Chhaykim is a five-year-old girl who just entered first grade at Daun Neak primary school in her community in Pursat Province, Cambodia. Little Chhaykim is the youngest person in her family of four; she has one older brother in fifth grade. Chhaykim’s father, Mr. Englay, 37, works as a farmer and her mother, Mrs. Sitheun, 26, operates a small shop out of the family home. With their combined incomes, the two parents are able to support their small family.

Chhaykim’s homeland is located in Veal Veng District, a remote part of Cambodia’s western Pursat province, near the Cambodian border with Thailand. The district is situated nearly 125 km away from the nearest major town, the provincial capital of Pursat.

Following decades of conflict and civil war, the forested and mountainous region of Veal Veng District was once a holdout for armed groups, including elements of the Khmer Rogue, well into the late 1990’s. Due to this tumulutuous history, development of infrastructure and basic services in the area has been slow, and teachers, schools, hospitals, roads, and people’s livelihoods in general are still basic compared to many other parts of the country.

A few years ago, the primary school in Chhaykim’s community started offering preschool classes. However, there were still no preschool teachers employed at the school. The school only had primary level teachers, and those teachers were never trained to teach preschool. Moreover, they did not know how to find the resources they needed to become effective preschool teachers. Although Chhaykim was attending the preschool at that time, her parents felt she was not learning anything.

In 2018, Save the Children started implementing the Remote Early Learning project in Chhaykim’s community. In close collaboration with local authorities and the community, the project began supporting the local preschool by improving the school environment and classroom materials. The project has also provided training and mentoring to teachers and school staff about school and classroom management, and especially preschool teaching.

After receiving training and guidance, Chhaykim’s preschool teacher, Mr. Samsak, 22, is happy to see the progress of his young students. “Chhaykim is smart and is a good kid when she is at preschool, and her development is strong including physically, linguistically, mentally, emotionally and culturally. Chhaykim will move on to the first grade in the next academic year,” he said. Academic year 2018-2019 was Chhaykim’s last year in preschool, and thanks to the improved practices at the school, she and her 32 classmates were able to learn and benefit more from their education.

Now in the current academic year (2019-2020), Chhaykim has started first grade with 40 other students. Her teacher, Ms. Sreylhang, 23 said, “Chhaykim is smart, friendly, polite, respectful, mature has good friendship with her classmates and helps out in the classroom. She is quick to understand and change her behavior, with good manners, [she is] respectful to her parents and others, and [she has good] communication with her friends, and helps others.”

Chhaykim wants to be a doctor when she grows up so she can save and heal people in her community and in her family. When we asked what her dream was for the future of her school, Chhaykim replied that she would like to see her “school clean, with a lot of toys and playgrounds for all the children to play.”