Many children in Cambodia, due to poverty, migration, and the COVID-19 pandemic, are excluded from accessing and completing primary education. Non-formal education is one solution to keep children in and back to school.
However, Education Above All’s Educate A Child (EAC) program, in partnership with Aide et Action/Action Education, is implementing the joint project, “Cambodia Consortium for Out of School Children (CCOSC) – Phase II,” to pave new paths forward.
Cheng Im* is a 14 year old girl living with her mother and her younger brother in Chankiri village, just outside of Poipet, in the northeastern province of Banteay Meanchey. She comes from a very modest household, in which her single mother – who works as an assistant in a beauty salon, earning a monthly wage that barely allows the three of them to survive – is the sole provider. Cheng Im’s father, who had been suffering from diabetes for a long time, passed away in 2019 when the little girl was 10 years old. Both children are in poor health due to malnutrition and often fall sick, which causes them to drop out of school for days in a row. Growing up in these harsh conditions, for a long time, Cheng Im was feeling hopeless about her prospects.
In 2018, her mother, Sreymom, appealed for support. She had heard about the Non-Formal Education Centre (NFE) that the CCOSC’s partner is running in Poipet from her friends and came to ask for both of her children to be enrolled at the NFE. After conducting a thorough family assessment, CCOSC’s social workers concluded that this particular household met all the criteria for the children to be enrolled at the centre. Cheng Im was allowed to start the NFE in grade 2, and is now studying in grade 6, whilst her younger brother is in grade 5.
Damnok Toek opened a Non-Formal Education Centre in Poipet in 1999 in order to enable vulnerable out-of-school children from households affected by labour migration on the Thai-Cambodian border to complete their primary education. Many of the children enrolled at the NFE are left behind by their parents when they migrate on a temporary or permanent basis to Thailand for work. Applying a more flexible approach, the NFE provides accelerated learning classes to allow children who had dropped out of school to catch up to their grade level by following an adapted learning programme. Moreover, Damnok Toek also supports the students’ families by providing basic items, food packages, study materials, and school uniforms.
Throughout her years at the NFE, Cheng Im was an excellent student and passed her end-of-year examinations with flying colours. In December 2022, she completed the grade 6 examination at the NFE centre and she got integrated into a public school. Since January, she has attended Aphi Wat Primary School in Chan Kiri village, Poipet. Although she scored highly on her end-of-year grade 6 examinations and could in theory proceed to the next grade, she felt she wasn’t quite prepared yet for secondary school and made a decision to repeat her 6th year in a public primary school. She is studying hard to score highly in all subjects.
Cheng Im’s teachers at the NFE said that she had always been a diligent student, completing her homework and performing other school duties to the best of her ability.
‘Attending the NFE gave me the chance not only to improve in academic subjects but also to gain very important life skills to apply in my daily life. I am really grateful to Damnok Toek for helping me to continue with school. I now have hope to achieve my future goals!’
Supporting the students’ families is crucial to enable children to stay in school for the long term and thrive in their education, and Cheng Im’s mother knows that.
‘When the COVID-19 outbreak happened in 2020-2021, Damnok Toek supported our family during this very difficult period. I found that the teachers paid extra attention to my daughter’s education during the school closures, by coming to our house to deliver and collect homework, which was very helpful for her to concentrate on her studies. When I lost my job due to COVID-19 and our family had no income, Damnok Toek gave us emergency food packages, which allowed us to survive.’
With the worst finally behind them, today Cheng Im is a happy and diligent student, whilst Cheng Im’s mother has set up her own small business in her local community thanks to CCOSC’s Income Generating Activity (IGA) programme, providing the family with a stable and sufficient income and hope for a brighter future.
