The Jesuit education project will be located in Sisophon, Banteay Meanchey Province. In a letter to members of the Cambodia mission and collaborators, Fr Francisco Oh In-don SJ, Delegate of the Korean Provincial to the Cambodia Mission, said “it was very clear that we Jesuits should serve poor children first”.
Fr Oh explained that he chose Sisophon over Battambang because it has many fewer educational opportunities. “The city itself is poorer. Battambang is already the location of two reputable schools, Salesian School and Borey School. In Sisophon there is nothing. This is the most important reason for my decision.”
The school will be named “Xavier Jesuit School”, one reason for this being that St Francis Xavier is the Patron Saint of Sisophon Parish. Another is that “Xavier” is the name of many Jesuit schools and institutions all over the world and, as Fr Oh said, “Anyone who hears this name recognizes that it is affiliated with the international Society of Jesus.”
In November 2013, the project team met with the Provincial Director of Education, Mr Chheuy Vanna, and his assistants for primary and secondary education. At this meeting, Mr Vanna warmly welcomed the proposal from Jesuit Service to develop its service of education with a new project comprising four components: community learning centre, primary school, secondary school and teacher resource centre. After the meeting, Ms Sok Eng, the long-time Jesuit Service coordinator in Banteay Meanchey Province, exclaimed with a broad smile; “I never believed that we would have a Jesuit school in Banteay Meanchey Province!”
On January 21, the Minister of Education, Youth and Sport, His Excellency Dr Hang Chhuon Naron, welcomed the project team to his office in Phnom Penh and wrote an official letter of support on the spot. On February 6, the Governor of Banteay Meanchey province, His Excellency, Kousoum Saroeuth, expressed his gratitude to the Jesuit Service project team for this commitment to education of the poor in the province. He also approved and signed a letter of support for the project.
The land is already being bought. Ham Toeun SJ, the first Khmer scholastic, is doing his regency in Banteay Meanchey Province, helping start the Jesuit education project. Working with project director Fr Ashley Evans SJ, Sch Toeun negotiated the purchase of 15 hectares of land outside the town of Svay Sisophon. The land cost nearly half a million US dollars and was paid for entirely by the Korean Jesuit Province. The whole project is estimated to cost US 8 million dollars.
Sch Toeun is excited about the project. “The school project is very important for Cambodia as we really need some help from good quality education. I know that Cambodian children are very hungry for good education right now. And I also think that it is the right time to help them in the right place because they are poor people.” Sch Toeun also helps in the hostel for high school students at the Sisophon Church.
The Design and Construction Team, the Learning Pathways Team and the School Fundraising Committee have all begun their work. The Irish and British Jesuit provinces have made contributions to the education project. The first educational activities will begin in June 2014 using borrowed facilities. The team will run an enrichment course for 160 disadvantaged primary school students from four local primary schools to enable them to transfer to the local secondary school more easily.
“The course will run for six weeks but a team of 10 local middle school teachers will prepare the programme, curriculum, activities and materials with us for one month beforehand. This will be the first step in our involvement in teacher training in Banteay Meanchey province,” said Fr Evans.
Watch this video on Xavier Jesuit School.