Making sure that all children receive quality education in Covid-19’s “new normal” will require changes in mindset, new soft skills and consideration of economic, political and cultural dimensions, writes educator Neak Piseth.
Higher education institutions will be allowed to reopen after 18 months of disrupted learning, with the Education Ministry setting out guidelines such as mandatory vaccinations, Covid-19 testing and smaller classes to ensure social distancing.
While students were meeting friends and reconnecting, most expressed two major concerns about returning to school: their parents’ reluctance to let them return, and whether they had learned enough in the last year to meet the challenges of a new grade.
For Cambodia’s blind students, school closures and the pandemic have added new difficulties to their studies. Video chats have left them with only portions of lessons, Khmer-language screen reading technology has been lacking, and one of the country’s only braille publishing houses has been temporarily shut due to Covid-19.
Saing Beth, 17, says he’s already abandoned his dream of becoming a police officer. Driving a taxi, as he’s doing now, is not as rewarding, but his family need the money. “Where could they get the money for me to finish school, since they have no income?”
At least one-third of children in the country are not continuing to learn during the school closures, according to a report released earlier this month by Christian aid group World Vision.
With schools shut nationwide for the third time since the start of the pandemic, and university enrollment down slightly last year, students say they have struggled with finances and months of online learning, with some deferring their studies or calling for tuition reductions.
The principal of a Takeo province high school says he has sued five former students for defamation as a warning after they posted critical comments on a Facebook video of him drinking and singing karaoke.
All grade 12 students will pass without taking their year-end exams due to disruptions from Covid-19, Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a surprise announcement on Tuesday that had the Education Ministry and others in the sector unable to immediately answer questions about university admissions and scholarships.
As schools prepare to reopen in some remote provinces on Monday, Mondulkiri teachers say the past six months have been spent scrambling to maintain some education for their students, many of whom have no television or internet.
A dispute with two Chinese-owned telecommunications companies — delicensed by the government last year — is headed to an international arbitration body, government documents show.
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