Inclusive School Programs

Two-thirds of our students are enrolled in a single school in our Inclusive School Program (ISP). These students attend a single school that the foundation supports – a school built in a village that has not known formal education since before the rise of the Khmer Rouge in the early 1970s.

In a remote village in Kampong Chhanag province, a tiny community of Cham people built a roof out of palm branches. They worked under the blazing sun inspired by a vision for a school where there had never been one before.

Mr. Lep Ker, a volunteer with 12 years schooling, carried this vision to the United Nations' Human Rights Office in the Capital City. He took it upon himself to represent 64 villagers, and traveled 75 km over dusty roads to find someone to listen to his dreams to educate the children. Without knowing anything about the educational goals of CASF he told his story: "We built a roof for our school, but can find no one to help support teachers, benches, chalk, blackboard, pencils and paper," said Mr. Lep Ker, "Will you help?"

One of the UN workers explained her association as a volunteer with an American Foundation. She would consider his proposal not as a UN official, but as a director of the Cambodian Arts and Scholarship Foundation.

Impressed by the community's commitment and faith in the school, the first one ever in this remote region of Cambodia, our volunter and her husband drove their red jeep over the rough roads through the jungle to meet with the residents of this tiny Cham village. The prospects for the school were exciting, so when detailed reports were sent to the enthusiastic CASF Board in the USA on November 1, 2002, a school was established to educate 120 students entering first grade.

When Fred Lipp visited the school with our CASF directors in Phnom Penh last December, children lined either side of the road with hands pressed together in the traditional greeting. They had waited in the hot sun for three hours for this meeting. Fred shook each child's hand, and then followed the others to the Roof School where our Director led the children in song. The "guests from away" watched boys and girls use chalk for the first time on the secondhand blackboard, exciting as a computer in this world without electricity or daily mail. The children also drew their first pictures on both sides of half pages of paper. Paper is still as rare as money here.

The Khmer Rouge taught their victims, "Your plow is your pencil, and the land is your paper. Work or be killed!" Twenty- five year later, a new generation in this jungle village picked up a pencil for the first time and drew flowers and birds as well as the first letters of the alphabet,

At a meeting in a raised hut, a senior spiritual leader of the village asked Fred whether there would ever be help for a more permanent school building as monsoons were clearly a threat to the palm branch roof during the rainy season. Fred explained,

"Our American foundation has little money, but we have a big heart... perhaps, one day, we will be able to build a permanent school house. For now, the Roof School is an important beginning."

The Muslim leader, with tears in his eyes, replied slowly, "Sir, if I were a Buddhist I would say in the next life those who help us will receive great merit...but I am a Muslim and say only THANK YOU."

Currently the only teachers in the village have up to 12 years of schooling. They are all that is available for this minority, which still struggles with the aftermath of decades of war. According to Cham sources, 132 mosques were destroyed during the Khmer Rouge era, many others were desecrated and Muslims were not allowed to worship. Schools were closed and spiritual leaders and followers were persecuted or killed.

In the summer of 2003, two teachers associated with CASF traveled to the Roof SChool to teach the students and meet with the teachers. As the first ever Westerns to sleep at night in the village, our two volunteers were treated with generosity, respect and friendship. Spending four hours each morning teaching the students was "tough" but a "labor of love" for these two teachers from the Portland area. Afternoons were spent working with teachers around curriculum development, classroom management, and pedagogy.

CASF's Board is exploring, with teachers in the United States, the possibilities of training the village teachers so that they may be more effective. CASF Board has a slide show to help tell the story of the Roof School to school, church, and other interested forums.

Please contact CASF directly for more information.

Individual Pupil Programs
Inclusive School Program
University Women's Program
US-Based Programs