Cambodia

MR CRIPPS and MRS HOUGHTON'S JOURNEY TO CAMBODIA

SeeBeyondBorders, a (UK/ Australian) NGO, is a fantastic organisation achieving great results in Cambodia by training teachers to deliver a higher quality of education. Over three years, the pass rate of their grade one to three students in maths has increased from 48 per cent in 2013 to 80 per cent in 2016, which is testament to their hard work.

SeeBeyondBorders has worked in the country since 2010 and has reached over 27,500 Cambodian children through ‘Teach the Teacher’ , a skills development programme improving the quality of education offered by teachers in primary schools.

In Cambodia, over 50 per cent of students do not complete high school.  ‘Teach the Teacher’ was developed to address this by working directly with groups of primary school teachers in rural areas where the need is greatest, and equip them with new skills, competencies and confidence.

The organization was recently awarded the UNESCO-Hamdan bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Prize for Outstanding Practice and Performance in Enhancing the Effectiveness of Teachers for its work.

As you may remember, we (Angela Houghton and Damian Cripps) travelled to Cambodia during January to take part in the ‘Teach the Teacher’ program to support the implementation of the incredible health and maths programs. We also participated in supporting the implementation of a sports carnival with grade 3 to 6 students and an arts visualisation program with a rural school community.  This was the first time the students had participated in a sports carnival, and for many of the community members it was the first time they had used a paint brush and textas.

During 2016, we received overwhelming support from the Murrumbeena Primary School community to raise funds for SeeBeyondBorders. The funds were used to support the training of Cambodian teachers in the teaching of maths, to provide health bags for Cambodian students and to provide maths and health packs for use in schools. 

This was an extremely rewarding experience, through which we became aware of how fortunate our students and teachers are to attend and work in an education system which provides an opportunity for high quality education and teacher professional development.

It was an emotional experience as we became aware that people, no matter where they are in the world, all strive for the same things, health, happiness and an education. Sadly, however, lack of resources severely limits opportunities for many. It was rewarding to leave our 16 day placement in Cambodia knowing that the donations made by the Murrumbeena Primary School community and the time we spent in Cambodia will make a difference to the future health and maths education of thousands of Cambodian students through the resources, health knowledge and teacher professional development we were able to provide.

 We would like to invite you to hear more about our journey and experiences by attending a sharing session on Tuesday 14 February 8.50 -9.20am in the IRC.

To help children in Cambodia get a better future, visit:

www.seebeyondborders.org