this school for the visually and hearing impaired is? central cambodia. children of all ages come here

to study. [ singing ] >> 54-year-old neang phalla is

the school's teacher. phalla is known as the mother of education for disabled children in cambodia. in 2015, she was selected for the teaching profession's equivalent of the nobel prize. the pol pot regime ruled cambodia from 1975 to 1979. as a result of its forced labor policy and horrific massacres the country was ripped apart and lost everything.

>> the school was founldsed by a french ngo in 1993. it was the first educational program in cambodia for visually impaired students. four years later, the school began accepting hearing impaired students as well. the ngo now has five schools in cambodia, dh are run mostly on donations, with tuition provided for free.

>> all the children in this elementary school class have profound or total visual impairment.

>> phalla always wanted to become a teacher, since she was a very young girl.

during the days of pol pot's dictatorship, schools were used as jails. teachers, doctors, and other educated people were sent to labor camps. and towns people were forced to move to rural areas. at the time, phalla was a high school student. >> as a result of pol pot's bloody rule, as many as 1.7 million people are believed to have perished.

>> when she was 18, phalla was fortunate move to escape cambodia to a refugee camp in thailand. at the camp she took a teacher training course run by the united nations. she began teaching the visually impaired children that she met there. ♪ >> in 1991, she returned to cambodia. the country had been stripped of everything, including its traditions, and educational systems. phalla set about building a

school for disabled children. ♪

>> the school also houses around 60 boarders, who come from various regions of the country. ♪

>> he is 18 and has been a student at the school for nine years. >> disability in cambodia is often hidden away due to the influence of buddhists beliefs. physical and mental impairments of my kinds are generally considered to be the results of transgressions in a previous life of it's not uncommon for families to keep their disabled

children at home and refuse to let them go outside. >> phalla lives with her husband, daughter, and son. >> phalla has worked tirelessly building cambodia's education systems for disabled people. she spent much of her time traveling to rural areas trying to persuade parents to allow their disabled children to learn at her schools.

>> the new girl gets ready to start her school life.

>> 21 teachers work at the school.

>> this teacher was phalla's student for many years. she now teaches kindergarten students.

>> this is another of phalla's former students.

>> phalla holds regular training sessions for the school's

inexperienced teachers. >> as a result of phalla's efforts, stayed-run schools in sam bodyia have begun offering education for disabled children. still, there aren't enough schools and teachers. education for disabled children. still, there aren't enough schools and teachers.

>> the new student has finished her first day at school.

>> pa, ma.

>> samady was born completely blind. he has been at the school for two years but is still a first-grade elementary student. >> samady's parents are farm ergs in a village on the outskirts of the town. he is a boarder at the school but occasionally goes home for a visit.the town. he is a boarder at the school but occasionally goes home for a visit.

falla decides to go with samady to visit his family.

>> for the first seven years of his life, samady didn't go to kindergarten or school.

>> a-b-c-d-e-f.