Cambodian Children Celebrate New School from Acronis Foundation

As 2018 comes to a close, the Acronis Foundation has completed construction on a new school in the remote village of Prei Changha, Cambodia, near the border of Thailand. This is the third school built by the Foundation’s Schools Initiative in 2018 – along with schools in Myanmar and Tanzania – which illustrates the organization’s commitment to creating, spreading, and protecting knowledge around the world.

“This is our way of giving back to the community,” says Jochen Berger, Managing Director of the Acronis Foundation. “We build schools in remote areas and encourage children to learn. Through our schools, children are able to access the world of knowledge through the internet and computer equipment that we supply. Education helps communities break the cycle of poverty, become more efficient and self-determined.”

The new school in Prei Changha, built in partnership by the Acronis Foundation and the Swiss-based non-profit Child’s Dream, provides a much needed educational resource for 500 boys and girls from among the village’s 3,255 residents and three neighboring villages. These students range in age from five to 12 and will advance learning in the region from kindergarten through grade six.

As in most countries, rural regions in Cambodia suffer from a number of issues that reduce the quality of education that can be offered. In the far northern Banteay Meanchey province, including Prei Changha village, residents face wide-spread poverty, inequality, and a severe lack of educational infrastructure – including such fundamental needs as safely maintained school buildings and clean bathrooms.

These issues, combined with the overall lack of school buildings in the region, restricted the children of Prei Changha from gaining the knowledge they need to learn, grow, and succeed in the modern world. With the official opening of this school, all of that is beginning to change.

With the help of Child’s Dream and the support of the village community, the Acronis Foundation is proud to provide a safe, motivational learning environment for future generations of Cambodians. Today, the new facilities include five fully-furnished classrooms and bathrooms that will soon house boys and girls as they experience their first seven years education.

To ensure the future is bright for the children of Prei Changha, teachers at the school will specifically emphasize the importance of a robust education to the whole community and incentivize students to complete their secondary education and strive to pursue their life goals.

To help with this goal, the Acronis Foundation is also planning a second stage to their support of the school. In the year ahead, funds from the Acronis Foundation will go toward supplying the Prei Changha school with solar-powered equipment to provide computer training to students and local villagers in an effort to spread the basics of digital literacy. This knowledge is key to learning and growing in the increasingly digital world.

Acronis believes that education is a fundamental right and that knowledge should be available to all. Constant learning, creating and protecting knowledge, and advancing technology are integral parts of Acronis’ DNA. As a result, Acronis has been creating and sharing knowledge by funding schools, research, and training programs in communities around the world.

With that belief in mind, the company celebrated its 15-year anniversary by establishing the Acronis Foundation. The foundation’s goal is to support multiple initiatives around the world designed to stimulate education in order to gain and protect knowledge where it’s needed most.

In addition to the school projects already completed by the Acronis Foundation’s Schools Initiative, three more schools are now under construction in Guatemala, Senegal, and Peru.

To learn more about these projects and support the work the Acronis Foundation is doing around the world, visit acronis.org. One hundred percent of your donation goes toward building schools – and better futures – for children in underserved areas the world-over.