School: Trapeang Ropov Junior High School
Writer : Mr. Sann Sart (Teacher in-charge)
Education and EDF Scholarship Program

Education situation at Trapeang Ropov Junior High School, which locates Trapeang Ropov village, Preak Thnoat commune, Tuek Chhou district, Kampot province, has faced with some obstacles for education enhancement and enrichment and dropout. Student’s dropout is also one of the main challenging issues for the school; the critical reason of this circumstance is families’ economics condition; their main business or career in area is fishing. Fishing requires at least two persons; some families, due to lack of manpower, need their children help fishing so that to get income for the daily living; this often makes children have to skip their class.

From day-to-day, number of skipping is accumulated and some students lose intention and desire for schooling, are afraid or ashamed of going to school, cannot catch up the lesson and concentrate only on how could they fish and find money to support family; finally, dropout becomes their choice and dealing with dropout also comes to be school problem.

Fortunately, this problem has been better while the present of EDF Scholarship Program has started to Kampot; the scholarship has been provided to the poor children who are starving to study and intend to change and develop their future through education and it also encourages teachers be easier in teaching as well.

For the real fact, Surng Sreimom, an 8th grade student and 17 years-old schoolgirl, is benefiting from this program; her father Mr. Mom Surng, was dead of disease since she was a young and her mother Mrs. Chim Chhaem an 45 years old is working as mate [taking care old lady at one house] in Phnom Penh. She earns USD 50 per month.
Sreimom is the only child in family that has lived with unhealthy grandma that unable to work; Sreimom is one of outstanding student in class and likes to study Biology and dream is to be a staff at any NGO. After class, she normally does house work because her grandma is too old and unhealthy to do those stuffs; she gets out to work as labor to peel crab’s carapace and claw during weekend and vocations and normally earns from USD 0.75 – 1.25 per day. Sreimom has nasal disease that brings problem to her lung; she, due to lack of nutrition, used to unconsciousness at school.

Sreimom has struggled with her study so that to achieve her dream; she has never intention to give up her study though her health problem and poor living condition. She said that “EDF scholarship helps my study and encourages me to study until to complete school to achieve my goal”.

EDF scholarship has played important role in education development; it has effectively increased the enrolment of students at this school and retained the students from dropout.