The Aeon Orange School

The Cambodia Rural School Project

The Aeon Orange School

(July, 2001)

Chea Kumlay is a 14-year-old fifth grade student at the Aeon Orange School. She was ranked fourth among her 30 classmates at the end of last year. Her parents are farmers and her older sister is in secondary school.

On the new building:	“Having a new building is exciting. It is very pretty and the old building was very dirty and bad in the rain.”
On school subjects:	“I like social science because it is important for me to know. I don’t like mathematics because I do not understand it well.”
On her future:	“My mother wants me to go to secondary school and high school. She has told me that I do not have to get married first. I want to finish high school and get a good job. I would like to work in a garment factory because it is good money and I can provide for my parents when they are older and earn money to spend myself.” [In Cambodia, it is common for women to get married at age 15 or 16. Most women stop going to school when they get married.]