Sambo village is located in Pongro Kraom commune, Chi Kraeng district, Siem Reap province, approximately 75 kilometers from Siem Reap town. There are currently 26 children between 3 and 5 years old in the village.
Before 2017 kindergarten-aged children were unable to attend Early Children Education (ECE) due to the remote location of the village and its distance from the nearest public school. This meant they were unable to participate in pre-school education intended to prepare them for entry to primary school aged 6.
In 2017, the village established a community kindergarten class in Sambo at the village chief’s house, before moving to a small shelter nearby. Classes were held in very basic conditions and the students didn’t even have chairs or a table to write on.
TGF’s Children’s Education Program (CEP) worked with the community to identify the challenges and implement solutions to improve the kindergarten and raise standards. We collaborated with the Provincial Office of Education (PoE), District Office of Education (DoE), and local authorities to train teachers on teaching methodology and develop the Early Childhood Education (ECE) committee to manage the community kindergarten and train them on their jobs and responsibilities.
We also conducted exposure visits for teachers and ECE committee members to local community kindergartens supported by partner NGO’s to understand how to mobilize the community, classroom design, school yard layout, and playground infrastructure helping them to envision the future of their kindergarten and implement a plan to get there.
Rath Leave, the ECE teacher explained, “I feel very happy and very grateful to TGF, which always supports us until today. Our ECE class is now recognized by the government ministries. Without TGF, we wouldn’t have that done yet”.
