CURRENTLY THESE ARE OUR GREATEST NEEDS
Contributing to these intitatives steers more students towards brighter futures!
CREATING OUR DREAM TEAM!
We have 20 teachers in the field across our projects, overseeing the extra curricular subjects of English, science, computers and more. Overseeing them is our core team of field directors and admin staff who maintain the framework and breadth of operations.
Many of these amazing individuals are either former students, or came in at the early days of our organization and have evolved and grown along with us, making huge contributions to our development along the way.
We believe in giving opportunities where we see enthusiasm and a thirst for growth, and often train members into their entry teaching positions, as well as giving all team members regular access to skills training so that we in turn are serving our students to the absolute best of abilities. These include internal trainings, peer coaching tours and teacher exchanges, as well as external courses and extra English classes.
We have seen how quickly teachers in the field and our HQ staff can learn and apply new concepts and skills. Scaling up these offerings for the 30 staff who benefit from it will have a direct and immediate impact on our students, so we’d like to increase the current budget to $4500 this year.
KEEPING KIDS CURIOUS
Last year we told you about the new Kroojchmar title – a dual-language Khmer & English magazine, produced by a pool of Cambodian talent, that features illustrated scenes from across the country, and encourages drawing and other creative skills, aiming to expand young brains and horizons. With your generous help, we were able to purchase a year subscription and introduce this great tool across our libraries.
The subscription is up for renewal and it’s been such a hit with students that we want to renew for another year. At our recent teacher exchange, librarians shared that especially primary students (Grades 4-6) enjoy coloring together and writing about the scenes shown. This activity encourages group work skills, improves writing skills, and – crucially – stimulates curiosity and creativity, as students imagine the places in the picture, ask questions to find out more information, and use it as a springboard to make up their own stories.
‘Kroojchmar’ – meaning ‘lime’ in Khmer – really does spark the zest of creative engagement in students! $300 will enable us to keep this fun resource in our libraries for another year.
READING ROCKS!
Encouraging a love of books will always be a big focus for PLF. For students of course, and their families too – in the push to improve literacy rates and the value of education in the wider community. We run 7 libraries in total, which requires a wide range of titles and shelves-loads of books. Keeping these all stocked with engaging material costs $2,000 per year.
KEEP ON TRUCKIN’
Our project at Srayang Learning Center in Preah Vihear could not function without the trucks which transport over 100 kids from their remote villages every day. Our 3 trucks pick them up at dawn and ensure they are safely home again by dusk. Each truck costs about $350/month to get these kids on the road to their brighter futures.
DING DING!
With 1500 bikes in the field carrying students to and from school every day comes a lot of repairs and parts needed to keep them in road-worthy condition. We hold regular bike clinics to fix pedals, chains, brakes, baskets, tyres, wheels and bells. The costs for one year including mechanic labour and parts comes to $1,900.
MAKING THE GRADE
In upper secondary, students receive free education for only part of the day. After that, they must pay for private classes in order to get the full curriculum and pass exams. Because of this, students living in poverty do not have an equal chance of graduating Grade 12. In response, we award around 30 scholarships every year at $250 each, totalling $7,500.
MORE SEATS AT THE TABLE
The desks at Koh Ker have served us well over the last 15 years but are now in need of either refurbishment or replacement. And with a new two-storey block going in at Srayang for larger English & eLearning classes, we need desks galore! Ensuring a seat at the table for all students comes to $3,000.
SWITCHED ON
With a growing focus on computer classes, we are now running tech labs at Chey, KVLC, SLC and ULC. Altogether, these comprise 84 computers which require support with accessories and repairs, as well as the solar panels required to power them. Keeping everyone online comes to $5,000 per year.
BOOSTING BRAINS
In addition to the filling and nutritious daily breakfasts that primary students receive, we also try to serve a monthly all-you-can-eat lunch at Koh Ker and Romchek schools, where many families still live with food insecurity. These lunches provide an extra boost to students, who are encouraged to take home servings for their families as well. Pre-Covid, these were facilitated by visitors coming to take part; post-Covid, we are still not back to receiving regular visitors to fully reinstate this. One monthly lunch costs $350, bringing the total for the year to $8,400.
UNI SCHOLARSHIPS
Due to our finely-tuned programs in the primary grades, more students are now staying the course all the way through school, with Grade 12 graduates breaking into higher levels of academic achievement in turn. We continue to grow our university scholarship program accordingly, providing awards that cover all tuition fees, study materials, a laptop and living stipend. $7,000 ensures that a student from an impoverished family can take advantage of the same opportunities as the elite; and go on to contribute to a more equitable future for their communities and their country.
Looking for another way to join in? Head over to our Get Involved page and see if there is something just right for you!