The 12 high school seniors felt so strongly that Saturday was the Sabbath -- a day of worship and rest -- that they refused to take their government exams on that day no matter what the consequences were. The students, who attended Cambodia Adventist Scho
The 12 high school seniors felt so strongly that Saturday was the Sabbath—a day of worship and rest—that they refused to take their government exams on that day no matter what the consequences were. The students, who attended Cambodia Adventist School (CAS), understood that not taking the tests meant they would not be eligible to attend any government-sponsored colleges in Cambodia.
That was in 2004 and Sharon Rogers, the principal of CAS, a Seventh-day Adventist school in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, says all those students are continuing their education despite not taking these exams.
Rogers explains that CAS is a unique school in the Southeastern Asia country that is often linked with the 1970s genocide of 1.5 million Cambodians during the Khmer Rouge regime under Pol Pot. The Christian school is an anomaly in a country that is 95 percent Buddhist.
The school, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this fall, began in 1995 with two teachers and 30 students in kindergarten to second grade. CAS now has 17 teachers and 292 students.
Rogers says she is a big believer in church schools and found this one especially necessary in Cambodia where students have to attend school on Saturday.
Rogers came to the school in 1996 when her husband came to Cambodia to build churches. Four days after we arrived “I started teaching the teachers,” Rogers says. “I found out I would be the principal of CAS, a kindergarten to fifth grade school at the time.” The school has added a grade every year since.
“We hung a sign up and started enrolling students but we had to take the sign down when we had 105 students enrolled because we did not have enough space for [more],” she says.
And it has been about the same every year since. CAS, which did not have an official school building in the beginning, has moved five times. The school bought land in 1999 in Phnom Penh Thmey, a suburb of Phnom Penh, and has plans for three buildings, though only one building is complete.
“We don’t even advertise the school,” Rogers notes. “This year we didn’t even have a school sign up, but everyone seems to find out where we are.”
When asked why the school is so popular, even among those who aren’t Adventist, Rogers says, “Students come because friends tell friends about the quality of our programs in moral training and academics. I think they come because God sends them to us to tell them about Jesus’ soon coming!”
The school worked to gain exemption from taking government tests, which would gauge learning before promoting students to higher grades or college, on Saturdays. This year was the first time that CAS students could take the government tests on another day.
“Now our students can go to the government schools too if they decide to change schools for some reason or, when the time comes, they can go to government colleges,” says Rogers.
In August this year the 9th and 12th graders had to take the government tests. They all passed.
“This is the first time we have ever heard of any school having 100 percent pass the government testing,” Rogers adds. “Usually at least 30 percent of the students in the country don’t pass the 9th grade test and more do not pass the 12th grade. This year one other very elite school also had 100 percent pass.”
She explains that most of the schools in Phnom Penh have a 70 percent to 90 percent pass rate and in the countryside it is lower at about 50 percent.
The school is supported by people and churches from around the world. Rogers says churches have helped to build classrooms and dorms, while church members often help pay students’ school fees.