Savong's School

Niki and the students. A recent visitor.

Svay Savong

Savong's School is a volunteer three-classroom school located 30 minutes East of Siem Reap. Established by a local Cambodian in 2005 with Japanese, Kiwi and American support, Savong's School provides free language education to rural school children - and thus a headstart for finding employment in a region where, outside of subsistence farms and family businesses, tourism is about the only employer in town.

Savong's School teaches Japanese and English to the students who also a attend a local state school. These students are keen! Visitors can volunteer to teach here, and the experience is very rewarding. This is good fun for a pair of you! Savong and the teachers will accompany you, so you're not left stranded in the classroom - and, more so, the students (in the morning there are younger students 8 - 12, in the afternoon the students tend to be older 12 - 18) will welcome you with questions. Svay Savong started this school because of his experience in life. He was born in 1981 in the years of poverty that followed the Cambodian conflicts of the 1970s and early 80s - and he has devoted his life to giving children a head start. If you are interested in this experience: a rewarding opportunity to make real contact with locals, Savong can be contacted by phoning 855 12 531 037. He will arrange transport for you. It is a good idea to offer a contribution, and while cash is always welcome, so are pens, feltpens and exercise books.