The Cambodia Rural School Project
The Paul Singh School
(September, 2001)
Phay Chanthy is a 14-year-old third grade student at the Paul Singh School. She was ranked 40th among the 60 students in her class. Her father is a farmer and her mother sells fruit from a boat at the local floating market. Her two brothers are in first and second grade at the school.
In Their Own Words. . .
| On the new school building: | “I like the new building so much because it is nice, good looking, easy to study in, and has big windows with a cool breeze. Before, we used to have class outside, under the trees. I couldn’t study well then because we had no walls or roof and other kids came to bother the class.”
|
| On school subjects: | “My favorite lessons are mathematics, Khmer, and social science. I like all classes, but I don’t understand them completely.”
|
| On her hobbies: | “When I have free time, I like to clean and decorate my house, help my mother with chopping the wood for cooking, and help her to sell things on the boat. I also like to talk about the lessons with my friends and to go for walks with my friends.”
|
| On her future: | “I plan to graduate from primary school and continue to secondary school. If I am able to graduate secondary school, I would like to go to high school. My parents have encouraged me to study hard. If my family can afford it, they also want me to graduate from high school. They want me to become educated because they don’t like ignorance and they want me to be a good daughter.
“When I grow up, I want to be a teacher of Khmer in second or third grade because I want to improve the ability of those younger than me to learn about our language.”
|
| On traveling: | “I have only left the village to climb the mountains in this district. If I could go anywhere, I would like to go to Phnom Penh because my great uncle and brothers are there. I would like to work with him in his shop in Phnom Penh. If I could have any job, I would like to run a cell phone calling stand because I think I would like it very much.”
[In many areas of Cambodia, there are no landline telephones. Therefore, in the areas with cell phone access, there is often one person who operates the phone for the village, delivering messages and making calls for a small profit, in the place of public phone service.]
|
| On education in her family: | “I don’t know how far my parents went in school because they never told me. I do know that my older siblings went to high school but dropped out to get married. Now they are all working in Phnom Penh.”
|
| Message for Mr. Singh: | “I would like to thank Mr. Singh for supporting the new school building which has allowed me to study. I wish him good health and eternal youth.” |
