Dropouts and a new plan
The schools stand empty as Cambodia begins its school break from September through October. This is a time of finalizing plans for the new year. One of the most critical educational problems rural Cambodia faces is its dropout rate. Snuol is the fastest growing district in the province of Kratie. A combination of low resources to begin with along with Snuol's growth has not made the problem any easier. Here are the numbers of students from grades 1-6 from the past year:
1st) 3710
2nd) 3310
3rd) 2962
4th) 2400
5th) 1931
6th) 1565
One significant issue for these students in remote villages is the distance from their village elementary school to their local commune middle school (grades 7-9). There is no bus system and the dirt roads can be treacherous during the rainy season. Most of their parents are rice farmers who are understandably concerned about their children having to ride a bicycle over nearly 10 miles on dirt roads to school and back again to continue their studies. There is a Cambodia proverb, "If you can't see the island, you can't see the shore." The Mekong river at points is vast, even having whole islands that are their own villages. Cambodians, generally, don't swim. The meaning of the proverb is this, if you can see the island in the middle, you can make it there, and then you can make it to the other shore. Access to education has a ripple effect down through the lower grades. Once the students are old enough to help in the fields but have no real option of studying past sixth grade, it is fair enough for parents to ask what is the point. They won't be able to go to middle school and then on to high school and they won't be able to pursue a job that requires higher levels of literacy, so what's the point. "If you can't see the island, you can't see the shore". This year we want to do something about this problem. The educational government at the provincial level is asking for our partnership, and we are working on the details of starting a middle school program in a remote area where only 1-5% of students make it past elementary school. We are seeking to start with three part-time teachers at the 7th-grade level in the village of Bat Howy, a region including 6 villages that all suffer from a high dropout rate. The program would be eligible for all students 14 or over and have a condensed middle school curriculum focusing on literature, math, science and agriculture. It is a new program from the government, but are are hoping to give it a try. This year alone we should save over 40 dropouts by offering this opportunity to continue their studies. Pray for the details to we worked out, for the teachers' training, and for God's continued provision for the rural education project in Snuol.
