education
Covid-19 precautions outside Phnom Penh’s Build Bright University on April 2, 2021. (Michael Dickison/VOD)

Universities to Reopen With Smaller Classes, Covid-19 Tests

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.

Former French Ambassador Eva Nguyen Binh examines pages printed from a Braille printer at the Institute for Special Education for Deaf and Blind Children in Phnom Penh, in a photo posted to NGO Krousar Thmey's Facebook page on July 28, 2017.

Blind Students Face Additional Difficulties Studying Online

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.

A boy in the Tonle Sap lake in Kampong Thom province in May 2017. (VOD)

Pursat Students Dropping Out Amid Low Incomes, Poor Connectivity

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?”

Covid-19 precautions outside Phnom Penh’s Build Bright University on April 2, 2021. (Michael Dickison/VOD)

As Pandemic Keeps Campuses Shut, University Students Learn to Adapt

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.

Prime Minister Hun Sen delivers a speech from his home in Kandal province on December 15, 2020, in this photograph posted to his Facebook page.

Hun Sen Cancels Exams for Graduating High Schoolers

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.