About Banteay Meanrith Primary School

Located within Banteay Meanrith Village, Banteay Meanrith Primary School contained three school buildings with a total of seventeen classrooms. One of the buildings with six classrooms was built in 2018 by Child’s Dream Foundation and was still in great condition. The Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports also constructed a building on site in 2004 with five classrooms which was also evaluated as safe and in good condition. The third building with six classrooms, however, was unsafe, in a state of disrepair and on the verge of collapsing. Built in 1996 under Cambodia’s Prime Minister, the structure and building materials had severely deteriorated over the years and was no longer suitable for students or teachers. Immediate action was imperative. The school serves a rather large student body of 1,007 students (451 boys and 556 girls) ranging in age from six to twelve years old with a total of 27 teachers; 14 paid and 13 volunteer (11 males and 16 females). With a student population growing exponentially and limited space at the school, the students and teachers were forced to use the extremely dangerous building for their education. They were desperately in need of more room and a safe space to learn, teach and thrive. This urgent and dire situation was a call to action. Child’s Dream intervened and successfully provided a quality solution by constructing one fully-furnished school building with five classrooms. The construction of the new school building encourages the students to fully participate in their schooling and will emphasize the importance of education to the whole community. Replacing the unsafe building with a new building creates a positive, safe and encouraging space to learn, grow and develop for both students and teachers. We also built eight new toilets to proactively accommodate a growing student population ensuring that hygiene related illnesses are minimalized.