The Cambodia Rural School Project
The Thnout Nippon
Foundation School
(November, 2001)
Thong Kunthea is a 13-year-old fifth grade student at the Thnout Nippon Foundation School. She was ranked seventh among the 45 students in her fourth grade class. Her father drives an old car, transporting goods, and her mother is a housewife. Two of her three siblings are school age, and they are in the first and second grades at the school.
In Their Own Words. . .
| On the new building: | “I like the new building because it is very nice and much more solid than the old one. I was afraid that the old building would collapse when the wind blew, and we couldn’t study when it rained because of the holes in the roof and the rain coming in from the side of the building. We love the new building very much.”
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| On school subjects: | “I like Khmer and mathematics because I can understand these when the teacher explains them. The other subjects are hard to understand.”
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| On her hobbies: | “I help my mother take care of my youngest brother, and to make food, too. My friends and I get together to do the mathematics exercises and give each other suggestions.”
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| On her future: | “I plan to graduate from primary school and then to continue on to secondary and high school, because I want to get more knowledge and become a teacher. My parents also want me to graduate from high school because they want me to get a good job.” |
