Students empowered to take action against rubbish

1 June 2023, Stung Treng – It’s a big day for Grade 8 students at Thmor Taprum Lower Secondary School in Stung Treng province. They’ve gathered at the local commune council hall, joined by their principal, teacher, parents, a village chief, vice commune chief, and local villagers, to present their recent research on rubbish, from what people can do to minimise their use of single-use plastic to how trash thrown away on the side of the road will likely still be there in 100 years time. But it’s more than just a class assignment, they’re here on a very specific mission – to transform the way waste is managed in their community and help pave the way for a cleaner, greener future for everyone who lives there.

“We have to protect the environment,” says 13-year-old Roth Khemarak. He’s there with five of his classmates to try to convince the commune council to build a waste incinerator on the nearby island of Koh Chroem. It will require the council to invest around USD2,000, yet based on their thorough research and backed up by key data the students are sure that it’s a necessary step to improve waste management and stop villagers from burning their household trash, a common practice across Cambodia that releases harmful pollutants into the air and can severely impact people’s health over time.

“Without proper incineration, the air pollution will be really bad and affect a lot of people. We could develop cancer,” says Khemarak. “I think that they listened carefully to me and understood what I was saying because they had some questions. I feel happy to have the great honour to present to the community. I am braver than before to talk to people.”

Judging by the lively response, everyone was impressed with the presentation – both with the ability of students to speak with confidence and present a compelling argument to some of their community’s most influential decision makers, as well as by the realisation of how big an impact an individual person’s behaviour can have on the health of the community and the earth.

“It’s like a wakeup call,” says Lay Chhun, Vice Commune Chief of O Mreah commune, who is guilty himself of littering small bits of rubbish like cigarette butts, but hadn’t realised how toxic they can be for the environment. He says that hopefully they will be able to set aside the budget needed to build the incinerator by next year.

For the students, today’s presentation is the culmination of almost two school years of work researching, brainstorming, and testing out solutions to clean up the community. The Green Village project forms part of their school’s Local Life Skills Education (LLSE) programme, a subject that develops students’ knowledge of real-world issues and empowers them with the essential soft skills needed to take action. The subject takes students out of the classroom and into the community to collect data by talking to villagers and local experts, raise awareness of key issues, encourage people to change harmful behaviours, and advocate to local authorities to invest in the solutions that will help solve the community’s most pressing problems.

“The main idea is to make the student a role model to their parents and their community,” says Principal Pen Sokuntheary about the project, explaining that the students’ ideas have evolved as they’ve done more research, learned from their experiences, and listened to the villagers’ feedback to address ongoing challenges or gaps. Behaviour change starts with the students, teachers, and even herself before the rest of the village is likely to follow suit, she says, proudly showing off her reusable water bottle and shopping bag to everyone who attended the meeting.

The first initiative as part of the Green Village project involved encouraging people living on Koh Chroem island to start a vegetable garden so that they would reduce the amount of plastic consumed by bringing food from the mainland. When animals destroyed some of the crops, they built fences to protect the garden as well as to make use of the natural fertiliser from the cows. Students also initiated clean up campaigns around the island and are now proposing the incinerator as a longer term solution to manage the disposal of household rubbish.

Oun Nol, Village Chief of Koh Chroem, says he’s seen a huge reduction in the amount of trash piled around the island as a result of the awareness raising and clean up efforts by the students. “There was rubbish almost everywhere,” he says. “When the wind blew, it blew rubbish onto the rice field as well.”

“Raising awareness through adolescents is really effective because the knowledge from them is really trustworthy and reliable. Even if I am a village chief I could not advocate like the students. I don’t know anything about rubbish. I really admire them,” he adds.

Implemented by the Ministry of Education Youth and Sport (MoEYS) with support from UNICEF, the  LLSE initiative aims to empower schools and communities to set up and run a life skills programme based on local needs, using local expertise and resources. Students are then supported to design practical solutions to local problems using a six-step problem-based research learning approach. In the last few years, the programme has evolved to respond to pressing global issues, such as climate change and its impacts, and aims to build students’ 21st-century skills, self-confidence, and leadership capabilities.

“They seem to be more mature and critical in terms of thinking when they see the issue on the ground,” says the school’s LLSE teacher You Chanpisey. “They think in a more innovative or critical way than before.”

Nationwide, among 10 target provinces, 67 primary schools and 227 secondary schools have integrated the subject into their curriculum. With more and more schools across the country choosing to focus on environmental issues, tackling anything from waste management to forest preservation and water shortages, the MoEYS is now aiming to roll out a climate change-specific LLSE programme.

“The Local Life Skills Education programme is an excellent example of how we can develop capacity and resilience against climate impacts and empower young people to optimise their full potential and lead climate change advocacy in their community,” said Hiroyuki Hattori, UNICEF Cambodia’s Chief of Education. “We now need to take advantage of the building momentum in Cambodia around climate issues to further advance adolescents’ active engagement in climate decisions and actions. By equipping young people with the knowledge and skills they need to address environmental challenges, we build a more sustainable future for us all.”

Principal Pen Sokuntheary says that she hopes that by continuing to clean up the island eventually the school can help turn the area into a homestay and tourist destination. She doesn’t need convincing that the students are committed to the cause, even after they’ve graduated, and knows the skills they’ve built along the way will take them far – she says that she continues to see some of her previous students pick up trash from the side of the road and that others have already landed scholarships to study abroad as far away as Sweden.

“I foresee that in the future the Green Village project will help the village here to have no rubbish at all,” says student Khemarak. “I will still continue to support other initiatives or projects for my community as well. I will also try to reduce plastic by using reusable bottles or lunch boxes.”

The Local Life Skills Education program is supported by the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP).