♪ this school for the visually and hearing impaired is in central cambodia.

children of all ages come here to study. ♪ ♪ >> 54-year-old nang phalla is

the school's head teacher. phalla is known of the mother of education for disabled children in cambodia. in 2015, she was selected for the teaching professions equivalent of the nobel prize. >> the regime ruled cambodia as a forced labor policy and horrific massacres, the country was ripped apart and lost everything.

♪

>> reporter: the school was founded 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 which are run mostly on donations with tuition provided for free.

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

>> reporter: phalla always wanted to be a teacher since she was a young girl. during the days of the

dictatorship, schools were used as jail. teachers, doctors, and other et r. 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 the bloody rule, as many as 1.7 million people are believed to have perished.

>> when she was 18, phalla was fortunate enough to escape cambodia to a refugee cam notary public 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.

>> reporter: school also houses around 60 borders who come from various regions of the country. ♪

>> reporter: he has been at the school for nine years. >> reporter: disability in cambodia is often hidden away due to the influence of buddhist beliefs. impairments of any kind are generally considered to be the results of trans gregss in a previous life. it's not uncommon for families to keep their disabled children at home and refuse to let them go outside.

phalla with her husband, daughter, and son. >> reporter: phalla has worked tirelessly building cambodia's education system. 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.

>> reporter: 21 teachers work at the school.

>> reporter: she was phalla's student for many years. she now teaches kindergarten students.

>> reporter: this is another of phalla's former students. ♪

>> reporter: phalla holds regular training lessons for the schools inexperienced teachers.

>> reporter: as a result of phalla's efforts, staid run schools in cambodia have started offering education for disabled children. still, there aren't enough schools and teachers.

>> this girl has finished her first day at school.

>> reporter: samandy was born completely blind. he is still favorite grade elementary student although he's been here for two years. >> reporter: his parents are farmers in the outskirts. he is a border at the school. but occasionally he goes home for a visit.

>> phalla decides to go with him to visit his family.

>> reporter: for the first seven years of his life. he didn't go to kindergarten or school.

♪

hello there. welcome to nhk "newsline." it is thursday, june 30th, 9:00 a.m. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. european union leaders say if britain wants access to its single market eu workers must be allowed to move freely. the leaders of 27 eu nations excludin excluding britain wrapped up two days of talks on the country's decision to leave the bloc on wednesday. the eu says in order to access its common market four freedoms must be maintained, the movement of capital, goods and services and the movement of workers. >> let us make it crystal clear today that access to a single