Make Nika's Dream Come True!

School for Life - Better in school, better in life!

As we celebrate International Women’s Day 2018 campaign to ‘leave no woman behind’, we at PeopleStories want to celebrate Women’s achievements!

We are proud to share some of the stories of the fantastic women we have encountered, and their determination to provide better education to the next generation.

PeopleStories is delighted to support principal Nika to make her dream come true. Here is her story to refresh our inspirations.

Proud to be young and a woman!
"Being in the minority, I am one of the youngest, female school directors in Cambodia. I am 27 years old and have been a junior secondary school principle for 4 years.

Some would describe my career success as a miracle, but I have been working extremely hard to get to where I am...
When I was 8 years old, my father decided to leave us as he had got a new wife. So my mother had to raise me and my brother all on her own.

I still remember the day when my mum told me to stop going to school as we were very poor, which I was only in Grade 5. I cried for a long time!

I decided to pay for my own education and tried selling cakes to my classmates. But the school director found out and stopped me as there was already a canteen. So, I started selling in the market instead.

My school results were always great and in the top 5. When I was young, my dream was to be a tour guide as I could earn lots of money and travel with tourists. Unfortunately, I could not afford to pay for the examination and license. So, I spent 2 years becoming a teacher.

After a year of teaching, my school director promoted me as his secretary and further promoted me as the director after 2 years. Honestly, I was happy for the promotion yet scared at the same time as I was only 23!

I face challenges with some teachers, which they don't follow my directions at times. However, I continue to work on our relationships and hope for better outcomes.

My dream now is to help my students finishing high school and not dropping out, so that they can have a better future.”