Villagers in Chour Krang, a Steang minority area in Kratie Province, have expressed their concerns about the lack of educational services in their community. The nearest school is 4 km away through forests and dense bush, which is too far for the youngest children to walk. When the idea of building an Intermediate Classroom (ICR) or temporary school building was first discussed during the annual cluster-planning workshop, community members advocated for allocation of funds to their area for this purpose. Local stakeholders demonstrated a very strong sense of commitment to this intervention by mobilizing community members to provide labor for the construction of the ICR while ESCUP provided funds for the materials. The new ICR has created a learning opportunity for the youngest local children of whom there are about 113 who are now attending this school. The ICR is right in the village so that travel distances are now quite short. Now, they will be able to enroll in Grade 1 when they are six years old and do not have to wait until they are old enough to walk the long distance to school.The community has also been involved in the recruitment of a Community Teacher, who received training from ESCUP staff in October 2006and has now started teaching regularly.

Mr. Non Phorn, the deputy village chief of Chour Krang Village, has said that he has been waiting a long time for this opportunity. Even though resources are short in the village, he is glad that the local people made contributing labor to the new village school a priority because education is a precious thing for all the children in the village.