Sahakoom Apeewaht Sala (SAS) Program Quarterly Update July 1 - September 30, 2011 SAS empowers communities to develop sustainable schools that provide all children with a quality education. The SAS Team and the School Support Committees (SSCs) of Chanleas Dai, Prasat Knar, and Run Primary Schools are proud to bring you these latest updates from PEPY. Last quarter, PEPY’s teachers and students have faced a couple of setbacks based on two huge factors. The first major setback was the Khmer New Year celebration in mid-April. Teachers and students were given two weeks off to celebrate the New Year, but a lot of teachers chose to take the whole month of April off without giving much notice, leaving students without a teacher. The second factor was the coming of the rainy season. In the wet season, many parents force their children to drop out of school to help tend to family farms and bring in more income. However this quarter, Cambodia has been hit hard with heavy rains causing dangerous flooding, evacuations, and even many deaths. Most of our students currently reside in areas that have not been greatly affected by the floods, but the floods play a huge factor in the both the students’ and teachers’ attendance.
CHANLEAS DAI PRIMARY SCHOOL Student enrollment: 434 Teachers/administrators: 10
Grade levels: Kindergarten – Grade 6 (10 classes) School Support Committee Members: 9
Latest Activities 1. Fish pond During the 2nd quarter, the SSC and the students began preparations to make a fish pond in the school compound to sell fish for consumption. The initial investment included a plastic sheet, labor, and training. A fish pond income cycle lasts about 2.5 months. The cycle starts with purchasing baby fish and ends with harvesting the entire pond and selling the mature fish. Baby fish are available for purchase June through September, allowing the school to complete two cycles per year. The SSC purchased 2.3 kg baby cat fish (about 280 in total) and 17 kg of fish food. The cost for this activity for this quarter was 121,000 Riels (approximately $30.25 USD), and of that total, the community contributed about 30% (36,000 riels/$9 USD) while the SSC contributed 70% (84,700 Riels/$21 USD). Expected income from the fish pond project is approximately 464,000 Riels ($116 USD). Overall, the project was very successful in terms of raising community and student participation and receiving a good return on investment. The SSC is very pleased with the progress of this project and hopes to share the skills they learned in constructing and caring for the fish pond with other schools or small businesses.
2. Teacher’s inspection Each teacher’s methods are evaluated on a monthly basis. The evaluation is conducted by the principal, who may be accompanied by a member of PEPY’s staff. The inspection focuses on effective teaching and learning (ETL) and classroom management. Since the school year ended in July, teachers have only been evaluated once this quarter. In the 2nd quarter, the principal asked teachers to record students’ attendance and performance in order to determine any actions needed to take place for the next school year. As the months continue, both the principal and teachers are seeing a positive progress in students’ attendance and performances.
3. PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal) Parents, students, and teachers from three different communities were invited to partake in a PRA meeting. With these meetings, the community has the opportunity to discuss, address, and prioritize any issues that may need attention. PRA meetings were conducted in these three communities: o o o
Tahmeak, July 14, 2011 Khnar Joh, July 28, 2011 Chanleas Dai, July 28, 2011
Student statistics
The 2010-2011 school year ended during the 3rd quarter. During the course of the school year, teachers were asked to record students’ attendance. Below are the results. Although we work with school teachers and directors to encourage them to report the actual results of the students, it is common for schools in Cambodia to report inflated results. While failure/dropout rates such as these are less than ideal, they are on par with national averages and are one of the many indicators of the need for increased training and resources in the field of education in Cambodia.
Grade Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 Total
Enrollment
% Pass
% Fail
% Drop-Out
49 54 72 65 54 90 434
82.78 87.75 78.91 81.64 84.00 88.09 83.86
17.21 8.57 16.32 12.65 10.28 11.90 12.82
00 5.57 4.76 5.69 5.70 00 3.62
Total Student Flow Rate 2010 - 2011 During PRA process, we found the following issues which affect students and their education:
• Not all school-age children were enrolled in school • The closest school was a considerable distance away from the child’s home • Parents were not involved in their children’s school work • Students were performing poorly in literacy • Classes lacked learning materials • Students were hurt by traffic accidents • Lack of personal hygiene • The school grounds flooded • The classroom roof leaked • Lack of a (clean) water supply • Lack of communication between teachers and the community • Children, parents, and community members were not making education a priority
SSCs are now communicating with their respective communities on what actions need to take place in order to resolve these issues in 2012.
PRASAT KNAR PRIMARY SCHOOL School Snapshot Student enrollment: 519 Teachers/administrators: 10
Grade levels: Kindergarten to Grade 6 (12 classes) School Support Committee members: 12
Latest Activities
1. Awards for outstanding students On July 29th, 2011, SSCs, students, parents, teachers, and local authorities from 6 different communities participated in and supported an award ceremony for students who performed well academically. The ceremony started with the principal of the school expressing his delight on how well the students were performing. There were 55 students (including 36 girls) in grades 1-6 who received certificates of acknowledgement as well as a few school supply items. The ceremony drew in a huge crowd of over 350 people. During this ceremony, the SSC also received donations from teachers and parents that totaled to about 390,000 Riels ($97.50 USD) plus 80 notebooks and 70 pens.
2. PRA with Community and Teachers This PRA meeting took place on July 13, 2011, and members from three different communities (Reol, Khnoa Choeng, and Khnar Taboung) came to discuss “Child Friendly School” and “A Child Rights to Education”. Fifty-seven people (including 3 SSC members) participated in the meeting. During the PRA meeting, the three communities learned that a lot of issues needed attention. Issues included: • Not all children 6-12 years old enrolled in school • Very few children under 6 years old enrolled in school • Students performed poorly in literacy • Lack of learning materials • There was a lack of safety measures during some student activities • Parents were not encouraging their children to go to school
PRA activity
School Support Committee Meeting Activity
Student statistics The 2010-2011 school year ended during the 3rd quarter. During the course of the school year, teachers were asked to record students’ attendance. Below are the results. Although we work with school teachers and directors to encourage them to report the actual results of the students, it is common for schools in Cambodia to report inflated results. While failure/dropout rates such as these are less than ideal, they are on par with national averages and are one of the many indicators of the need for increased training and resources in the field of education in Cambodia.
Grade Level
Enrollment
% Pass
% Fail
% Drop-Out
1 2 3 4 5 6 Total
113 108 87 76 78 57 519
88.78 87.50 88.67 88.77 86.95 81.03 87.11
5.6 7.29 4.71 6.12 7.72 00 5.24
5.6 5.2 3 5.1 5.43 18.96 7.21
Total Student Flow Rate 2010 - 2011
PRA activity with teachers During another PRA meeting, more issues came up that the community felt needed to be addressed:
• Parents were not taking their children to school • Children were getting involved in traffic accidents while traveling to/from school • Students were not performing well in math and literacy • The school had no athletic field • School restrooms do not provide soap for handwashing
2. Awards for outstanding students
HUN SEN RUN PRIMARY SCHOOL School Snapshot Student enrollment: 319 Teachers/administrators: 4
Grade levels: Kindergarten to grade 6 (6 classes) School Support Committee members: 12
Latest Activities
1. PRA Activities Preference Ranking Tool (PRT) is a new tool used by the principal and teachers to determine how parents prioritize their children’s education. Teachers have been working with parents from three different communities (Run, Kok Tnaut, and Chuk Rath) in gathering information on how parents value education. As of now, more information is needed before any assessment can be made.
Due to the success of the awards ceremony in Prasat Knar, the SSC wanted to have another awards ceremony for the Hun Sen Run School. However, in this ceremony, students were given a categorical rank determined by how strongly they performed during the school year, with rank #1 demonstrating excellent performance. All students received certificates of acknowledgement, but only 30 students stood out and were given the #1 rank designation. Total costs for the awards ceremony stood at 30,000 Riels ($7.50USD).
Student Receiving Awards
Student statistics The 2010-2011 school year ended during the 3rd quarter. During the course of the school year, teachers were asked to record students’ attendance. Below are the results. Although we work with school teachers and directors to encourage them to report the actual results of the students, it is common for schools in Cambodia to report inflated results. While failure/dropout rates such as these are less than ideal, they are on par with national averages and are one of the many indicators of the need for increased training and resources in the field of education in Cambodia.
Grade Level Enrollment 1 58 2 61 3 56 4 58 5 45 6 41 Total 319
%Pass 72.41 85.24 83.92 77.58 82.22 78.04 79.90
% Fail 27.58 14.14 16.08 22.42 17.78 21 20.09
% Drop-Out 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
The SAS team has worked very closely with the SSC and the principal for building trust to get reliable statistics. The chair of the SSC hopes to use two statistical sources: one from the district of educational office and the other from the data collected from the SAS program. But before the SSC starts using both data sources, they would like to discuss it with the other two schools, Prasart Khnar and Chanleas Dai, to see if they would like them to follow suit. Strengthening Capacity PEPY’s SAS Team works to improve the capacity of teachers, principals, and School Support Committee (SSC) members. These activities are SAS standard support, and thus totally funded by PEPY. This quarter, we’ve been busy organizing and delivering these activities:
ACTIVITIES AT ALL SCHOOLS (Chanleas Dai, Prasat Knar, and Run) 1. PRA training activity PRA training is needed to train members of the SSC who in turn will train teachers and community leaders with the hopes they work together to prioritize and reslove any issues in thier communities. Training focus on topics:
Total Student Flow Rate 2010 - 2011
• •
How to conduct PRA on Child Friendly School How to conduct PRA on Child’s Right to an Education.
2. Provide technical support on Effective Teaching and Learning and Mathematic teaching methology This quarter, the Technical Team asked English Traveling Teacher Support (TTS) to share their experiences as well as thoughts and ideas in classroom observation, where TTS can help identify the support services needed for teachers to become more effective at teaching. During this registration the Technical Team started to prepare the content and materials to provide training for teachers and staff members who were going to help facilitate this activity. The Literacy and Math camps were held in three places: 1-Hun Sen Run Primary School 2-Prasat Knar Primary school 3-Chanleas Dai Primary School Both students from SAS schools and other schools nearby were encouraged to participate, and both the Literacy and Math camps were fully enrolled.
Supplemental Program Quarterly Report July – September, 2011
PEPY’s Supplemental Programs are designed to enhance the government curriculum that is administered in every Cambodian government school. Our Supplemental Programs include the Creative Learning Class, Engineering Club and English Classes that are available to Junior High School students in Chanleas Das. Our Creative Learning Classes (CLC) aim to enable students to think critically, problem-solve, and express themselves through a variety of mediums while engaging in a cross-curricular program including science, social studies, and math. These CLC classes have expanded to include an Engineering Club, in which students learn how to fix laptops, build robots from legos, and create their own games. Our English classes not only actively engage students with the materials delivered by our Cambodian English teachers, but also have inspired them to take what they have learned back to their communities and lead their own English classes. The Traveling Teacher Support program, which provides English training and curriculum development assistance to primary school teachers at Cambodian government schools, is based on the understanding that only when English teachers are supported with adequate materials and curricula, both teachers and students can reach their full potential. Last quarter, PEPY’s teachers and students faced two main setbacks. The first was the Khmer New Year celebration in mid April. Teachers and students were given two weeks off to celebrate the New Year, but a lot of teachers chose to take the whole month of April off without giving much notice, and this left students without a teacher. The second factor was the coming of the rainy season. In the wet season, many parents force their children to drop out of school to help tend to family farms and bring in more income. This quarter, Cambodia has been hit hard with heavy rains causing dangerous flooding, evacuations, and even many deaths. Most of our students reside in areas that have not been greatly affected by the floods, but the floods play a huge factor in the both the student’s and teacher’s attendance rates. GOALS & OBJECTIVES • To provide outstanding quality education to children in rural communities. • To empower students and teachers with the tools to succeed in life. • To expose students to the different cultures around the world and foster a global perspective in young adults.
CREATIVE LEARNING CLASS (CLC) Through a SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunity, Threats) analysis, our Supplemental Team had the opportunity to identify some key opportunities and difficulties. It became clear that two issues were important for the CLC program: the return of materials and attendance. Return of materials. Towards the end of the school year, teachers worked together with students to collect borrowed XO laptops. The XO laptop is a learning tool designed to be much more than a typical computer, with activities and tools specifically tailored to engage young learners, encourage creativity, and improve logical reasoning. To ensure the XOs are returned in working condition, students (as well as their parents) are required to sign a contact agreeing to return the computers by the end of the school year. The Supplemental team uses a system to help motivate and encourage diligence over their laptops: students are placed into groups of 5 or 6, and each group selects a team leader who is responsible for guiding the students on how to care for their XO’s and ensuring that students return the XOs when the school year is over. In our Creative Learning Space (CLS), we have 400 books given to the school by the Ministry of Education and teachers are finding borrowed books with missing pages, drawings and/or tattered pages. This is an issue that the Supplemental team is working on to fix. Attendance: When the Supplemental Program first started, it had a big problem with attendance. A lot of students chose to participate in CLC about 2-3 times a month. PEPY’s Supplemental team wanted to inspire and motivate more young adults to take initiative to become positive leaders of their own communities as well as their own lives. To determine if the students were really dedicated, students were given a questionnaire on the first day of school to determine how much they valued an education. With those answers the Supplemental team was able to customize and tailor their classes and workshops to pique more interest from the students. Also, if a student is absent more than 3 times in a month without any notice or reason, student will be asked not to participate.
BOOK WRITING WORKSHOP During July to September, when school was out for summer vacation, the Supplemental team opened a book writing workshop to give students an opportunity to channel their creativity as well as give them something to do during the free summer months. With this workshop, students had the chance to learn more about: • • • • •
How to master the art of storytelling How to draw illustrations like picture of animals, natural landscapes, etc. How to align a story with illustrations How to make informational presentation How to work together in a group
The workshop started with 60 eager students and ended with 58, as 2 students fell ill and were unable to continue the workshop. Students met three times a week (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) for about an hour. When the workshop first started, many students had a hard time working in groups as well as having the confidence to present their stories. Forty stories (8 of them with illustrations) were produced, and students were very happy that they had the Book Writing Workshop to keep them busy during the free summer months. Also, many students were a little sad to see the workshop end.
On the last day of the workshop, there was a closing ceremony to acknowledge the achievements of the participants. It was a well-received event. Parents, PEPY staff members, teachers, students, and neighboring community members all showed up to give their support. For the next Book Writing Workshop, the Supplemental team would like to have students move away from making children’s books and start producing juvenile books with more complex and relatable plots.
ENGLISH IN THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL Latest Activities During summer vacation, teachers took the opportunity to prepare next year’s lesson plans as well as take some extra courses to improve their own teaching methods. Teachers participated in math and literacy camps as well as training classes on how to facilitate workshops. TRAVELLING TEACHER SUPPORT School Snapshot Student enrollment: 470 Teachers/administrators: 13
Grade levels:
5-6
Latest Activities Normally, in the last month of the school year, students are given an English placement test to determine what their skills are for the next school year. Here are the results of this year’s English test: • • •
62 % of students passed the test and received high scores 18 % of students passed the test but received average scores 20 % of students failed the test.
These results are a huge accomplishment in a country where the national literacy rate is under 75%. However, the Supplemental team would like to shrink that 20% to a much smaller figure. The Supplemental team is currently working with government teachers to improve their teaching methodology to remedy this problem. The Supplemental team also decided to implement a new process with the English test; students will be given an English test to determine their English level, and then at the end of the school year will be given the same English test to see if there was any improvement. With that process, from the beginning of the school year, teachers will be able to specialize their way of teaching for a student’s specific needs. At the end of the 2010-2011 school year, the school held a closing ceremony with hopes to: - build a better relationship with the school and students - acknowledge students’ accomplishments. Certificates were given to outstanding students who received a high score on their English class. There were 60 students from 6 schools who were recognized for their hard work and perseverance. - acknowledge the work of the Khmer English teachers. Certificates and t-shirts were given to Khmer English teachers who worked very hard to improve their English skills in order to teach proper English. By the end of this school year there were 470 students from 6 primary schools who chose to stay in Supplemental classes. CLASSROOM LIBRARY School Snapshot Student enrollment: 1723 Teachers/administrators: 32
Grade levels:
1-6
Currently, the library has 17,770 books available for student in grades 1-6.
Grade Books for each Class Number of classes Students who benefit 1 356 8 477 2 357 8 462 3 369 8 369 4 44 6 260 5 165 6 252 6 75 4 175
LIBRARY The Library isn’t just a place where students can check out books- it’s also a place where students can have group meetings to discuss their ideas and chat about their favorite books. Students who have read the most books are awarded with a photo of themselves on the wall listed with the books they have read. The volume of books checked out has dramatically increased due to this reward system. The library remained open for students during the summer break, but many students chose to stay at home with their families. With the quiet summer month, teachers took that opportunity to count and repair all the books needed for the next upcoming school year. The Supplemental team also used the free time to travel to collect unreturned books from student homes as well as build a closer relationship with the students’ families. A few problems that the team has faced and is trying to resolve:
-Students not caring for the books. Books are returned well beyond readable. -Student kept losing books -Students return books well after the return date.
As of now, the library has maintained 4,135 books for the next school year.
JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL SUPPORT Latest Activities We provided math, Khmer, Chemistry, and Physics classes to students who studied in grade 9 of Chanleas Dai Junior School from February to June, and at the end of July all those grade 9th students took their examinations. There were 36 took the test, and 32 students passed the test. For the four students who failed still need some tutoring in physics and math. In the works – Newspaper Club Currently, the Supplemental team is deciding if it would be beneficial for its 9th graders (and possibly 7th and 8th graders) to start a newspaper club. It would give students the opportunity to learn about events and issues occurring in and around their own neighborhood, and it would encourage students to write journalism pieces to share with their teachers and friends. The Club is tentatively set to start in early December.
Community Development Program (CDP): Child-to-Child and Young Leader Clubs Quarterly Update July 1st, 2011 – September 3oth, 2011
The Community Development Program consists of both the Child-to-Child and the Youth Leadership Programs. Child-to-Child Using an active learning approach, the Child-to-Child (CtC) initiative encourages children to identify the most pressing problems in their communities by working with other members of their Child Club. Currently, there are 18 Child Clubs, and 8 educators facilitate these clubs. Of the 25 clubs from last quarter, 7 of these have transitioned to Youth Leadership clubs, which are facilitated by 6 educators. Through topic-based problem solving around health, environmental, and human rights issues, the Child Clubs learn about important issues while aiming to build life skills such as leadership, communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and decision-making. By building these critical skills among children in Chanleas Dai, we hope to further PEPY’s general mission: investing time and resources in people, connecting them with the skills, systems, and inspiration necessary to achieve their goals, raise their standards of living, and improve the quality of education in their communities.
Child-to-Child Methodology After many trials, assessments, and evaluations, our CtC educators came up with 6 steps to help the community easily identify and resolve the most pressing issues in their communities. 1. Discuss and identify the most prominent issues plaguing the community via a Town Hall meeting. 2. Investigate the factors and causes of the problem. CtC students and educators work together to identify and understand who or what is involved in the problem. 3. Gather information and reach an understanding. Our educators help empower the students to teach each other about their circumstances and how they can make a positive change. 4. Work together to find the best and most simple way to address the problem. 5. Execute the resolution. CtC educators help students understand the pros and cons of each proposed solution, then create a plan to inform and involve the community. In the past, students have used presentations, plays, and campaigns. 6. Evaluate the process to make sure the problem has been resolved. Identify the steps to mitigate the problem in the future.
Statistics in target areas: Child-to-Child
Young Leader Club The pilot Young Leader Club program began in 2011 and supports clubs in rural Cambodia for youths aged 15-25 years old. The youth clubs are voluntary action-based groups, where young people seek to identify, learn about, and solve tangible problems in their own communities, thus building life skills, leadership, and self-confidence. The purpose behind the project is to provide a youth development model appropriate for young adults, based on the success of PEPY’s Child-toChild initiative. 3rd Quarter Updates This quarter, Cambodia has been hit hard with heavy rains causing dangerous flooding, evacuations, and even many deaths. Most of our students currently reside in areas that have been spared the worst of the flooding, however the floods make commuting to and from school difficult, and have negatively affected students’ and teachers’ attendance rates. Challenges due to this particularly intense rainy season in 2011: • Child Clubs which normally meet outside have no safe place to gather. • Roads have been difficult to traverse, if not washed out altogether. Communities acutely affected by bad road conditions include Preah Lean and Rolom Svay.
Statistics in target areas: Young Leaders
Youth and Child Club activities in 14 villages This quarter, Child Clubs are working on issues involving clean water, road safety, and health and hygiene. Most clubs are working on the fifth step and sixth steps in the Child-to-Child methodology, which involve sharing what they’ve learned within their communities, and evaluating the effectiveness of their strategies. Young Leader Clubs have been working on issues relating to unwritten social rules and how to stay physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally healthy to increase good communication and relationships among their peers. Other topics discussed in Youth Leader Clubs include working on presentation skills, leadership, and time management skills. In addition, Young Leader participants have been inspired to visit their peers in other areas to share their ideas. Examples include: • Exchanges taking place between Chanleas Dai and Tram Kong Village • Youths from Tram Kong taking the initiative to teach Khmer, Math, and English to community members in nearby villages • Young adults in Rolom Svay teaching Khmer to younger children in their own community Oxfam Training Earlier this year, Oxfam Australia reached out to PEPY’s Child-to-Child team for training in the Childto-Child methodology. The contracting organization’s goal in collaborating with PEPY is to tackle a Water and Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) program with a new approach to improve program impact. WASH is being implemented by local government teachers and Provincial Education Department Officers who work in schools in Kratie and Takeo Provinces. While many of the participants have extensive experience with teaching, the training led by PEPY’s staff focused on developing facilitation skills. Two of the three trainings were held during the 3rd quarter, each of which lasted for three days:
Training covered the Child-to-Child concept and methodology, active learning, child participation ladders , facilitating activities which empower children, and assessing needs in a community. The events were organized and conducted by PEPY’s Community Development Program Manager, Mrs Khouth Sochampawatd, Community Development Officer, Mr Hem Saly, and Child-to-Child Facilitator, Miss ChokSrey Mao.
Homework Club The CDP initiated a Homework Club this quarter at Hun Sen Run School for primary students. The project was run for a 3-month trial basis. Once a week, students excelling in Khmer and math helped those who are still developing their skills. Once the trial period ended in August, the CDP assessed the success of the club with a test to determine the students’ skill levels after attending the club. Final results show that 85% of the students who came to Homework Club passed the test. In light of these initial positive results, CDP is currently looking into expansion of Homework Club to one additional school. Lessons Learned: The CDP did not conduct a formal closing ceremony when Homework Club concluded in August. In order to honor the achievements of the student participants and further involve the community, we will add a formal closing ceremony to the next Homework Club that we run, thus reaching out to and further involving the head school principal, parents of students, and senior managers and hopefully impressing upon them the impact of this program.
Life Skills Training In August, the CDP provided life skills training to 90 children in two courses lasting four days each at Khnar Joh temple. The team provides this training to new members of Child-to-Child clubs at the beginning of each school year. Our intent is to improve the analytical skills of participants so that they have the tools to tackle whatever problems present themselves in their daily lives. The training covered topics such as making decisions, problem solving, critical thinking, and leadership. The summer course focused on active and cooperative learning games. All the activities centered on teamwork and good communication. Children were asked to reflect on what they had learned after each activity. PEPY conducted an evaluation of the program via individual interviews with the participants to compare their abilities before and after they joined the life skills training course. Through observation, we found that the participants seemed had improved communication and teamwork and were more comfortable working together. During the three nights and four days of the course, the children experienced staying far away from the familiar environment of their home where they have the support of their family members. At Khnar Joh temple, participants learned to take responsibility for their daily life and solve their own problems without their usual support system.