Cheng Im* is a 14-year-old girl living with her mother and her younger brother in Chankiri village, just outside of Poipet, in the northeastern province of Banteay Meanchey. She comes from a very modest household. Her single mother, Sreymom, works as an assistant in a beauty salon and earns a monthly wage that barely allows the three to survive.
After a long battle with diabetes, Cheng Im’s father passed away in 2019 when she was 10, leaving Sreymom as the family’s sole provider. Both Cheng Im and her brother are in poor health due to malnutrition and often fall sick, causing them to miss school for days at a time. Growing up in these harsh conditions, Cheng Im often felt hopeless about her future prospects.
However, in 2018, Sreymom appealed to Damnok Toek (DT) for support. She had heard from her friends about the Non-Formal Education (NFE) Centre that Damnok Toek runs in Poipet and came to ask for both of her children to be enrolled in the program. After conducting a thorough family assessment, DT’s social workers concluded that Cheng Im’s household met all the criteria for enrolling children at the centre. Cheng Im was allowed to start NFE in Grade 2. She is now in Grade 6, whilst her younger brother is in Grade 5.
NFE Centre: A Second Chance for At-Risk Students
Damnok Toek opened an NFE Centre in Poipet in 1999 to enable vulnerable out-of-school children from households affected by labour migration on the Thai-Cambodian border to complete their primary education. Unfortunately, due to more lucrative job opportunities in Thailand, many parents choose to migrate for work. Sometimes families will bring their children with them; however, they are often left behind with other relatives. In both cases, children often fall behind in their studies or drop out of school completely.
NFE applies a more flexible approach to education by providing accelerated learning classes allowing children who have dropped out of school to catch up to their grade level by following an adapted learning programme. Moreover, Damnok Toek supports the students’ families by providing food packages, study materials and school uniforms.
Rising to the Challenge
Throughout her years at the NFE Centre, Cheng Im was an excellent student and passed her end-of-year examinations with flying colours, including her Grade 6 exam, which would allow her to proceed to secondary school. However, to ensure she excelled on par with her peers in Grade 7, Cheng Im decided to repeat her 6th year in a public primary school. Since January, she has attended Aphi Wat Primary School in Chan Kiri village, Poipet. She is studying hard to score highly in all subjects.
Cheng Im’s teachers at the NFE Centre said that she had always been diligent, completing her homework and performing other school duties to the best of her ability.
“Attending NFE gave me a chance not only to improve in academic subjects but also to gain very important life skills which I will learn to apply in my daily life,” says Cheng Im. “I am really grateful to Damnok Toek for helping me to continue with school. I now have hope to achieve my future plans!”
*Name has been changed to protect anonymity
