Fickry High School is totally funded by the people of Malaysia, through various donation drives over the years. We are greatly indebted to the family of Dato’ Haji Fickry Yaacob especially, who contributed a huge portion of the funds needed for the school. Hence, the school is named after him for his generosity.
In 2014, Fickry High School was completed and we took in our first batch of students. Our school is dual-stream, running the national and religious curriculum. This, we believe, was what drove parents to send their children to our school initially.
The teachers teaching in our school were carefully selected. Most are locals with degrees from universities like International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Al Azhar, Madinah and other local universities. All our teachers have at least a Diploma from recognized institutions.
Currently both Fickry Primary School and Fickry High School have a total of 1060 students.
The school complex currently encompasses two main blocks while the primary school has one block. Additionally the students are served fresh meals at the school canteen.
The school offers a double stream curriculum; national and religious curriculum. We found that this would be appealing to the villagers and will benefit the children in the long run.
We have had 341 students continuing their studies at tertiary level since 2014. Many have graduated and some have returned to serve in their alma mater as qualified teachers.
The late Dato’ Haji Fickry started Karangkraf, a major publishing company in Malaysia, and was a renowned philanthropist. A lot of organizations and individuals had benefitted from his generosity. He was a prime supporter of the Kolej MARA humanitarian project in Kampung Chumnik since it started in 2009.
His love for education moved him to propose and sponsor the building of a school in the village to provide an opportunity for more youngsters in the village to gain education, thus paving the way for social mobility among the villagers.
Dato’ Haji Fickry passed away on May 4, 2012 due to a heart attack. He never got to see the completion of the school he envisioned but his legacy continues and his wonderful philanthropic work is carried on by his wife and 8 children.
It is in his honour that we have decided to name Fickry High School after him. May the Almighty bless his soul and reward him with the riches of jannah.
What changes have we seen in all our years in Cambodia?
First and foremost we can witness through our drive in the field of education, a significant number of parents are now aware of the importance of education for their children.
We see more children attending school these days. Gone are the days when we used to see little children playing and roaming aimlessly in the village as most of them are now in school.
We also see more girls going to school. When we first went there we noticed that most parents would only send their daughters to school up to age 12. When they finished elementary school the parents would take them out of school.
Nowadays we have more girls than boys in our school. Such is the impact of awareness and empowerment for the girls to decide on their future.
