and will continue to add more grades as the Lord provides.
Please keep the Kingdom of Cambodia's childrens future in you prayers. It is the children that are running home to share with their parents what they have learned in school. And in these 5 preschools, where they are praying, singing and learning about God, as they are educated and becoming the next generation, it is their beautiful feet causing the dirt to blow as they run home bringing the good news! (Romans 10:15)
