SOS Schools in Cambodia
SOS Nursery School Angkor-Siem Reap
Update report from 2008:
Our nursery school classes located inside the SOS school grounds and consists of 3 levels serving for 108 student population from SOS Children’s Village Siem Reap and children from the local community. In addition to children’s nutrition, one meal allowance is organised and offer to all pupils in studying hours. Also, there is called hygiene project where children can have bathing and cleaning themselves while resting from the class with taking care and watchful by our teachers. This is to contribute in the awareness of personal hygiene and parental skills to target beneficiaries especially the vulnerable families.
Self-discipline, morality, good attitude and study results of children, wide spreading the information to all communities and our nursery school very well known and recognised, causing much more parent included their children’s name in the waiting list for the next school academic year of 2009. We are planning to diversify of teaching material, IEC materials (Information, Education & Communication) as well as playing material for children in order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our nursery school program study. A play ground also plan for renovation as degraded by daily using, refilling the soil and replanting of flowers and decoration shrubs.
SOS Primary and Secondary School Angkor-Siem Reap
The combined SOS Primary ands Secondary School was opened in 2002. There are over 420 children enrolled, 210 in both the primary and secondary schools taught by 28 teachers.
In the SOS School at Siem Reap, the first ever created in Cambodia just serving for only primary and junior high school level, but till now, this school is full function all grades from primary to secondary (Junior & Senior) with total student population of 533 included 236 girls.
The study result and teaching activities have made a good year and satisfactorily during the annual meeting presentation. Of the 96 students in senior high school, all except three getting excellent and very good mark this year, and makes our SOS School one of the most 5 best and popular in the provincial town. Other 66 get good marks and 6 are placed in fairs marks.
The school provides scholarship of 20% to children from the very vulnerable family who can’t afford their children to school, and the result are proving to be very successful with keeping continuation of this activities for the forthcoming year. It is a school policy, teacher not only follow up student at school, but also go down to the family based to follow on the irregularity occurred to those scholarship children. For a meantime, the possibility of study will be carried out this year to upgrade this scholarship to full Family Strengthening Programme, after the result of need assessment and approval from the SOS Continental Office.
A number of events have been organised in the course of the year to vital the functioning of school activities, these included the parental & community discussion with the school principal related to the study results, expectancy of them and constraint resolution, academic opening and ending, awarding ceremony to the outstanding student. etc. 2 teachers are undergoing to participating with ministry of education in the topic of examinations process, and other 6 participating in the seminar on developing the methodological practices in teaching.
Annually, the school had inspected by the inspection department from ministry of education and sport regarding to the quality of teaching provision, educational system and administration, this proved to be very successful and enable our teacher and principal further develop their opportunities and weakness point. Technical teams are created for each level of primary and secondary in the sense of managing the student selection, methodology, session plan, study material, examinations and disciplinary. Etc. At the end of the school year, teachers organised their excursion with the students.
SOS Nursery School Battambang
As the same as to other nursery school, SOS Nursery School in Battambang is residing inside the children’s village that serving to120 kids, included SOS children and vicinity communities. We are also providing 20% scholarship to the very vulnerable families around the village that enable their children enjoy their study and development. New playing material just brought in from vocational training centre Siem Reap, and upgrades some of other dilapidated material existing. We use both languages in the class (Khmer and English).
Because of new nascent of SOS Children’s Village Battambang and Nursery School, most of the population around doesn’t aware such a school inside, and after one academic year passed with satisfactorily result of their children, high pile of applications on the desk are waiting for the next academic year. Study and teaching material are refurnished and upgraded due to the daily demanding and suit to the new methodological revolution.
Origami activities have been done with teacher and kid in many alphabetical ways. In collaboration with provincial department of education, One of our teacher sent to participates in the seminar of new approaches and educational development for early childhood learning. This has proved very successful when she returns for applying to the real practices every day.
SOS School Battambang
This school just starting constructed in October 2008, and expected to start its operation for the new academic year 2009-2010 in September.
While construction is still in progress, the educational staff are being recruited simultaneously to be ready in this new school year. With strong collaboration with ministry of education, official license for school, identification teacher are fully support from them. The school principal will finalise end of March, and other position will follow after he/she come on post.
SOS Nursery School Phnom Penh
There are three levels of education in our nursery school at Phnom Penh, provides to 120 children. This nursery school also offers to vicinity community families who couldn’t afford their children by 107 seats for the past year. This nursery school was appreciates and admires from their parents based on visible results after long study with us. Among those figure, the vulnerable and needy family we offers 24 scholarships.
This year we diversify teaching material and visual aids, as well as children playing material. As result from last year, insufficient of that kind of material caused difficulties for teacher to exhume of their skill and experiences in flowing of knowledge to the kid. Remarkably, department of small kid education and quality of education inspection department of ministry of health, visits to our nursery school with some norms and guidance provides in order to reach the level of educational plan of the country governed by educational law.
SOS School Phnom Penh
Unfortunately, this school was prophecy to launch on the new academic year within September 2009, but due to the complication of land title ownership process handing over from the government, make alteration to this planning.
We can only started now fulfilling soil and construct fence, unless the full legal land title are in hand, the whole process of school construction will continue. At the end of this year while our President, CD visits, also raises this issue with Prime Minister and hope will solve out sooner. We are now on the process of getting all legal paper work done from the related ministries, and then school will anticipates starting in next academic year of 2010.