Preah Vihear Province: Approximately 300 students from Choam Ksant district in Preah Vihear province, who struggled to prepare for their major high school exam by studying on their own in shelters after fleeing the Cambodian-Thai conflict, sat for their Baccalaureate exam at four centers in Preah Vihear province.
Some expressed that the fear of war still lingered in their minds, causing them to have very little focus ahead of the exam. However, some candidates, who spoke after the exam, said they had high hopes because they gave elaborate answers.
Vong Patdy, a student from Techo Hun Sen Choam Ksant high school, in Choam Ksant district, said she studied on her own at Wat Peung Preah Kor from the time she fled her home on July 24. She used her phone, and the books she brought with her to aid her revision.
On August 2, she rented a room in Preah Vihear city to learn Khmer and math from a teacher there. “I studied when I fled. I brought my books, and studied by myself with the help of my phone, but I always felt fear [of the conflict].”
A resident of Kouk Village, Rumdaoh Srae Commune, Patdy said she felt afraid of the conflict everyday because her father was a frontline soldier in the Ta Thav battlefield. “Now I’m afraid of the war, I’m afraid of the exam. I can only focus very little on my studies. It’s difficult.” However, she was confident of doing well as she answered many questions in the morning.
She said she spent her own money to rent a room to study more before the exam, but she did not have to pay for the lessons as the teacher did not charge conflict-affected students.
Patdy hopes to study accounting one day, which her soldier father is very supportive of.
A five-day clash along the Thai-Cambodian border, which began on July 24, saw thousands of people displaced in three provinces. Choam Ksant district was the hardest hit in Preah Vihear, where 77 houses, two pagodas, two primary schools, one health center, and a Ta Um statue were damaged during the shelling by Thai troops.
Leaders from both countries condemned each other’s aggression and called on the international community to ensure that either side upheld international law.
On August 7, they signed a 13-point enhanced ceasefire agreement, providing an assurance of peace and calm that prompted many to return home from the shelters. But, continued border tensions caused people to seek refuge again at the shelters.
Meng Meymey, a student from Khemarak Techo high school in Choam Ksant district, said she had just taken two weeks of additional study before the exam. She too studied by herself during her stay at Wat Por 5000 Deoum.
Meymey lives in Soksen Chey Village, Kantuot Commune, which is 10 kilometers away from Preah Vihear Temple, she said, adding that 62 of her friends from the same high school sat for the exam in Preah Vihear city.
“I studied the books I brought with me. Sometimes, I studied there [shelter] or here [in the city] or on my own. I also took classes from a teacher about half a month ago,” she shared, adding that she stayed at the teacher’s guesthouse, which was provided free for students by the Education Department.
At the exam hall, hundreds of parents accompanied their children and waited outside the compound. Some of them gathered at the cafeteria and in front of the school.
Among them were many family members from Choam Ksant district, including Chen Thea, whose son is taking the exam at the Provincial Teacher Training College, Preah Vihear.
From Rolum Thma village, Rumdaoh Srae Commune, Thea, 45, is currently staying in at the Wat Kilo No. 8 shelter. She said her son missed extra classes for a month due to the conflict.
She has little hope that her son will get good results in the exam. At the same time, she said that her family cannot afford to support his further studies in Phnom Penh, where he wants to train as a teacher.
“I am very poor. I cannot send my son to study because I don’t have money. As long as he passes the diploma exam, I will be happy. I want my son to study but I can’t afford [to pay for his further studies]. He wants to study and become a teacher.”
Preah Vihear Provincial Education Department director Cheng Limhorn said more than 300 candidates came from Choam Ksant district. A total of 1,909 candidates, 1,083 of them females, were divided into four centers, including a science center.
He said the department has provided two places of accommodation, namely a teachers’ guesthouse and a teacher’s training college dormitory for students from Choam Ksant district and others who lacked money. The guesthouse has 11 rooms and the college dormitory has 10 rooms.
During the clashes, all 61 schools in the district were closed, he said, adding that 339 candidates registered for the exam, but some withdrew later. In Preah Vihear province, the ministry provided 50,000 riels to candidates and an additional 20,000 riels for those staying in two places that were provided by the authorities.
Limhorn said 10 candidates in the province were absent, while the Anti-Corruption Unit report showed that 1,751 students were absent during the morning exam.
On the afternoon of the first day of exam, Education, Youth and Sport Minister Hang Choun Naron, who visited several schools in the province, said allowing military children access high-quality education and developing socio-economic conditions in border areas is a way of protecting the country.
“This is our goal to help socio-economic development in border areas and to help protect our country. Only development can encourage people to live there, and give military children the opportunity to study well so that we can protect the country,” he told reporters at the Provincial Teacher Training College.
According to the ministry, more than 140,000 candidates registered for the diploma exam, including 80,000 females. There were over 40,000 candidates who took science and more than 100,000 candidates in social sciences courses.
