. ♪ ♪ >> 54-year-old nang phalla is the school's head teacher.a 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