The Aeon Group School No. Ten

The Cambodia Rural School Project

The World Mate School Number Eight

Mr. Khem Srang. The signboard behind him reads: “Donated by Toshu Fukami and the Social Fund 2001.” (November, 2001)

Mr. Khem Srang is the director of the World Mate School Number Eight. He is 56 years old and married with nine children, two of whom come to study at the school.

On the new building:	“I am very, very happy to have a new concrete building at the school. As the school director, I will do my best to maintain this achievement.”
On his personal history:	“In 1962, I left middle school in Stung Treng province because I was sick. Two years later, I was ordained as a Buddhist monk. I served as a monk for seven years. After the end of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979, I was made a teacher here, in my native village, and I have been a teacher since then. In 1993 I was appointed as the director of the school.”
On teaching:	“I was not interested in being a teacher, but after 1979, there were no educated people left behind, so the local authorities came to me and asked me to help with teaching children in the village.”
On school subjects:	“Most of the students in this school are weak in mathematics but good at Khmer. So, I have told my teachers to emphasize teaching mathematics.”
On problems with the school:	“This year, there are only 10 students in sixth grade. The number of students in the lower grades is higher; we usually have 40 to 45 students in fourth grade. The enrollment gradually drops after fourth grade because the students worry that they will not be able to continue on to middle school and high school. The parents of my students are poor and they have no money to support their students during high school in the provincial town, about 60 km away from the village. In 1980 there was a dormitory in the provincial town that provided food and lodging for students from remote villages, but now the government provides only lodging.”