The last time we visited PUC Takhmau campus in 2019, the building was still in the middle of its construction, but now it has a magnificent classroom, reception desk, office, and computer room.
Since it had been so long since our last visit, it was necessary to discuss and confirm various matters, so we decided to visit the campus three times during our stay.
After greeting, we went around to each classroom and handed out Buddhist picture books to the students.
At present, the school has a total enrollment of about 300 students, including 6 elementary school classes, 2 IT classes, and 6 evening classes.
They have eight teachers, including foreigners and Buddhist monks.
Soon after opening, the school was forced to close due to the spread of the coronavirus, and for the next two years it continued to open and close repeatedly.
The school switched to online classes, but due to various reasons, including problems with the Internet connection, this did not go as smoothly as they had hoped.
The number of students and teachers continued to decline, but this year the situation finally calmed down and the number of students began to increase gradually from the new school term in September.
As those of us who have been supporting the school since its establishment, we have been hearing about its plight through the Internet, but have been worried in Japan because the coronavirus has prevented us from traveling to there.
So I was relieved that the school somehow managed to avoid closing.
However, it seems that there are still many problems to be solved, including problems in recruiting students, salaries for teachers and staff, and rent for school buildings, among other management issues.
In recruiting students, parents' incomes have been decreasing due to the Corona disaster, and some of them cannot afford to pay tuition fees, so excessive discounts, such as cutting tuition fees in half, have resulted in teachers and staff being unable to pay their salaries, teachers quitting due to low salaries, and students in regular classes, such as evening classes, have increased compared to full-time classes. The number of students enrolled in regular classes, such as evening classes, has increased compared to the number of students enrolled in full-time classes, and the profit margin for regular classes has decreased because of the lower tuition fees.
We told them that we've produced a video based on Buddhist sermons for the moral education of children, and that to promote health and hygiene, we will make hygiene education and first aid easy for children and their parents to understand, and that we also plan to make videos of these topics, and link them to the PUC website and SNS so that everyone can see them.
In terms of future plans, they would like to take advantage of having five foreign teachers to create an international class that focuses not only on English, but also on other foreign languages such as Japanese, Chinese, and Korean, and they would also like to enhance other computer courses.
During the second visit, Mr.Savon's wife, Thearith, joined us to discuss ways to promote PUC Takumau School.
As a branch school of the 10 traditional Pangninya Sastra University schools nationwide, PUC Takmau should clearly define its unique characteristics and concept, and use every possible means to make it widely known to the community, including a website, SNS, flyers, posters, videos, and postings.
The concept is: "P U C Takmau School focuses on character development rooted in Buddhism from the early childhood education stage, and nurtures individuals who combine intelligence, morality, and compassion."
We discussed the following points;
Promote the community by actively engaging in social activities in a cost-effective manner.
For example, regular cleanups of temples and towns, participation in events, etc.
When creating posters and flyers, we will share ideas and images with each other.
On our third visit, we had the children watch our newly produced video "The Tale of King Ashoka" and interacted with them. We were very pleased with the children's response.
We also met with Dr. Kol Pheng, President of PUC, who was very pleased when we showed him the video. Then he asked us to make more videos like this one. He said ' You can choose any one of these 50 stories as your favorite subject.' We were very pleased to hear from him about that.
In two to three years, a new airport will be built in Takmau, and the town is expected to develop greatly. The population will increase much more than now, and more people will work in Takmau without having to go to Phnom Penh to work.
We parted with hope and renewed determination for the future, knowing that the hard work we have put in to train good students and teachers, even under difficult circumstances, will eventually be rewarded.
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