School Health Development Project for All Cambodian ChildrenNewsletterVol. 6 &7

Issued date: July 28th, 2022

Message from The Nippon FoundationGreetings from The Nippon Foundation! We are very pleased to be able to see you all in personand join the 7th School Health Teacher Development Training in Siem Reap on 27-29 April, 2022. As inprevious trainings, participating via ZOOM from Tokyo, seeing the carefully-prepared presentations by
the master trainers and the passionate discussions by the other trainers, we certainly confirmed theSHCC project has been making great progress. We also observed a school health class at theBattambang Teacher Education College. The class was student-centered, as the students wereprovided with a lot of opportunities to share their ideas. Above all, it was clear that the trainedteacher greatly contributed to creating such an atmosphere in the class.
As mentioned in our Executive Director Mr. Mori'sspeech, the school health classes offered within theframework of the SHCC project are the firstcomprehensive curriculum in Cambodia, incorporatinga variety of school health knowledge necessary for
Cambodian children. In addition, this model can beexpanded to neighboring Southeast Asian countries
that have yet to be install school health classes. We
expect that you will exercise your leadership to thefullest.
We hope to pay a visit to Cambodia again
in a few months, and therefore, we all lookforward to discussing a variety of topics
related to the newly launched school healthclass as well as your concerns in yourteaching life. See you very soon!
Mr. MORI Yuji
Executive Director, The Nippon Foundation

The Nippon Foundation member
Mr. MATSUSHIMA Junnosuke (Program Director)
Humanitarian support program for the conflict-affected communities in Myanmar
The school health project has a positive impact on the quality of education andhealthy child development in Cambodia. I believe it will lead to the developmentof human resources that will be the foundation of the country.

School Health 7th Training Report

MASUKO Yuuka

School Health 7th Training was held on 27th to 29th April, 2022
in Siem Reap province. Our project invited our donor TheNippon Foundation for the first time in two years since the 1st
training on March, 2020. What is more, Dr. Asakura (projectleader) and Ms. Ueno (project coordinator) also came fromTokyo Gakugei University in Japan to join the training physicallythis time. Participants from Cambodia were 18 lecturers
including management team from Teacher Education College(TEC) in Phnom Penh and Battambang.
The training was conducted through both offline and online
as Japanese lecturers joined with zoom. The topics are“Physical and psychological changes in adolescence”, “Theoryand practice of Health check-up” and “Theory and practice ofFirst Aid”. After a long period of online training due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, participants were quite active forlearning and discussion, in particular, they were very
interested in the actual physical measurements.
Due to the first lecture of School Health for Year 4 student
teachers at TEC started since at the end of April 2022,
lecturers shared their teaching experience each other topromote quality of School Health Class in TEC.

Report on fieldtrip to Angkor wat
The training was held for by 3 days, all participants of the training went toAngkor Wat temples as a field trip in the 3rd day. We visited a greathonorable place for Cambodian Angkor Wat first, then moved to Bayon andTa Prohm. The ruins, which had been closed to tourists because of COVID-19
pandemic, were not crowded, so we could sightsee at leisure and enjoy
taking photos as our wished. There was no tour guide, but some of our
School Health lecturers who had detailed knowledge of the site gave
everyone an explanation, allowing them to enjoy the tour in depth. Now
that Cambodia is more open to tourists, it is expected that more people will
come to visit Angkor Wat temples and other sites in the future. It was goodthat we were able to visit the temples before they became too crowded.

MASUKO Yuuka

New Master Trainers
Lecturer PALL Chamroen
Lecturer of Department of Social Sciences (Health Education) in PTEC
I am currently teaching the health education at PTEC for fourth-year
student teacher. I am delighted to be a Master trainer and get trained withJapanese Professor of several experience and professional knowledge inhealth education. Most of lesson that I have learned from professors aremeaningful to apply in school health education a line with the Cambodian
context. Furthermore, I have absorbed more additional knowledge andexperience on this subject learning and I have chance to share knowledge
through learning and teaching to my student teacher at PTEC. I think it
was an important opportunity that I have attended in master training andto promote health education in school to improve well-being ofCambodian Children with healthy.

Lecturer SAN Sreyry
Lecturer of Department of Social Sciences (Health Education) in PTEC

I am Excited to be a Health Education’s teacher at PTEC. I was finish
general doctor degree on March-2019 and I have the goal to shearing myknowledge to the next generation. As we know already that Disease’s
treatment is important but educate people to prevent disease is very
important too, this is a reason why I want to be a health educator. I must
pay my thank The Government of Cambodia and Our sponsor that makethe school health project’s happened in Cambodia. I will shear my best
to educate the student’s teacher for them to shear their knowledge totheir student too. I Hope our next generation have the good health,because good health makes good human resource.

Lecturer MAO Veasna
School Health lecturer in BTEC
My name is Mao Veasna as Psychology lecturer at BTEC. I am
satisfied that I is chosen as the Master trainer of the school healtheducational Project. Providing opportunities for Japanese professors
and planners, making me contribute to the development of knowledge
and practice in health education for student teachers, including teachers
in some schools who do not know this knowledge in the future. In
particular, giving me the opportunity to participate in learning more
about health in school and new teaching methods that are suitable forteaching health lessons, which is my desire.
We really appreciate all the master trainers who cooperated in the interview!

Is Health “Science” or “Culture”?

ASAKURA Takashi

My answer is both. Health as science is universal knowledge and can be shared between
Japan and Cambodia. Culture, on the other hand, is a tangible and intangible asset thatdetermines an individual's way of life, lifestyle, and society. Therefore, health as a culture
should have different knowledge systems in Japan and Cambodia. Therefore, the School
Health Project is a project to not only share health as a science but also to learn from eachother about health as a culture and build school health in both countries to improve thewell-being of the people. This is not simply a project to transplant the Japanese school
health system to Cambodia. More than that! Mutual trust and engagement are critical to thesuccess of this project.

What does LGBTQ stand for?

UENO Marie

According to the statistics, the rate of LGBTQ people among the Japanese population is about 8.9%
and it is estimated that there are two or three children who could be LGBTQ in each class[1]. How
about in Cambodia? Those children often struggle to understand their own identity, which might cause
mental health problems. Therefore, it’s important for teachers to gain knowledge about LGBTQ andteach children about the diversity of sexuality. Explanations of each concept of LGBTQ are below[2].
Lesbian

A woman whose enduring physical, romantic, and/or emotional attraction is to other women.

Gay

The adjective used to describe people whose enduring physical, romantic, and/or emotional
attractions are to people of the same sex.

Bisexual

A person who has the capacity to form enduring physical, romantic, and/or emotional attractions tothose of the same gender or to those of another gender.

TransgenderAn umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or gender expression
differs from what is typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth.

QueerQuestioning

An adjective used by some people whose sexual orientation is not exclusively heterosexual.
This term describes someone who is questioning their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Source[1]Dentsu Marketing Reports. https://www.dentsu.co.jp/en/news/release/2021/0408-010371.html Access: June 27, 2022.
[2]The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center. https://gaycenter.org/about/lgbtq/ Access: June 27, 2022.

Project’s staff from Tokyo Gakugei University
NAKASHIMA Rui (from International Division)

SHCC Office in TGU

It is my pleasure that I support the school health project in Cambodia.
I will strive for smooth operation.

UENO MarieI have been working in an elementary school as a school health teacher.
Also, I worked in Ghana in the field of school health education. It’s mypleasure to join this project and I’d like to learn a lot from all of you.

Project’s student supporters (1st year student)
SHIINA Ayaka
I participated in this project because I wanted to deepen my understanding of healtheducation in other countries. I'm happy to be able to connect with Cambodians through ouractivities. I'll do my best to help someone! If I go to Cambodia, I would like to have a lot ofconversations with Cambodians and experience the culture of Cambodia and feel thedifference from Japan.

SAKAMOTO Chihiro
I belong to a sweets club and an international exchange club at university, and I am a bassist
for a cover band. I participated in the project because I am interested in Cambodia's current
environmental hygiene and children's health issues. If I can go to Cambodia, I would like toobserve the situation of the city and schools, listen to local children and students, and learnsomething that I can't get without visiting them. I like to eat, so I want to try a lot ofCambodian food and sweets.

MORITA Nanako
I participated in this project because, although I knew the importance of supporting
developing countries, I had never worked to solve such problems before. Through thisproject, I hope to take positive action and be able to help health education in Cambodia.
I am also interested in the unique culture and traditions of each country, so when I visit
Cambodia, I would like to learn about traditional culture, customs, and ethnic costumes. Iwould also like to enjoy good food. I am looking forward to learning much from this project.

School Health 8th Training Report

MASUKO Yuuka

School Health 8th Training was held on 6th to 8th July, 2022 in Battambang. This is the last training
about the contents of School Health textbook for primary course in Teacher Education College (TEC).
Project leader Dr. ASAKURA (Tokyo Gakugei University), professor Dr. AOYAGI (Ibaraki University) andproject coordinator Ms. UENO (Tokyo Gakugei University) joined the training coming from Japan.
Participants from Cambodia are 18 lecturers and management team from TEC in Phnom Penh andBattambang. The topics are “Environmental health and Eco Health”, “Inclusive education” and“School safety and management”. In the training, there are not only lectures but also many group
discussions and activities, and some group work were planned and facilitated by Master Trainers, notby project team. The first lecture of School Health for Year 4 student teachers at TEC started in thissemester, lecturers shared their teaching experience and had active discussions about their class. The
first cohort will be graduated from TEC soon and will teach School Health for primary students inCambodia. Project team will follow-up their teaching activities as well to promote School Healthsubject for all Cambodian Children in future.

Field trip in Battambang

LY Kalyan“Have you ever met a person with disability? How do you
feel for that person? How does Cambodian society view
disability?” These are the questions asked to theparticipants in lecture of “Disability and special educationneeds” in our 8th training. To experience the reality, SHCC
project has strived to find the opportunity by visiting “TheRehabilitation Center for Persons with Spinal Cord Injury” inBattambang, located about 7 Km from the city center.
Dated back in 1993, the center was established at a refugee camp between Thailand andCambodia. Specializing in spinal cord injury, the center focuses on physiotherapy for therehabilitation. There are 11 front-line medical persons to nurse maximum 16 patients who may
stay there between 6 to 12 months.

This fruitful visit allows us to understand the structureof the facility and services, especially the physiotherapy
unit. The loveliest moment was the meeting and warm
dialogue we had with the patients and staffs over there aswell as the sharing activities with them.
Through this experience, we have learnt that spinal cord
injury may lead to disability, which requires physiotherapy.
Plus, this type of exercises are also important even for
healthy people. We feel sorry for what happened to them.
However, we deeply admire and are inspired by the effort and motivations of both patients andstaffs to make their situation better. There was also personal contribution from each lecturer tothe patients reflecting the hope and solidarity to support each other in our society.