By Wesley Samms | Grants Manager
Kvet is a 9th grade Phnong student at Oraing Lower Secondary School. Her mother, a widow, lives about 12 kilometers away in a small home with bamboo walls and a curtain for a door. She has 2 brothers and 4 sisters. Because Kvet’s home is so far from the Oraing school, Kvet stays at the dormitory during the school year. On holidays she goes home to help her mother work in the fields.
Kvet has been a part of the Phnong Education Initiative (PEI) since she was in the 7th grade. She began at Oraing Lower Secondary school, paying to live in the dormitory, and also trying to cover food and school supplies costs on her mother’s very limited income. She wanted badly to continue her education, but it was obvious that it would not be sustainable for her family. So Lotus Outreach selected Kvet to receive complete academic support through PEI.
Through PEI, Kvet receives books, a backpack, pens, uniforms, monthly stipend, and tuition support. It costs just $265.00 a year to completely support Kvet’s study.
She has greatly enjoyed lower secondary school, and is very glad that she has been able to stay enrolled. She is involved in activities like student council, and she even takes part in the cultural dance program put on by the school.
“I used to be quiet and not very confident before I got the scholarship from PEI. Now I feel confident speaking with different people, and I am good at math and literature.”
The Phnong Education Initiative was conceived to assist Phnong girls and boys with insufficient means to continue their studies at the upper primary and lower secondary levels in the public school system. However, when the first cohort of girls finished lower secondary school in 2003, the program was expanded to create opportunities for students to become Phnong-language teachers.
In 2014, 20 teachers are being trained to provide Phnong language pedagogy to students from this remote and underserved area. Many of our students move directly into teacher training after 9th grade to become elementary school teachers.
Because the need for even basic education is so dire here, Lotus Outreach is trying to cultivate as many teachers as possible, so young students can be educated in their native language.
Your support can help! Donate $20 today and cover an entire month of a teacher’s training!
Thank you for supporting Lotus Outreach!
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