Empower Cambodian children with English language

Dear Supporters, Teachers, Students, Parents and Family Members,

I am deeply grateful for your generous support in enabling Cambodian children to receive quality English education at ODC.With no more threats of Covid-19, day-to-day living in the communities has returned to normal and this has allowed teachers and students back on campus, and with newly built airport, international tourists have returned to Cambodia and businesses are starting to flourish.

2023 has been a hugely busy and successful year for ODC with record number of students enrolled, professional staff training and development conducted, two new local teachers welcomed to our team, standardization of curriculum updated and evaluated, student expectations raised and school facilities expanded!

In 2023 ODC ran 10 classes; at the end each month, we conducted monthly tests to evaluate our students’ progress. Throughout the year, the number of students dropped slightly as some families moved back to their provinces. 173 students sat for the end-of-year exam in November and have achieved great academic results and attendance. 123 students exceeded ODC’s expectations of achieving >80% and have been moved to the next level.

Our ODC team is comprised of a headmaster who also plays a teaching role, 4 qualified teachers, 2 teaching scholars, and 3 volunteers. With support from each other, each member worked tirelessly to meet our students’ need. We encourage and complement, support and mentor one another. As a team, we regularly attended staff training and development to learn a variety of teaching skills – theoretical and practical methods on teaching the four macro skills in English. All training is conducted by trainees from trusted and well-known English teaching schools. With our dedicated and inspiring team, ODC has been able to provide excellent English lessons to underprivileged children. ODC is symbolized by the tree of life, with the core values of compassion, honesty and integrity at its roots and our team lives by these values daily and instill them in our children.

At the end of this year ODC was delighted to welcome two new members to our international Board. The role of this board is to work closely with the founder and headmaster, to fulfil the mission of the organization. The Board ensues that ODC meets Cambodian legal requirements and remains accountable to its donors. One of the main roles of the Board is to ensure that the organization has sufficient resources to advance its mission. We are very grateful to all our Board members for taking an active role in securing funds.

Last year, we celebrated the wonderful achievement of one of our students, who after 8 years of studying English at ODC, was able to attend a university in Cambodia to study TEFL (Teaching of English as a Foreign Language). She is now able to fulfil her dream of becoming an English teacher. She is a remarkable young lady who imbues the great values of ODC and is an amazing role model for our younger students. She is now employed as a part-time English teacher at ODC. At the end of this year, another student who is a teaching scholar at ODC will be able to apply at the same university to study TEFL. Without financial assistance from a major sponsor and Board Member, along with another NGO, these students would not have the financial means to go to university. Our vision of building good, strong, young leaders with a genuine drive to give back and help their community continues to grow.

Quality of education, students’ safety whilst on campus and a nurturing and positive learning environment are our top priorities. This year, we managed to build a new wall with a long bench where children can sit to wait for their class to begin; a veranda attached to the main building was also added to protect our students from rain and heat. Recently, we have received funding for our aspirational plans, which allows us to start building the school fence and gate, filling up the adjacent land and raising the floor of the 2 older classrooms to mitigate flooding. We are particularly grateful for the support of our newest Board member in helping ODC secure these funds.

In 2024, we plan to increase our student enrollment to 240, adding 2 more classes for younger students, aged 5-9. We will have 12 classes, with a maximum of 20 students per class. We expect to have at least 5 qualified teachers, and will continue to train young students to become future teachers. To accommodate the increasing number of students who are still on the waiting list, we are planning to a build a row of 4 more classrooms on the adjacent land being filled/leveled. We wish to implement this plan as early as possible. Thus, we are looking for additional funding because we want to ensure the long-term impact and sustainability. Our exciting journey in academic year 2024 starts on 8January.

On behalf of the whole ODC team, I express our genuine appreciation to you. Without your support and generosity, it would be impossible to produce the results you are reading throughout this report. I am hopeful this report can share with you our commitment and passion – we are doing what we love, through humanitarian, development and advocacy works, serving those in need. Despite some obstacles, all our efforts are worthwhile with many positive outcomes on the lives of the underprivileged children and communities in Cambodia.

Sincerely

Chhaiya IM

Founder and Headmaster, ODC Organization

P.S.  For those interested in even more detail, please follow this link to our 2023 Annual Report.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1da2u7txlmPv8pv6DoaIK21pbEF_m4Dt3/view?usp=sharing