Why we help
The Bayon English Academy (BEA) is a local Cambodia NGO located in Siem Reap in a small village called Trapeang Ses. Such villages are often not on the itinerary many tourists who visit the nearby Angkor temples. In Trapeang Ses, many children and teenagers are forced to drop out of public school because their families cannot afford the expensive school fees to continue their education. In addition, family responsibilities, such as tending to livestock or collecting firewood, take priority over education. As a result, children grow up with no skills and no education, and job options are limited, mainly to work in construction, agriculture, or even prostitution. You can read all about the lives of our students in Perspectives on Teaching at a NGO in Cambodia.
How we help
One way we help our students is to provide them with quality English language programs and job skills workshops so that they can find work in the tourist industry, a much safer and higher-paying option. Also, we give our students individual attention and guidance in the classroom. Such attention is often missing from their public school education because there are usually 40 to 50 students in one single classroom! Our students have access to a variety of resources – the same resources available to students learning English in developed countries. They are provided with all the necessary supplies to study for free, and learn in a safe, clean environment with professional and caring staff. Our students enrol in programs and workshops that run for one-year, and we limit our classes to less than 30 students so that each student gets individual attention and guidance. You can read all about the success of our program in Bridging Communicative Language Teaching and Task-Based Language Teaching in Cambodia.
