Life in the street children programme

The ‘Street Children Programme’ (SCP), KKEV Cambodia's second facility, aims to enable children from very poor families in the neighbouring Sen Sok slum to complete their schooling. Like the young people in the children's village, the young people are then supported with vocational training so that they can live independently as young adults. 

 

The children are between 7 and 19 years old and attend public schools. Their families live in poverty and are unable to finance regular school attendance for their children on their own. School uniforms and materials cost money that is often not available, especially if several siblings go to school. Many children have to contribute to the family's livelihood, for example by collecting recyclable rubbish.

 

A place at the SCP enables the children to receive academic support in maths, IT and English, they receive a hot meal and are well looked after during the day at school and at the SCP. The SCP teachers liaise closely with the schools and parents/guardians on school-related issues, thus relieving the burden on parents, many of whom have never been able to attend school themselves. 

 

A day in the street children's programme: 

 

The daily routine of the children in the SCP is characterised by the fact that public schools in Cambodia normally teach in two shifts: one in the morning and one in the afternoon.  

 

This is why we also have two ‘shifts’ at the SCP, with around 60 children each, in the morning and in the afternoon. 

 

The ‘morning shift’: 

The staff are at the SCP at 7am and expect the first group of children at 7.10am. The children still have time to tidy up their classroom before they start their lessons at 7.20 am.  In the morning they have 4 hours of lessons in Khmer, maths, English and computer science. They have a 10-minute break between lessons, during which they can play volleyball outside or prepare for the next lesson.  

At 10.30 am, the children have a warm meal before they go home and are at school from 1.00 pm. A favourite meal is fried rice with vegetables or bread with milk.   

 

The ‘afternoon shift’: 

The second group of our children arrive at SCP at 1.00pm and their classes at SCP start at 1.20pm. Some parents/guardians bring their children to SCP as early as 12 noon because they have to go to work; there is always a teacher on duty to greet the children who arrive early and look after them.

 

In the afternoon, the children have the same daily routine as in the morning. At 4.30 pm they are given a warm meal before they go home.