CLIP3 quarterly report: October to December 2024

Project Overview

Cambodia is still in the process of rebuilding its education system, which failed during the civil war of the 1970s. In the field of early childhood education, the country faces the following challenges:

1. Lack of teaching resources in Khmer to use in classrooms.
2. Teachers lack the computer skills to create resources.
3. Teachers lack experience in some teaching techniques to perform efficient online research.
4. Available Khmer resources can be expensive, and schools, especially in rural areas, cannot afford to purchase them.
5. Many of the available teaching materials may not align with the curriculum.
6. Schools have very small or no budget for preschool teachers.

These issues occurring in the early childhood education stage, which is the foundation for a child's development, will affect the child's future growth process. Teachers are faced with these issues on a daily basis and wonder how to deal with them.

This project covers five regions in Pursat Province, located in the northwestern part of Cambodia. We at Rermork for Children (R4C) (in conjunction with TukTuk Charity), with 26 classes of 15 schools as partner schools, are working with provincial and district education department staff, preschool teachers, and members of the Rotary Club of Pursat (RCP) to empower teachers and parents, and increase educational opportunities for disadvantaged communities in early childhood education. The following activities will be undertaken over a two-year period to achieve the goal.

CLIP Project Goals

Empower teachers and parents, and increase educational opportunities for disadvantaged communities in early childhood education.

Five steps to achieve the goal

1. Create teaching resources (storybooks, songs, activity games, board games, worksheets, etc.) in Khmer language, using local Cambodian artists, and aligning the government curriculum and Cambodian culture include options that require no printing or materials to remove economic boundaries. And distribute them to the target education offices and teachers.
2. Enhance the “Rermork Digital Library”, a free educational material website for preschools developed by R4C (TukTuk Charity), to make it easier to use and to enrich its contents.
3. Train teachers in seven workshops, not only on how to use the resources but also how to create their own resources. Laptops are supplied, and computer skills training will be conducted by the RCP.
4. Make a platform for sharing teaching materials by uploading resources created by the teachers themselves on the "Rermork Digital Library", so that teachers nationwide can access these materials.
5. Engage education bureau staff from the targeted provinces and districts to disseminate materials to schools beyond the project scope, as well as encourage educators to share materials with parents of the children, we aim to increase access to educational materials for a wider audience beyond the project's reach.

Through this project, we aim to ultimately have the targeted educators give back what they have learned to their respective communities, becoming leaders in further enhancing early childhood education nationwide. However, it is crucial not to forget that the primary beneficiaries of this project are the children. We hope that through the lessons of the educators who have undergone the project activities, children will find school an engaging place, leading to increased attendance and nurturing them into future leaders who actively engage in all endeavors.

About Project

The name of the project

Cambodia Literacy Integrative Project (CLIP)

• January – December 2021: CLIP1
• January 2022 – December 2023: CLIP2
• December 2023 – December 2025: CLIP3

Project implementing organization

Rermork For Children (R4C) (in conjunction with TukTuk Charity), Rotary Club of Pursat (RCP) (managed and funded by Rotary Club of Calgary Downtown)

Target areas

Pursat Province, Cambodia (Pursat City, Kandieng District, Bakan District, Krakor District, and Kravanh District)

Participants

Total 67 members

• Provincial and district education officials: 6 officers
• Provincial Office of Education (POE): 5 officers
  • Director
  • Department of Early Childhood Education
  • Department of Primary Education
  • Department of Education Audit
  • Department of Plan
• District Office of Education (DOE): 15 officers
  • Three people from the five target regions participated; the director of the DOE, the school education division staff, and the early childhood education division staff
• Principals: 15 teachers
• Preschool teachers: 26 teachers

Target Schools

There are a total of 26 classes in 15 schools (26 teachers, 1,135 students)

*There are three types of preschools in Cambodia; independent preschools, preschool classes attached to primary schools, and community schools overseen by the Ministry of Education but operated by the local community.

The CLIP3 covers a total of 15 schools; 7 independent preschools, 6 preschool classes, and 2 community schools.

Project Implementation

Main activities

The project annual meeting

Before the project reached its one-year mark, we held an annual meeting, inviting all project stakeholders. A total of 64 participants attended, including education officers from province, city, and district offices, staff from the target area education departments, principals of target schools, and target teachers.

During the meeting, we presented the activities and outcomes for 2024, as well as the results of the project's midterm survey. For some education officers who had not participated in our regular workshops, this was their first opportunity to learn about our activities. This served as a great opportunity to garner their interest in the project’s future developments.

We also conducted group work sessions, dividing participants into groups to discuss specific topics. These topics—budget allocation, play-based learning, lesson planning, mixed-age classes, and supporting children with special needs—were based on concerns raised directly by teachers during visits to target schools. Each group was designed to include members from various positions, allowing regional education officers who might not usually exchange views to discuss directly with teachers. This provided a valuable opportunity for teachers to convey the realities of their classrooms.

In a post-meeting survey, many participants expressed that the project had provided teachers with new experiences, materials, and teaching methods that were highly beneficial.

Since there are relatively few organizations specializing in early childhood education in Pursat Province, this meeting helped draw renewed attention to TukTuk’s activities. Moreover, it provided teachers collaborating with us an opportunity to reflect on their efforts over the past year.

Resource Package Creation Status

CLIP3 includes the creation of four new original storybooks and their "Resource Packages*". Currently, we are in the process of creating the 11th book, which is expected to be completed in the first half of the next term.

*Resource Package… A package of teaching materials that includes songs, activity games, board games, and worksheets related to the content of the picture book.

Achievement in Social Media Service and “Rermork Digital Library”

We run three open social media (Facebook, Telegram and YouTube) to share teaching resources for preschool teachers and parents.

R4C Facebook

We are sharing updates on R4C's materials and activities three times a week. Visitors can download materials from here or browse the "Rermork Digital Library." Not only educators but also parents can access it. The most shared item this term was the worksheet "ល្បែងគំនូស (Trace Lines)" (350 shares, reaching 19,731 people*), and this worksheet was the most shared resource in 2024.

*Reach… The number of people who saw any content from the Page or about our Page, including posts, stories, ads, social information from people who interact with our Page and more. Reach is different from impressions, which may include multiple views of the posts by the same people. This metric is estimated.

The breakdown of followers:

Public Facebook Group for Preschool Teachers

This is a Facebook group for educators. It serves as a platform where not only posts from R4C are shared, but also where teachers themselves can disseminate teaching material ideas and educational information. The most shared post this season was worksheets posted by a follower (65 shares, reaching 3,887 people). The most shared post was the illustrations posted by a follower (76 shares, reaching 4,267 people).

The breakdown of followers:

Telegram Channel

Similar to the Facebook page, we post R4C teaching materials and early childhood education information almost every day. Followers can download materials from here or browse the "Rermork Digital Library." Channel participants are not limited to teachers; parents can also join. The most viewed post this season was the story of ‘ល្បែងគំនូស (Trace Lines)’ with 1,840 views. The most viewed resource in 2024 was ‘បទចម្រៀង ថ្ងៃនៃសប្តាហ៍ (Day Of The Week Song)’ with 10,600 views.

YouTube

We are posting video teaching materials created by R4C. Many of them include animations, song videos, and instructional videos on activity games, worksheets, and crafts. The most viewed video this season was a song video titled "បទចម្រៀង ពេលសប្បាយ (If You Are Happy And You Know It Song)" with 18,588 views and this video was the most viewed in 2024.

The breakdown of subscribers:

Rermork Digital Library

This is a free educational resource site for early childhood education launched in August 2022 by R4C. All materials can be downloaded free of charge without copyright restrictions. Teachers' own materials are also uploaded to this platform, aimed at empowering Cambodian early childhood education by Cambodian teachers themselves.

The top three most viewed materials, this term were worksheets, classroom decorative teaching tools, and storybooks. Additionally, the most downloaded material was a worksheet titled “ល្បែងសរសេរអក្សរ (Writing-Alphabets)” (157 downloads) and the "ព្យញ្ជនៈកាត ៣៣តួ (Khmer Consonant Cards)" was the most downloaded in 2024 (215 downloads).

The breakdown of visitors:

Measuring Success

Next Schedule (January – March 2025)

• Create the 12th storybook and the resource package
• The 5th workshop (February)
• The 5th follow-up visits (February)