150 young people at the dawn of a new life

3 September 2018 will go down as an important day in the history of Sala Baï as this was the day on which 150 new students started school, making the Class of 2019 the biggest intake ever. These 150 young people will have their lives transformed through the acquisition of skills that will enable them to work in the hospitality sector. Whether they’d chosen the cooking, restaurant, reception, housekeeping or beauty therapy, they were all just as excited about this new stage in their lives.

There was a great deal of enthusiasm when the students started school this year as just five weeks after graduation, 100% of the Class of 2018 had already found employment at an average salary of $131 ($77 in 2013). For the first time, the Class of 2018 were able to rely on the fact that their diplomas had been awarded for training that complied with ASEAN standards. This ASEAN certification was granted to Sala Baï by the Cambodian Ministry of Tourism in November 2017 after three years of working with the authorities and professionals in the hospitality sector. So, since July 2018, the skills of Sala Baï students have been recognised in all 10 ASEAN countries (Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and of course Cambodia). Since the school opened in 2002, our training has been continually adapted to meet the requirements and in line with the developments of the market.

In order to be able to continue providing quality training to classes of 150 students (they were 120 in 2017-2018), three new teaching positions have been created in cooking, restaurant and English, bringing the number of Cambodian employees to 30 – trainers, social workers and administrative and logistics staff. Additionally, after a 2-year mission during which he oversaw the construction of the dormitories, Philippe Bès handed over the running of the school to Jean-Maurice Bertrand. Jean-Maurice, who joined us at Sala Baï in July 2018, has spent his whole career in the hotel industry, a large part of it in Asia.

The 150 students started the year in the good hands of a bigger team and accommodated in new dormitories but unfortunately, there are not enough bikes for them all to be able to get to the hotels where they will do their internships. Before the first internships start in November, the school needs to buy 30 bikes.