Graduating 9th Grade Class

By Sarakk Rith

In 2010, all students who studied in Grade 9 of Chanleas Dai Junior High School felt very nervous because they needed to take a national examination to start grade 10. Many Grade 9 students approached both government teachers and PEPY teachers about what they were worried about. We asked them what subjects they were not sure about, and they told us Math, Physics, Chemistry and Khmer. They told us that they needed our help to review the material in these subjects, so we thought about what we could do for the students.

To help them prepare, PEPY provided a pilot training and review day. The first training that we did was led by PEPY staff. The students’ feedback was all positive. They told us that they really loved the training. After that we decided to provide them with review classes every Sunday leading up to the big test. These training days were organized by PEPY but led by Chanleas Dai’s government teachers. We did this every week, and the students had enough confidence to take the big test.

On 5^th and 6^th of July 2010, 39 Grade 9 students from Chanleas Dai Junior High sat their exams to be able to study Grade 10. The results were so good! Out of the 39 students, 36 passed the exam. Most of the students came to us and said, “Thank you!” For us, we can say that it is a very good result. We believe that the extra training is very important for students, and what we did was very successful.

Note: For the second year in a row, all 6^th grade students who sat for the cumulative primary school exam at Chanleas Dai Primary School passed their tests. In a meeting last week with Chanleas Dai Primary School staff and teachers as well as the PEPY team, the teachers reviewed the changes they have seen in their school over the last three years. Higher graduation & test passing rates as well as increased teacher and student attendance were listed as some of the many positive changes they have seen in their school. We hope that next year we will be able to support the JHS program even further and have 100% passing rates.