Raksmey and Savada, university students who are on 2-month long internship with SCC, led students to initiate school mapping activities in five villages during the month of August. The activities, like those started in Phoum Stung village in July, are designed to build students' research skills and identify the key barriers to education in the communities where SCC is working.
On August 4 – 9, twenty-seven 5th and 6th grade students from Khnar Chas Primary School visited 167 houses in Khnar Chas and Bass Kralinh villages. Students interviewed residents about numbers of children in their household and the children's school enrollment. Although the village survey is not yet complete, the biggest barriers to education identified so far include lack of money for school supplies and the need for children to work to support basic family needs.
August and September's replanting season has kept many residents busy in the rice fields, making them difficult to interview. Surveying will continue in the coming months, when more residents are at home.
Getting to homes in Khnar Chas Village was not always easy. Here, students wade through flooded fields to reach homes:
Students reconvene at Khnar school after conducting home visits one afternoon:
