Banteay Srei district is in Siem Reap province, which is one of Cambodia’s poorest. Our earliest work as an organization began at Knar village, located between Siem Reap city and Banteay Srei temple. With the majority of the community living in poverty, the allure of sending children to sell trinkets to tourists at the temple was far greater than sending them to a poorly managed school which lacks resources. As in Preah Vihear, our work began inside the primary school, focussing on creating the pull to get kids into class. But as our program strategy shifted, Knar became the first location where working outside of the public school created a favorable approach. 

Knar Village Learning Center intakes students from Knar Primary School during Grades 4 to 6 and they remain students of the Center all the way through high school. Our programs here include:

• Lunch for Primary School Students
• Clean water & sanitation
• Hygiene and first aid-school nurse (Grades 4-6)
• Uniforms and school supplies
• Bicycles on graduation Grade 6
• Enrichment programs:
• Children’s Lending Library (Grades 4-6)
• Community Lending Library (Grades 7-12)
• English (Grades 4-12)
• Remedial Khmer (Grades 4-8)
• Remedial Math (Grades 4-8)
• Science Lab (Grade 6)
• Arts & Crafts, Chess & Music Clubs (Grades 5-8)

• IT Lab and eLearning (Grades 9-12)
• Teacher & School Administration Support
• Solar Power & Facilities budgets
• Workshops on a range of subjects from nutrition to hygiene to environment – supporting kids’ understanding of how to look after themselves and the world around them. 
• Mentorship & Career counseling
• Scholarships:
• At age 17, (usually around Grade 10) those students who wish to opt out of school can apply for Vocational Training which we facilitate
• Grade 12 students can apply for High School Scholarships for their final year, and for University Scholarships 
• Our Community Library extends to parents as well as our Workshops, on subjects such as domestic violence, family planning and human rights

At Grade 11 any students with a clear plan for College, the right grades and the character needed to support their academic goals can apply to our Scholars’ Dorm in Siem Reap where they will be prepped for College. Applications are open to Banteay Srei students under the same conditions as their Preah Vihear counterparts. But with the standard of high schools here being higher than in the remote areas, plenty of students have graduated from Banteay Srei high school and received PLF university scholarships without the assistance of the dorms. Therefore it is not a requirement that they come to the Dorm to prep for College, but that said, when they do we see that they perform much better at University.