MIRO's Field Trip to Kampong Chhnang

Field-Trip Report

Saturday 16 August, 2014.

A full-day field-trip visit to Kampong Chhnang, particularly meeting with Samaki school commission members and employed teachers for signing contracts Kandal village, Phsar Chhnang, Kampong Chhnang province

Objectives of the trip are to inform the provincial staff, school commission members and teachers about the project goals, activities and criteria of selecting needy children to attend the school that MIRO will been supporting with a Vietnamese-Khmer program with funds from The ViDan Foundation. In addition to this, MIRO staff is to meet with village representatives so that they can inform the village people of the project. Lastly to visit some families who never sent their children to school, for the purpose of understanding whether they are interested in MIRO’s school project or not.

MIRO team:

There were four people from MIRO headquarters in Phnom Penh going by car to Kampong

Chhnang. They were: 1). Judith Kunze, Consultant;  2). ANG Chanrith, Executive Director;  3).SOURN Butmao, Deputy Director and;  4). Chiara Maria Natta, Intern.

Short orientation meeting:

When the team reached Kampong Chhnang, we had a meeting at the Samaki school premise with

MIRO’s provincial staff, two Khmer teachers and a Vietnamese teacher as well as a school

commission member. At the meeting, we discussed much about the purpose and main activities

of the school project, contract, and selection criteria, specifically permission and consent from

the provincial Department of Education, Youth and Sport, questions and concerns of the

teachers. Some questions that arose were those concerning the curricula for September, however

the issue was settled after a brief discussion between the MIRO staff and the school teachers.

Additionally, MIRO representative informed the participants about how MIRO is an

independent, human rights NGO without any political affiliations. Then it was explained that the

project was set up for a mixed group of students coming from Vietnamese, Cham and Khmer families. This first-time project focuses only on Grade One and it has to be noted that the school hours are entirely based on those of the state school.

Signing contract:

Following discussion and answering all questions and concerns that had arisen, MIRO representative and the three teachers agreed to sign the contract for a period of three months as a first stage. The contract was made for two stages; first for a three-month period between Sept to Nov 2014, and second for a two month period between Dec 2014 and Jan 2015. In theory, MIRO wanted to hire four teachers for this project and had asked a provincial staff to select them beforehand. The selected teachers had accepted our offer before the MIRO team went to meet them personally on 16 August 2014. However, on the day of the signing of the contracts, one of the two Vietnamese teachers told us that he could not accept this position, without giving a proper reason as to why. Thus, MIRO needs to find a new forth teacher for the project implementation soon, more specifically an additional Vietnamese teacher.

Visiting several Vietnamese poor families:

After a lunch break, the MIRO team discussed about the opinions of the people in the communities and the actual viability of this project. What was stated by the provincial staff was that the Vietnamese families did not seem very enthusiastic about the project because they do not see the value of education and would like to use their children to work with them during the day. The staff also informed MIRO that many Vietnamese do not have birth certificates nor ask for one. This lack of documentation could obstruct a child’s possibility to continue his studies and attaining a good or high level of education.

When speaking about the project being covered completely by MIRO, the provincial staff believed that it would incentivise people enough to send their children to school. However it was mentioned that as soon as all these incentives would stop, the people would still want to have their children at home. This is because it was found that the Vietnamese in the community have a common idea of thinking what the parents could benefit from this project rather than the children themselves.

After having had this internal meeting, MIRO staff got onto two local boats and went inside the Kandal village to spread the word of this project personally to the people. Staff had spread out and contacted three families, one of them being that of the Chief of Group within Community. The Chief was very much enthusiastic about the whole project and was very much appreciative for the initiative. The enthusiasm upon hearing the news was so much that he wanted to make sure everyone in the community knew about this opportunity. Also the other families appreciated the initiative and want to register their children.

We later went to Chong Koh village and spoke to a group chief and informed him of the project and also he was very content upon to hearing news about this project. However, he raised his concerns about the children’s security of being drowned when they travel to school. Finally with the conclusion of the meeting, the Chief had stated that he would ask around the families and see who would be interested and later he would communicate with MIRO’s provincial staff.

Two opinions about the reception of this project were seen after this visit. MIRO’s provincial staff member was concerned and still hesitant about the villager’s response to the project. However this was a different sensation that MIRO had perceived when talking to the families and Chief of community that were spoken to.

Concluding remarks:

At the end of this field trip MIRO is expected to get a formal written consent form by the Department of Youth, Sport and Education by the end of the month of September, allowing for the use of the state school for the implementation of this project. This was reconfirmed in a telephone conversation between Chanrith Ang and the department. Additionally, a communicative line has been set up between the Vietnamese group Chief of Chong Koh village and the Community Chief of Kandal village, who will also correspond with MIRO provincial staff. The teaching contracts have been signed, however one extra Vietnamese teacher must still be sought out. Finally, the criteria for the selection of the children that are to be chosen for this project have been agreed upon.

This report was written by Chiara Maria Natta, Intern, and reviewed by ANG Chanrith