Scholarship

The aim of the project is to provide children, especially girls from rural areas of Battambang, with a quality education from the primary school level to the university in Battambang Town.

The children tend to drop out of school early because:

• The cost of an education is high compared with the income of families who are poor. These costs include school fees, school maintenance, insurance, books, pens and uniforms, many of which have to be paid at the beginning of the school year. It is common for people in this area to have low-wage jobs that pay by the day; therefore it is difficult for parents to pay out large sums in one go, especially in families with three or four children.
• Children themselves are often relied upon to bring home some income to support their family, however meagre it may be. They may gather snails, catch fish, tend the buffalo, weed the rice, or baby-sit their sisters and brothers. The poorest families cannot afford to forego this income and, after just a short time these children have difficulties retaining what they have learnt in school and many remain illiterate like their parents.