My friends and I first encountered this school on a Facebook post, posted by one of the current teachers teaching at the school, asking for donations to rebuild the school. The original caption of the post states: លោកគ្រូកាលណាទើបបានក្ដារខៀនថ្មី? តុអង្គុយថ្មី? ថ្នាក់រៀនវិញរង់ចាំតែថ្ងៃរលំ (Translate: Teacher, when will we get a new board? New sitting table? The classroom is waiting for the day it collapses…).

Location:27 Sen Chey Primary School is located at 27 Sen Chey Village, Damrey Pond Commune, Chhlong District, Kratie Province

It is heartbreaking to witness how so many deserving children are struggling to receive basic education. As humans, we should feel obliged to do everything we can to make sure these children receive what everyone deserves; education. We contacted the teacher to get more details relating to the school, and realized how large of an issue it was.

The main issues faced by this school are the following:

1) The entire school is a one classroom building with no proper walls or roof shown in the picture. There are about 120 students (four grades total), meaning that students need to study in shifts.

2) Although the school does have a principal, there is only one permanent teacher and three on-contract teachers (who are currently not present at the school yet, so one teacher is teaching all classes).

3) The infrastructure of the classroom is in very poor condition, with holes and causing a risk of collapsing even with a normal rainstorm. When it rains, even if it is not pouring hard, the students get wet and the entire classroom leaks. Occasionally, school is canceled for several days due to its poor condition. Most importantly, these students are in danger of simply being in the classroom to learn, with a risk of the classroom collapsing on them.

4) They lack access to adequate school supplies. The wooden chalkboard shown in the picture is evidence of how this school cannot afford even a proper whiteboard.

5) There is no service, electricity or internet access in this area. Communication (it was very hard for us to get in contact with the teacher that posted the post. We have to contact many of his friends to contact him. The teacher has to travel at least 30km away from the school to get minimal internet service to contact us back. ) is very limited and getting help for these children is a huge challenge. These are the major problems faced by the school, and other societies in the world, but there are many more which we are more than happy to elaborate on if needed.

Despite these challenges, these children persevere to attend class because they are thirsty for knowledge, for the education they need not only for their future but the generations after. This teacher still makes the decision to travel 60km away from home knowing that he will be disconnected from family and friends to teach these children. They are the real-life heroes. They inspire us and we believe anyone who sees this story should also be inspired.

As youth who believe in education and the right to education, we are running a project where we will be going to this school in December to experience first hand the challenges faced by these children. My friends and I are trying to raise money by cooking food and dessert and selling them to students in our school. The profit gained will all go to this project. We ask for your support to carry out this project and provide these deserving children a safe environment with a proper shelter and basic supplies, allowing them to embrace education and prosper into future leaders. Thank you so much for your kindness and generosity.