by NAK Thaileak, Senior Project Officer, LIVE & LEARN CAMBODIA 

In the morning of  November 19, 2023 in Siem Reap, Cambodia, about 80 individuals from the Rabbit School Organization’s stakeholders—Aide et Action, Foyer Lataste, Linking and Learning Cambodia, students, and other partners—gathered for a biking event called #EDUBIKE2023. This activity aimed to promote the importance of education and encouraging parents to start enrolling their out-of-school children, especially children with intellectual disabilities, in school for the upcoming academic year. The Edubike team started biking from Siem Reap City to Khnat Primary School in Pouk District which is about 15km from each other. They continued together with 50 more students of Khnat Primary School to Puok Market and had a stop at Tea Banh Komru Primary School for a ceremony, hearing messages and donating notebooks and reading books to students, before leaving for their next journey to Kralanh District.  

Bike for Education or Edubike is a 425-kilometer public awareness biking campaign that promoted the organisation’s child protection and education efforts and called on students across the targeted areas to prepare for the new academic year which started last December. This campaign lasted for 8 days from November 13th to 20th, 2023. This 425-kilometer challenge crossed five provinces of Cambodia, passing along the majestic Tonle Sap Lake and through the Cambodian countryside. Throughout this 8-day campaign, over 500 school students participated by cycling to designated schools along the route. The Edubike Team embarked on their journey from one province to another and held meetings at designated schools to engage in discussions with the students and local authorities. Aide et Action also took the opportunity to donate notebooks and reading books to the students with the aim to further promote literacy among the younger generation. This campaign is also a fundraising activity, calling on donation and support for people with disabilities.

The Rabbit School Organization is a Voice grantee partner pushing for the development of appropriate formal educational programmes for Cambodian children with intellectual disabilities. They provide and encourage the creation of spaces where children with disabilities are treated with dignity and can learn at their own pace. Hopefully, the campaign will serve the purpose of empowering parents of children with intellectual disabilities to be aware of the importance of education and start enrolling them to school.