School Building Project

SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAM
   

Imagine you couldn’t read or write. Imagine you knew nothing of the world that exists beyond your hometown. Imagine you had no idea how to prevent common illnesses that were devastating your community. Or worse yet, imagine you didn’t even know your basic human rights, let alone how to fight for them. Too many primary-aged children in Cambodia who aren’t in school, there’s no need to imagine—this is their painful reality. Without access to an education, these children remain voiceless and the cycle of poverty continues. We believe that education provides the highest return of any social investment in the developing world. Through the education component of our Adopt a Village model, donors can help to build schools and libraries, and purchase school furniture, uniforms and basic school supplies. They can also contribute to salaries, in-services, certification trainings and on-site living accommodations for our oversee educators. Together, these projects create a holistic education model, which empowers children and entire communities to break the cycle of poverty for future generations in Cambodia.

Building schools for kindergarten, primary and secondary schools & Libraries that have been requested by school officers, and teachers.

·         Research information of areas that have NO schools in Battambang Province.

·         Preparing budget, plan and builder bids for school building.

·         Contracting with the school constructor.

·         Setup school construction committee to monitor completion of project.

·         Training to committee to monitor school construction.

·         Compiling reports on school construction to DPO staff and donors.

·         Preparing opening ceremony after completion of building.

DPO’s aim is;

•          To build schools where there are no schools.

•          To build a new school that replaces an existing building that is no longer useable.

•         To add additional classrooms to an existing school.

•         To build a middle school where middle schools are not available.

This program relies on close cooperation between DPO Cambodia, the local communities, the Provincial Government and the National Government, via the Ministry of Education.  Preferences are given to rural areas that have an acute shortage of schools in the area.

DPO Cambodia works on the system of building and equipping the school, sometimes with the inclusion of arranging of the teachers, and then passes on the daily running of the school to the government through the Ministry of Education.

Main steps in the program:

DPO Cambodia liaises with Commune and District chiefs of the chosen village for the school. Included in these discussions are representatives from the Ministry of Education to talk about suitability and details of the school to be built. Regularly a wealthy villager donates the land for a school. On other occasions a run-down school site will be used The land is transferred to the national government and ear-marked for a school. DPO Cambodia seeks funding for the planned school. Once funding is received, DPO Cambodia arranges for local contractors to build the school along with local support from the villagers. Upon completion, the school is gifted to the National Government for it to run and maintain.

What does DPO Cambodia provide in its school DPO package?

    -School building

    -Furniture for students

    -Furniture for teachers

    -Blackboards

    -A well

    -Toilets

    -Metal flagpole

What does the government provide?

    -Teachers

    -Curriculum

    -Text books and resources

    -Maintenance

What does the community provide?

    -Land

    -Labour to assist carrying materials to the building site and during construction

    -Accommodation and other support for the teachers assigned to their school

Number of children attending school

Depending on the needs and the funds available, schools either have 3, 6 or 12 classrooms. Often smaller schools are built with the expectation that they will be extended when further funds become available. On average, there are 50 children in each classroom. Attendance is maximized by having a morning class of children followed by an afternoon class of different children.

Cost of schools

3-room school:                $28,000

6-romm school:                $55,000

12-room school:               $95,000

School building

It is evident that there is a high need for more schools in Cambodia. DPO Cambodia invites schools from all over the world to join with us in building schools. The cost of a school building seems prohibitive but if we break the costs down to a cost per student basis in a donor school then it seems far more manageable. For example if a 500 student school would like to build a six room school  then the cost would be only $110.00 per student and halve this for a 1000 student school.

We would encourage representatives of the donor school to come and see what they have done when the school is completed.

DPO Cambodia is able to receive direct donations through a bank to bank transfer: please contact us for further information.