Supporting young people from the Mérieux centre in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in 2026
Funds raised so far: 1%
The Mérieux Centre in Phnom Penh supports students sponsored by Children of the Mekong by providing them with educational support and comprehensive personal development training, enabling them to continue their studies despite the difficulties in Cambodia. Thank you so much for your generosity!
What sort of problems do Cambodian students face?
Schooling in Cambodia faces many challenges:
- In rural areas, life is hard and there is a great need for labour. Parents must be convinced of the importance of schooling so that they allow their children to go to school rather than work in the fields.
- In the most remote areas, access to school is difficult. To get there, children must use expensive transport or walk for long hours.
- The long holidays last two to three months, which reduces the amount of time spent in school.
- Poorly paid teachers provide basic education based on repetition rather than reflection. Private lessons are therefore necessary but expensive (they supplement teachers’ salaries), so few can afford them.
How has Children of the Mekong responded?
In the capital, Phnom Penh, Children of the Mekong runs one centre, which welcomes post-baccalaureate students, a nursery, reception classes and social programmes. In total, the centre supports nearly 120 students, 500 minor sponsored children through 22 programmes, and 65 reception children aged 4 and 5.
Through two specific programmes, the centre supports around 100 disadvantaged families and welcomes more than 50 children from the neighbourhood.
Objectives of the centre
- Enabling motivated pupils from very poor families to continue their education and obtain a qualification, enabling them to start and succeed in their professional lives.
- Provide students with a peaceful and positive living and working environment, enabling them to succeed in their studies.
- Beyond their academic education, providing pupils with a well-rounded holistic education so that they can develop intellectually, emotionally and morally in order to flourish as human beings.
The first Children of the Mekong sponsored children are sent to Phnom Penh for their higher education studies. They are hosted in homes.
1993
The opening of the tutoring centre Sith Sophal in Phnom Penh for bright students who have the necessary level of knowledge to excel in the country’s top universities.
About 60 students are hosted in three homes.
1997
Children of the Mekong receives a generation donation from the Mérieux family in memory of their deceased son in 2008, Christophe Mérieux. Strengthening the existing school centre and developing a larger centre that integrates the holistic dimension into the educational pathway.
The centre is inaugurated in 2010
2007-2010
Development of the centre’s activities both internally (students at the centre) and externally (reaching out to the most vulnerable, developing programmes in Phnom Penh).
Evolution of the centre to meet new needs (creation of preschool classes, opening of the nursery section, welcoming the centre’s neighbours).
2010-2015
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