The summary below was provided by the Peace Corps Volunteer and the community administering this project.

In Cambodia both psychological and physical abuse are ingrained in the culture as an excusable or normal part of life. Women, children, or men showing signs of physical abuse are typically ignored or left alone in order to save face. Additionally, community members have demonstrated an overall lack of awareness and minimal understanding of psychological abuse. Psychological abuse and harassment due to intelligence, or skin color, have resulted in multiple suicides at lower and upper secondary schools. Last month at a local high school there was a physical fight between twenty female students. These realities highlight the immediate need for a set of classroom lessons on bullying, psychological, and physical abuse that will be used in lower secondary schools. With the help of a Teacher Training Center all first year students will be trained on teaching about both physical and psychological abuse, and bullying in classrooms. The project will offer all trainees an opportunity for teaching practice and feedback, as well as provide the materials necessary for conducting the lessons. The first year trainees will then be required to use these lessons during their teaching practicum in the spring. The ultimate goal of the project is to prepare teachers to effectively discuss these issues in an open and positive environment. As this topic is discussed more frequently, teachers and students will become increasingly more aware of these issues in the culture, and we will see more action being taken to end abuse in Cambodian schools.

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