The principal of the Chea Sim Rakchey High School in Prey Veng province’s Reak Chey commune in Ba Phnom district has called on benefactors to provide financial support to repair the roofs of three school buildings.

Chhim Samnang told The Post on June 14 that two 10-room buildings had become very dilapidated since their construction 25 years ago when the school was still a secondary school.

He said the two school buildings were built of stone with roofs of fibre cement, which had become damaged and were leaking, making it difficult for students to study.

“The school does not have the money to repair the leaking roofs. The buildings have 10 rooms.

“We recently held a fundraising Buddhist ceremony to raise money for the renovations, but we only managed to repair seven rooms with corrugated iron roofs.

“It rains a lot during the rainy season so it is difficult for students to study,” Samnang said.

He said the Chea Sim Rakchey High School has been providing education to high school and secondary students, with nearly 1,000 students for the 2022-23 academic year.

The school has seven school buildings consisting of 30 rooms, while the old building needing renovation has two buildings of 10 classrooms. Of the 30 rooms, the school management committee has turned some into a library, a computer room and an office.

The principal, deputy principal, school management committee and teachers at Chea Sim Rakchey High School called on benefactors, parents, alumni, the community and local authorities to help contribute funds for the necessary repairs.

It Naran, a biology teacher in Grade 11 and Grade 12 at the school, said the two old buildings are badly damaged, the fibre cement roofs were leaking and windows were cracked.

“These old buildings were built when the Chea Sim Rakchey Secondary School was established more than 20 years ago, so they are old and very dilapidated. The old buildings are for teaching students in Grades 10 and Grade 11,” she said.

Pav Sothy, the director of the Prey Veng Provincial Department of Education, Youth and Sport, said there were currently 32 high schools in the 13 districts of Prey Veng province, with more than 6,000 students.

“For the support of each high school in the province, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport is the direct donor, following the form of decentralisation and deconcentration,” Sothy said.

In the academic year 2020-21, there were 1,753 A-Grade students in the national high school diploma examination, while in Prey Veng province, there were 89 A-Grade students, 61 of whom were female.