It is 1pm on a Thursday and the students are shuffling in. Nagaya Keiko, a Japanese school teacher, stands at the head of her classroom with a melodica and shows the children how to fit the mouthpiece.

Cambodia suffers from a lack of early childhood care education – access to early childhood schooling of three-, four- and five-year-olds is at 16.6, 29.1 and 61.4 per cent respectively, according to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica).

Jica is supporting the human resources development goal under the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport’s Education Strategy Plan 2019-2023 to improve the capacity of teachers and the learning outcomes of students.

It has built two pilot teachers colleges, one in the capital and the other in Battambang town, as a part of its six-year Technical Cooperation project to implement the “12+4” programme, ensuring that teachers enter the workforce with a foundation of four years of post-secondary education after high school.

Currently, 18 Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer (JOCV) teachers are in Cambodia to better the Kingdom’s early childhood care education.

Keiko, a 30-year-old native of Nagoya in Aichi prefecture, arrived in Cambodia eight months ago after being accepted in the JOCV programme.

She spent 70 days learning to read the Khmer language in Japan before travelling to Battambang town to teach at the Anuwat Primary School located in the Provincial Teacher Education College.

Keiko cycles 4km to work each day and spends her evenings at a nearby pagoda learning to speak Khmer with monks.

She told The Post via a translator that she “came to Cambodia because she learned of its painful history and wants to help the country”.

“It is difficult to make children happy when you feel sad at the same time [but] I like the people of Cambodia and they have a kind heart, so I really love it here.

“Cambodia is facing difficulties because although there are enough schools, there are not enough [primary school] teachers,” the Aichi University of Education graduate said.

Keiko teaches 361 students, ranging from Grade 1 to Grade 6, teaching physical education and science to the higher grades.

In a candid moment away from cameras and reporters after she had completed her afternoon classes, students were seen asking for hugs, while taking turns to impress her with their newly acquired melodica skills.

She said she had applied for the JOCV programme while teaching music at a primary school in her hometown.

When asked how Cambodian students differ from her former pupils at Narawa Elementary School, Keiko measured her words before answering playfully.

“Japanese students are very different from the ones in Cambodia. Students in Japan go to class and sit down when they hear the school bell, and when the teacher speaks, they listen. But in Cambodia, the children like to play,” she said between giggles, using her krama to shield her laughter.

Her students here do not have the same luxuries as those in Japanese schools, Keiko professed, but the teacher is optimistic that the children have a bright future ahead of them.

Tep Vandy, the deputy-director of the Battambang Teacher Education College, said she was appreciative of Keiko’s dedication to the school and her students.

She stressed that it was valuable having a teacher of her calibre and with her passion at the college for fellow educators to follow her example.

Tep added that Keiko’s passion was “indicative of the work that the government of Japan is doing in the Kingdom”.

“So far, Battambang Teacher Education College has trained two [classes] of teachers using the 12+4 programme, and it is crucial for students to receive the best training from qualified teachers to improve the human resource capacity of Cambodia and to increase student enrolment,” Tep said.