We haven't completely figured out the school hours yet. It seems like kids go about 7 a.m., come home at 11 for the obligatory 3 hour siesta, back to school at 2, then home again somewhere around 6 ish. What we HAVE figured out is that when kids leave the school - they torpedo out like bats launched from a cave. A zillion bluish-white shirted kids with black pants or skirts riding ancient bikes (sometimes 2-3 per bike) vomit onto the highways and scare the beejeebies out of drivers like me. No such thing as school zones (although there are cross walks which are ignored by pedestrians and drivers alike). It's human dodge ball at 40 miles/hour. The locals seemed to have figured it out though - I've never seen an auto-bike accident (credit the kids and NOT the drivers). Bikes are the lifeblood of school kids. Without them, ignorance and illiteracy become the inevitable future. In Cambodia, "no child left behind" is really about bikes.
The unfortunate truth, however, is that some families are too poor to afford even a crappy bike. And some of the poor families live so far out in the boonies, that it is impossible for kids to walk to school. They remain illiterate urchins working the family garden patch or begging in the streets.
Public education, which we take for granted and kids of ALL generations have whined about, is a luxury in Cambodia. The government provides half-day classes for grades 1-8. The other half the family must pay for. If they can't afford it, the kids don't go. And if kids can't pass an end-of-year test to get to the next grade, they must drop out. It's stealth wealth. It ensures that those with money will continue to be the ruling class. Some poorer kids overcome the odds and find a way to stay in school, but it isn't the norm.
It's heartbreaking - which made a service project driven by the LDS Charities Foundation such a Godsend to a bunch of rural families. All 16 of the Sr. Missionaries (code word for "old") in Cambodia traveled with LDSC to deliver 500 bikes to back-country school children. We started with the older kids (they can pump their sibs on the back) and continued down the age line until all the bikes were gone. It was a cool experience.
We haven't completely figured out the school hours yet. It seems like kids go about 7 a.m., come home at 11 for the obligatory 3 hour siesta, back to school at 2, then home again somewhere around 6 ish. What we HAVE figured out is that when kids leave the school - they torpedo out like bats launched from a cave. A zillion bluish-white shirted kids with black pants or skirts riding ancient bikes (sometimes 2-3 per bike) vomit onto the highways and scare the beejeebies out of drivers like me. No such thing as school zones (although there are cross walks which are ignored by pedestrians and drivers alike). It's human dodge ball at 40 miles/hour. The locals seemed to have figured it out though - I've never seen an auto-bike accident (credit the kids and NOT the drivers). Bikes are the lifeblood of school kids. Without them, ignorance and illiteracy become the inevitable future. In Cambodia, "no child left behind" is really about bikes.
The unfortunate truth, however, is that some families are too poor to afford even a crappy bike. And some of the poor families live so far out in the boonies, that it is impossible for kids to walk to school. They remain illiterate urchins working the family garden patch or begging in the streets.
Public education, which we take for granted and kids of ALL generations have whined about, is a luxury in Cambodia. The government provides half-day classes for grades 1-8. The other half the family must pay for. If they can't afford it, the kids don't go. And if kids can't pass an end-of-year test to get to the next grade, they must drop out. It's stealth wealth. It ensures that those with money will continue to be the ruling class. Some poorer kids overcome the odds and find a way to stay in school, but it isn't the norm.
It's heartbreaking - which made a service project driven by the LDS Charities Foundation such a Godsend to a bunch of rural families. All 16 of the Sr. Missionaries (code word for "old") in Cambodia traveled with LDSC to deliver 500 bikes to back-country school children. We started with the older kids (they can pump their sibs on the back) and continued down the age line until all the bikes were gone. It was a cool experience.