Chun Yunna is a 27-year old teacher working at Krek Primary School in Kampong Cham Province. She has come to the attention of ESCUP program staff as a teacher of high professional standards who maintains those standards in spite of very difficult circumstances that characterize the Cambodian educational system. Yunna graduated from the Provincial Teacher Training College in Kampong Cham in 2004. Although she has only been teaching for about three years, she has demon-strated extremely high standards of teaching and profes-sional behavior. A walk through her Grade 2 classroom reveals a very well kept learning environment with no dust on any of the materials stored in children's learning corners. This indicates that the materials are actively used by children on a daily basis. The classroom also possesses a wealth of learning aids, creative wall decora-tions, and proverbs that are excellent models for other teachers in her school to emulate. Desks in her classroom are arranged in groups and high promotion rates suggest a high level of impact on children's learning.

As do many Cambodian teachers, Yunna works under very difficult circumstances, which makes her high levels of professionalism all the more remarkable. Because her family comes from Kampong Siem District, about 60 km away, Yunna has to live at a boarding facility at Krek Jr. High School, which is about a kilometer in distance from the primary school where she works. Typically, Yunna begins her day at 5 AM at which time she gets dressed, checks her teaching aids and lesson plan for the day and then cleans her living quarters and has breakfast. She generally leaves for school at around 6:30 AM and tries to get there about 15 minutes before class so she can make some last minute preparations before the children arrive. After teaching all morning until 11 AM, she has about an hour and a half to make lunch and review her lessons for the next shift, which starts at 1:00 PM. She then teaches for another four hours and returns home to make dinner and prepare for the next day's lessons. It is truly remarkable that Yunna can teach an eight-hour shift with all the time that that requires for adequate preparation before class as well as take care of her regular household chores and family duties and still have time to work with other colleagues. Although ESCUP program staff members have nothing but praise for Yunna, it does make one pause to question whether we perhaps expect too much from other teachers who are not as exceptional as Yunna.