Learn4Life Cambodia

Business Overview

North Entrance Night Markets, Svay Dangkum, Siem Reap, Cambodia.

We currently do this through our 2 schools which provide daily English lessons by native English speakers for up to 800 students. One of our fundamental principles is the payment for classes by the students. We believe making this choice to require students to pay for their classes allows them the dignity they deserve and the motivation for regular attendance and effort.

Overview of Learn4Life Cambodia

Learn4Life Cambodia is a grassroots non-profit organisation, that serves the people of Cambodia through providing quality education at a price affordable by low-income earners throughout the community. We currently do this through our 2 schools which provide daily English lessons by native English speakers for up to 800 students. One of our fundamental principles is the payment for classes by the students. We believe making this choice to require students to pay for their classes allows them the dignity they deserve and the motivation for regular attendance and effort. 10% of our student body is made up of sponsored students from very poor backgrounds with no income. We do not charge more than what is needed to run the school and only Cambodian nationals draw wages from our projects.

Mission Statement of Learn4Life Cambodia

“To promote Growth, Advancement and Prosperity for the people of Cambodia by providing affordable quality education programs, giving more choice to people at all socio-economic levels”

Core Values

The non political and non religious position of Learn4Life Cambodia as a group
The receipt of some sort of payment for the education given allowing dignity and encouraging motivation and commitment
High priority on volunteer welfare as this is a way to ensure long term commitment and continuity of fresh volunteers.
Complete transparency of our accounting and financial management.
The use of Cambodian nationals for all paid employees and works contractors.
Ongoing development of our curriculum and the use of a wide variety of modern learning and teaching aids.
Commitment to the welfare and ongoing support and advancement of all our employees

Funding & Finance

The principal source of Learn4Life schools' income is self generated by the student fees. As this is a non-profit school we simply matched the required funds for each school and divide that cost between the maximum student capacities. All additional funds for school establishment are generated through donations. We have no regular contributors to the school. The donations received so far have been used to help establish the 2 existing schools and to sponsor 40 students currently attending our classes. We do not want the schools to rely on external funding, except for development, this way we will be able to assure a continuity of training without fears of funding cuts.

OUR SCHOOLS

Learn4Life currently has two schools providing English lessons for up to 800 students.

Our main, original school is situated in Siem Reap in the centre of town. We have two classrooms running all day from Monday to Friday with 6 volunteer English teachers living and teaching on the premises. Photos of the school can be found in the photo gallery.

Our second school is situated in a small village 25kms out of Siem Reap. The local villagers desperately want to learn English to increase their work/study opportunities, but cannot afford the long travel in to town every day, to attend our main school. So therefore, we needed to bring our school to the village. This school is set within the beautiful grounds of a local Pagoda amongst the countryside. In this school we have two classrooms running from 4:00pm to 8:00pm Monday to Friday. Two volunteer teachers live and teach in the village. We have one local Cambodian assistant working alongside our volunteers helping to run the school. Photos of this school can be found in the photo gallery.

Class times

Hourly lessons begin from 6:00am through to 9:00pm Monday to Friday. The English classes start very early in the morning and finish late at night as these are the times the average worker has free for study. Many work long hours during the day so either need to study early in the morning before work or in the evening after work. The day time classes often suit other workers on night shift or with flexible hours such as tuk tuk drivers etc. However the very early and late sessions are the most popular times.

In the village school, evenings are the most popular time for study as this suits farming life and also those who are travelling into town for work. For this reason our classes are held from 4:00pm to 8:00 pm Monday to Friday.

There are 4 terms per year, each running for 11 weeks.

Class sizes

The class sizes are kept to a maximum of 20 – 25 students. We believe small classes allow for personalized instruction, and also allow the volunteer teacher to form a relationship with each of the students.

Who are the students

The students attending Learn4Life English School are people of all ages from 15 years of age up, who are often working 6-7 days a week, 10-12 hour days for as little as $50/month! They have very little time, if any, for study to advance their employment opportunities and along with this dilemma, earn such small wages they often cannot afford many of the fees for extra training. So they find themselves trapped, working almost every waking hour, yet never earning enough money to make ends meet,

let alone having any left over for further education, to break free from the poverty cycle. Many of these young adults carry the added burden of supporting their large extended families in the villages.

Who are the teachers?

All of our teachers are native English speaking volunteers from around the globe. Recruiting these volunteers to teach allows the school to keep costs to a minimum while also giving the best possible English language instruction.

Funding of Learn4Life Cambodia

Only $5 per month is charged to enable the school to be self funded. This allows for constant stability for the school and its students. However in the village school, running costs are less therefore we are able to lower the fees to only $1.66/month ($5/ term).

Volunteering of Learn4Life Cambodia

"Wow, what an adventure it's been! Thanks to Mel and her passion for helping the Khmer people, I've had the most amazing experience of my life! I've learnt so much and I am in love with Cambodia and the people that I am staying for another term..." Annette Squires.