Education is essential in our life. That’s why the CFI Education Advocacy team is doing amazing work with children who want to stop school at a very young age. Usually, when a student wants to stop school, our team follows up with them and their family at their house to understand why they want to stop and discuss how important education is for their future. We work with their parents to support the child and encourage them to get back to school.
Often the problem relates to the family’s economic situation, and the child is encouraged to stop their studies and help the family to earn some income. So, we complete an assessment with the family and see if there is anything we could do to help to ensure the child can still go to school. We encourage the children to continue their studies to pass grade nine and then continue at vocational school to help prepare them with skills for their future.
We recently worked with Thida, who stopped school in grade eight because of the family’s financial situation, meaning they didn’t have the income to support her in continuing school. Thida was a student who did great at school with her studies; she attended school every day and never missed any class. CFI’s Social Work and Education Advocacy team worked with Thida’s family to ensure she could go back to school in the new school semester.
CFI provided education counseling with the child and talked with her parents about the benefits of education. We have encouraged them to get involved in Thida’s education by talking to teachers and helping with her homework. Most importantly we helped them find ways to follow up and monitor Thida’s attendance. We always inform the family when Thida has an attendance issue so they can support her to get back on track.
And after we make plans with the family, Thida is now ready to go back to school and continue her studies when the schools reopen again. “I am committed that I will continue to study and finish my high school,” Thida says. I love Khmer subjects and I want to be a Khmer teacher when I grow up.
A huge thank you to everyone involved with this fantastic work, and we can’t wait to see Thida in her school uniform again!
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