One of the happiest events in the PLF calendar is our annual higher education scholarship award ceremony for students heading off to either university or vocational training placements. And for 2025, this was our biggest yet with 53 new awards made!
Each and every one of these scholarship students has beaten the odds of the backgrounds they were born into, often being the first in their family to complete high school – let alone go on towards higher education. The occasion is full of optimism and pride, as we celebrate the successful students with their families in attendance.
Enabling as many of our students as possible to embark on the life-changing journey that higher education brings is an increasing focus. And as we approach the tipping point of having as many students in secondary school as in primary, this crucial initiative continues to grow.
University Scholarships
This year we awarded 41 University scholarships (8 of these are provisional, depending on the medical school entrance exams that will take place in March.)
While there’s a wide range of majors represented from Accounting to Biology and Archaeology to Engineering, we continue to place a strong focus on science and medical subjects, with 65.85% of our current university cohort now studying STEM subjects.
This aligns us with Cambodia’s own development goals in recognizing that the future of the country – and an individual’s best career prospects – lie in STEM fields (Ministry of Education, 2016). We are doing all we can to encourage an early love of science among our younger students, and maintain that focus as they move through the middle and higher grades. The high school diploma in Cambodia is divided into social and science track subjects, but the learning losses that occurred during Covid discouraged many students from tackling the more academically challenging science subjects. Since 2023 we have been awarding extended support during Grades 11 & 12 for science track students to reverse this trend, and this strategy sees us gradually moving back towards our pre-Covid number of STEM awards.
Meet one of our STEM superstars!
Sreynai represents not only our STEM demographic, but also the 66% of female students in our university cohort:
“I recently took part with a volunteer group of doctors going to treat dental patients in a rural area. We performed extractions of severely damaged teeth that can not be cured, as well as teaching about the importance of oral health.
I’m very happy to join this group, feel very satisfied to help people with dental problems. And also when I join the team of volunteer doctors, there is a certification afterwards, which makes it easier for me to apply for a job after graduation.
In the future, my job as dentist will help my people and country, by providing care and maintenance of good oral health for all people in the community.”
Vocational Training
While university is an obvious choice for students with academic promise, we recognize that some students, like young people everywhere, are better served by programs with more immediate access to jobs. We have always been able to place a few students each year on hospitality training placements with our community partners in Siem Reap. And we are thrilled that the opening of the National Polytechnic Institute of Angkor (NPIA) in recent years has made 2-year TVET degrees available.
The steady growth in this program means that this year we are awarding 12 Vocational Training placements – 4 in hospitality training, and 8 in Votech at NPIA.
Meet our votech pioneer!
Thakyuth is our first student to graduate from NPIA, with a degree in Electrical Engineering:
“I left school in Grade 7, because I wanted to work to help my family. My mother is by herself and tries to support me and my brother but it was very hard for her. But when I left school, I could only find small jobs, working as a driver to deliver rice, which was a small salary. I wanted to go back to school to get a skill that could help me get a better job in the future. As a kid I was interested in how electricity works, so I felt very happy to get a placement to study this skill.
After graduating I moved to Phnom Penh because there are more big companies there, and also I wanted to get new life experiences. Now I am using my electrical training in my job at Phnom Penh airport where I maintain the ventilation systems.
Taking my vocational training at NPIA definitely led to better job opportunities that wouldn’t otherwise have been available. If I hadn’t had this training, I would still be doing small jobs and it would be hard to support myself. But now my current salary is enough to both support myself, and send a significant amount back home to my mother. And there is also the opportunity to grow my job and improve my salary in the future.
It’s really important to study a skill, for which there is a need in the community. Being motivated and applying myself to formal training has given me a much better chance of employment.”
Meet two of this year’s new scholarship awardees!
Vannry and Borin hail from deepest rural Preah Vihear, and are now on their way to university in Phnom Penh. They are among a growing student cohort who can now not only complete Grade 12 without having to move away from home during their high school years, but also adequately prepare for university with support from our Srayang Learning Center. They represent the evolution of our strategies to support more and more rural students on this path.
Hear directly from them, on the cusp of this life-changing journey!
We couldn’t be prouder of all of these plucky students – who, by reaching higher and higher to achieve their potential are not only reshaping their own futures, but that of their families and communities too.
And with many more lining up to follow in their footsteps, there is still much work to do. Your support of our scholarship program can – quite literally – change the whole trajectory of a disadvantaged student’s life. Click through to the campaign link if you would like to set them on their way!
Want to walk alongside PLF students on their journey but not sure how?
Please consider making a one off Donation or Becoming a Recurring Supporter
For as little as $10 a month, you could contribute to the ongoing education of our students. $120 goes a long way in Cambodia: that’s 5 village children on the road to education, with access to school and clean drinking water for half a year. Or a million other things, all of which coalesce into the tools needed for life to change for the better!
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