Reduce Education Barriers in Rural Cambodia

Years ago, Trailblazer was visited by a representative of the Ministry of Education. He reported that students were dropping out of school between the primary and secondary levels of school, greatly due to the lack of having bicycles. The distance between primary and secondary schools can be 10 kilometers or more. With no means of transportation, it is too difficult for students to walk such great distances, and so they simply drop out of school. He asked if Trailblazer would help keep students in school by providing bicycles. This request from the government official furthered Trailblazer's support of education projects, beyond building schools.

Cambodia has a 6-3-3 formal education structure that has been in place since 2009. Primary school has an official entry age of six and a duration of six grades. Secondary school is divided into two cycles: lower secondary consists of grades 7 - 9, and upper secondary consists of grades 10 - 12. In principle, primary and lower secondary school are compulsory. Students sit for the basic education diploma at the end of grade 9, and the high school diploma at the end of grade 12. The school year lasts 38 weeks and is divided into two semesters, running September-January and February-June. (UNESCO IBE, World Data on Education. Revised 4/2011)

Out of school rates are reported to be highest for children [population ages 7-14] in the poorest rural areas (13%), in comparison to children from urban areas (7%). Reports show that more girls (12%) are out of school than boys (11.5%). USAID data in 2011 showed that primary enrollment reached 96% of the child population, with lower secondary school rate at 34% and upper secondary at 21%.

These statistics clearly indicate that enrollments decrease at the secondary levels of school and makes Trailblazer's efforts to keep students in school all the more important. In January 2022, Trailblazer was happy and proud to report the delivery of 113 bicycles. Now we are working on what will be possible in 2023! We always wait until we have a truck load of bicycles [an average of 50 bicycles] or 300 uniforms before we make a delivery to a school, in order to be able to service all the students at a school who have been identified in need.

We appreciate your contribution in making an impact to grow the development of Cambodia through educating one of its major resources - its children. Thank you.

In 2018 Trailblazer had received a request from the Vice-Governor and district education officials of Siem Reap province for the construction of a new primary school to serve students from the three villages of Beng, Kchas and Trapeang Plos, in Doun Peng commune, Angkor Chum district, Siem Reap province. Beng village is remote, a 64km one hour thirty minute drive from Siem Reap city, surrounded by poor communities with a total population of 327 families living in these three villages. Most of the parents are subsistance farmers.

For years the students had been studying under a roof only structure, no enclosed sides, and when it rained it leaked. Students were dropping out of school to help make money for the family. Then some private donors had two wooden buildings constructed, dividing class times between morning and afternoon. The two Kindergarten classes were held in the morning, one class studied in a classroom, the other studied under a tree. The 10 teachers at the Beng school were teaching 238 students [grades K through 6], with 112 being female, in the five classrooms of the two wooden buildings. The new school estimates to have 25 new students every year, these new students being incoming kindergarteners.

Trailblazer worked with donors and secured the funding for the new Beng school project. The village was very excited to have a new concrete school in their village. They had never had a concrete building before. The new school offered a safe comfortable place for students to study and teachers to teach.

However, after the school was constructed, there was a lack of educational infrastructure: no library, reading books, no administrative office where teachers could work and do research for teaching. Soon Trailblazer received a project request to construct a two room library building, with one room to be used for administration purposes. Trailblazer received support for the library project in early 2022, and the library was completed, along with the purchase of reading books in English.

We are ever so thankful to our donors who made the library a reality for these 238 plus students, as well as provide the additional study materials.

Every child deserves a quality education. In Cambodia, many students fall behind, especially those in poor rural areas. Although there has been progress made to include adolescents with disabilities, ethnic minorities and students living in poor communities, students are still falling behind in their development. In a 2018 UNICEF report, only 27% of 3 to 5 year olds are on track in literacy and numeracy, and when they reach 17 years of age 55% of those students have dropped out of school for various reasons. The lack of quality learning, combined with deficient nutrition and poor health, leaves rural students developmentaly behind.

This is where health relates to education. If a student does not have access to clean drinking water and good sanitation, they get sick and are unable to attend school. Bad water leads to a number of health issues, malnutrition being one. Another factor that impacts the nutrition and health conditions of students is the lack of basic infrastructure, this includes WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) facilities.

To help address this challenge, Trailblazer constructed a water filtration / hand washing station at the Kok Dong Primary School. Kok Dong Primary School is located 63km from Siem Reap city. It is located in the most populated village in the area. Kok Dong village has a total population of 1,195 people within the 280 families living there. The school serves 272 students who are the average primary school ages - under 11 years old. It is estmated that 72 new students will grow the student population each year.

The water filtration / hand washing station that Trailblazer constructed plays a critical role in helping improve and maintain the health of the students who attend Kok Dong Primary School now and into the future. The community also benefits from the water filtration / hand washing station because villagers are welcome to collect filtered water in containers to take home for use by the entire family, whereby improving the health and nutrition of these families in the village.

We are deeply grateful for the donor who made this water filtration / hand washing station project a success. The livelihoods of Kok Dong students and their families will benefit long into the future because of this project. Students will have a greater chance to thrive and continue their education, leading to more opportunities to succeed in their life.

Schools are open again and we are proud to report that 113 bicycles were delivered to students at Srah Primary School on January 18, 2022. Although you may not be able to see their smiles because of the face masks, there were a 113 very happy students.

You may not know that getting a bicycle from Trailblazer involves several conditions that happen behind the scene. Students who receive a bicycle must have met government criteria to determine their level of poverty. The poorest to poor rated students are eligible to get a bicycle.

Identification of poor households are based on interviewing households using a questionnaire prepared by the Ministry of Planning. The questionnaire includes a number of poverty indicators below:

• Housing condition, which includes roof, wall, area, house quality (and specification of whether it is the household’s property or is rented).
• Size of legally owned residential land and productive agricultural land.
• Main source of income from growing crops or fishing, or other activities.
• Animal raising (such as raising fish for sale).
• Ability to meet food requirements.
• Number of household members unable to earn an income, relative to the total number of household members.
• Material goods and equipment.
• Means of transportation.
• Unexpected problems or serious crises which cause the households to lose income, experience food shortages, sell property, or go into debt.
• Number of children aged 6 to 11 years who missed school, and the reasons.
• Situations which cause deterioration of the household’s living conditions, such as the head of household (husband or wife) suffering from serious disability or chronic disease, households consisting exclusively of elderly members, households with orphans living with them, female-headed households with many young children, or households with no members with the capacity to work.
• Situations which improve the household’s living conditions, such as assistance from relatives or other income sources.

Not only do recipient students need to meet the government poor identification criteria, Trailblazer requires the student (and their parents) to contribute $1.75USD into their village's Village Fund to have buy in on the project. The student and his/her parent(s) also sign an agreement to maintain the bicycle, repair it if it breaks, to stay in school, and to get good grades. Others who sign this agreement include the Ministry of Education representative, the school's head teacher, and Trailblazer.

We are thankful for all the donors who made this bicycle delivery a reality, and for making a real impact in the lives of the students and their families. Thank you.

Much of what Trailbalzer does, as a rural community development organization, is to help break the cycle of poverty. One way to do that is to ensure children have the ability to attend school. For students living in rural areas where Trailblazer works, attending school can often be a challenge.

Some students may live too far from the school in their area, and without a bicycle they might drop out. Trailblazer delivers bicycles throughout the year to address this issue. Also, the government requires that students wear an approved school uniform. A uniform can be costly for a poor family. Therefore, Trailblazer provides school uniforms to the poorest of poor students to help alleviate this burden for their families. A simple thing as a school uniform can help provide the ability for a student to go to school, thereby improving attendance and reducing dropout rates.

According to the United Nations, an educated girl is more likely able to plan when she marries, begins having children, and can better look after her health and that of her family. Nearly 12 million children could be spared from undernutrition if their mothers had received a secondary education. This makes Trailblazer’s efforts even more relevant and vital.

Trailblazer's goal each year is to provide a school uniform for a minimum of 300 students, which is an average student population identified as poor and in need of a uniform at the primary level. A uniform costs $15 USD. We wish to deeply thank all the donors who made this year's school uniform delivery a success.