The internationally selected child also had only a certificate because it was not a big prize. With the advice of the locals, we prepared a bicycle for this child as a prize, which is something precious and necessary to go to school.
After the civil war, there are still many people who tend to have low awareness of education, especially those who are at outside of urban areas. If you are poor, that will happen. There are still many children who help housework rather than study at school and who start to work rather than graduate.
If the prizes are good, parents would naturally get interested in, thinking "This competition must be so great," and “If our children show their talents or do their best in something, they will be evaluated like this.” Of course, that shall not the true meaning of education, but it can be an opportunity for parents to think it’s valuable for their children to study hard and to devote themselves into something.
Each country has its own history, and people live in different ways in the world. Making a good prize was probably one of several ways to help improve education here. Among the children who participated in the award ceremony together, some would think that they would like to participate next time.
Our first award ceremony was in Battambang. A parents meeting was going on as our another program, so the mother of the winner child happened to be at the school at that time. We invited her to join her son for some photos with the certificate and prizes. She was surprised at what she didn’t expect. We told her about the child’s ability to describe and express freely with colors. We asked her to help develop his such talent.
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