Toul Ampil Information

The idea to start the college came to me after taking a foreign tourist to the Killing Fields. Beggar children surrounded my passenger, harassing him for money. I realized that I did not want children like these to grow up to be beggars. They are very poor and need some way to get money. I thought maybe if I could teach them to speak English they could get a better job. This was the year 2000, and I was 19 years of age and still at university. I gained permission from the Phnom Penh Department of Education to use some classrooms at the local school. I had a meeting with the local school principal, and arranged to rent the building, for a fee of $20 per month, to open a night school for local residents. Children attend classes, two and a half hours per day, six days per week. I would have liked to have made the school free, but I had to charge a small fee, in order to cover expenses. Most children pay a modest tuition of 5,000 Riels ($1.25 USD) per month. But, if the children cannot afford to pay, scholarships are liberally awarded. If the children tell me they can't pay, I will go and visit their home. I observe how they are living, and look into their family's finances. Sometimes I find a family with nine children and only an income of $20 - $40 per month. In that case, the children can study for free. I also offer similar scholarships to provide needy children with textbooks, pencils, and paper, all of which are unattainable for many poor Khmers. I was too young to get legal consent to use the classrooms when I started, and I asked my brother-in-law Un Theang to become my Director while I was underage. Eventually, I moved the school from local classrooms to classrooms that I had built on my parents' property. I had been using school facilities at Toul Ampil Secondary School from 2001 - 5th Jan 2008, but then a new Vice Principle from Phnom Penh joined the school and made many changes that hindered by ability to run the school there. First, he asked me to move from my old office, which I had put much effort ...