August 2008 - Posts

• WMT Construction – Week 8: The Walls Go Up

  The new classrooms and toilets at Wat Mon Thyean Primary School are nearly 45% complete, as more brick is laid by local laborers and PHV Construction Company. School Support Committee members, with Bunrith, SCC's construction engineer, were busy this week completing inspections of the company's work for authorization of the first payment of $18,300 to the contractor. Meanwhile, parents and other residents of the Wat Mon Thyean community pooled $75, the first installment of their $250 contribution to the new classrooms. The money will be paid to PHV next week. This week, the School Support Committee and SCC also signed a contract with a furniture-making operation in Svay Leu for the production of 37 student desks and benches, 4 teachers' desks and chairs, and a meeting table and 12 chairs for $2,608. The furniture is to be delivered in October, once the new classrooms are complete. Classrooms take shape:     Three toilets take shape:   Posted Aug 24 2008, 10:20 AM by Andrea Messmer Filed under: scc news wat mon thyean classrooms toilets walls

• SCC Announces Programme Changes

  Over the past year, SCC has evaluated its programmes, refined its mission, assessed Cambodia's most pressing education needs, and researched the work of Cambodia's Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport and other non-governmental organisations (NGOs).  The result is an improved strategy designed to address current education needs and contribute to long-term, sustainable development. SCC's improved strategy immediately impacts the charity's current School Adoption, Teacher Sponsorship, and Child Sponsorship Programmes.  We hope you will find these programme modifications and improvements as exciting as we do.   From Primary School Adoption to Primary School Development As SCC moves into its seventh year of operation, we are pleased to announce a NEW and exciting Primary School Development Programme to replace the current School Adoption Programme. Since its foundation, SCC has adopted needy primary schools, provided them with essentials for education and been there to ensure that these are used well and that children go to school. Now, rather than continue this top-down adoption approach, we want the communities in which we work to be able to continue to develop and govern their schools long after we have left. We want to empower local people with the skills and confidence to tackle their own educational problems unassisted by charity. We will talk and listen to communities and let them tell us what is important to them, what they can contribute, and what educational resources or activities they are willing to maintain, independently, without outside help. This requires an investment in people: in SCC staff to work with the schools and communities, and in the schools and communities themselves.  We believe that this capacity-building approach will make a sustainable difference to the access and quality of education and is an exciting way for SCC to grow and take our work forward. To learn more about the Primary School Development Programme please click on this link or access the document from the Downloads page.   Withdrawal of Teacher Sponsorship Programme With implementation of the Primary School Development Programme, SCC will withdraw its Teacher Sponsorship Programme, namely supplementation of teacher and school administrator salaries.  New strategies, such as teacher capacity-building and school resource provision, will provide alternative motivation to teachers and administrators while better catering to long-term sustainable development.   A Refined Student Sponsorship Programme SCC is also pleased to announce a new Student Sponsorship Programme to replace the Child Sponsorship Programme. The new programme is designed to maximise impact and ensure the most vulnerable students from the most disadvantaged areas have the opportunity of a secondary education. SCC is committed to continuing the sponsorship of students in the current programme for the duration of their secondary education. New students to the SSP will be selected based on objective criteria which will include parental support, previous educational success and commitment. Sponsorship will initially cover lower secondary education but students will then have the opportunity to apply for a further three years of support for upper secondary school. To learn more about the new Student Sponsorship Programme please click on this link or access the document from the Downloads page.   Posted Aug 16 2008, 03:33 PM by Georgina McLaren Filed under: news, teacher sponsorship, student sponsorship, child sponsorship, primary schools

• WMT Construction – Week 6: Classrooms Take Shape

  The new Wat Mon Thyean classrooms began to take shape this week as PHV and local laborers erected rebar and formwork for the building's concrete columns and laid the first bricks for construction of the exterior wall. Five foremen have joined the team of workers at the site, leading brick laying and concrete column construction work. Now 35% complete, construction continues to be on schedule for October 13 completion. Meanwhile, the School Support Committee convened with the owner of a wood shop from Svay Leu, nearly 30 km from Wat Mon Thyean, to finalize the order for classroom furniture. The School Support Committee, together with Jay and Bunrith, have designed furniture to accommodate the small size of students in Kok Russey Kang Cherng Village. A contract will be signed with the wood shop on August 18, following an inspection of their facility. Classrooms take shape, as columns are erected: Bricks for the first exterior wall are laid: Two women from Kok Russey Kang Cherng carry bricks: Posted Aug 07 2008, 08:55 PM by Andrea Messmer Filed under: scc news wat mon thyean classrooms construction

• WMT Construction - Week 5: National Election Slows Progress

  Last Sunday, Cambodians took to the polls, participating in their national election. The weekdays around election day were declared public holidays so that voters could return to their homelands to vote. As a result, construction at Wat Mon Thyean halted for five days. Although progress has been slow this week, the workers completed compaction of the ground stone and much of the rebar installation. Despite the election, the school support committee (SSC) convened twice this week for training. Although part of this week's training focused on technical areas, the SSC also learned a skill for making communication with SCC more efficient, particularly for issues that arise at the construction site -- how to operate a mobile phone. Members of the SSC, all of whom are in their 60's and 70's practiced dialing, answering, and holding a phone to their ear. For three of the members, it was their first time holding a phone. SCC and the SSC also made a trip to a neighboring primary school built in 2005. They took note of cracks in the building's floors and brainstormed ideas to present to the contractor for preventing the same problems at their new school building.   Workers install ground slab rebar: Workers cut rebar: Jay teaches a school support committee member to use a mobile phone:   The WMT SSC visits a neighboring school built in 2005, to learn from their issues related to quality of construction:   Posted Aug 02 2008, 04:03 PM by Andrea Messmer Filed under: scc news wat mon thyean construction mobile phone training

• Cambodian School Year Comes to an End

  Teachers and students are now enjoying a holiday from their work and studies, since the end of the school year in July. Although the official school calendar runs through the end of month, most schools close earlier, once final exams are taken and scored. Last Sunday's national election, which employed many teachers and school directors, is also presumed to have contributed to this year's early school closures. In many cases, SCC-supported schools were among the only schools in their clusters open the last two weeks of the month. Although teachers and students are on school holiday, their work continues in a different setting -- the rice fields. August and September is the uprooting and replanting season. Registration for the 2009-10 school year will start on September 15. Classes resume in early October. Posted Aug 02 2008, 03:56 PM by Andrea Messmer Filed under: scc news school year end rice planting