Social development
Education and training
Med students won’t boycott test
Medical students who vowed on Sunday to boycott the first government-ordered national exams under claims of discrimination backtracked on their threats yesterday. Da Nhel, 27, a representative of the student doctors, said that just hours after threatening to boycott the exams, which were approved by the ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/med-students-won%E2%80%99t-boycott-test
Chinese gov’t invests in language courses
In an effort to bolster China’s cultural influence and expand bilateral ties, the Chinese government last week donated $203,000 to support the Kingdom’s increasingly popular Chinese-language classes. The funding was transferred last Thursday to the Chinese Association in Cambodia, which said it plans to expand class ...
Laignee Barron and Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/chinese-gov%E2%80%99t-invests-language-courses
Cambodian university wins prize for firefighting robots
Cambodia’s beleaguered fire department may have a future high-tech solution to its problems after a team of young scientists from Norton University competing in the 4th Malaysian International Robot Competitions (MIRoC) last week placed third in the Fire Fighting Robot category. The annual event, held this ...
Hay Pisey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodian-university-wins-prize-for-firefighting-robots-56792/
Low salaries stifle education reform efforts
Sao Sothy’s home is small and the furniture is sparse. There are no tables or chairs. In one room, there is a small bed, but her family of four sleeps on mats in the living room. Hanging on the otherwise bare walls is Ms. Sothy’s ...
Emily Wilkins and Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/low-salaries-stifle-education-reform-efforts-56752/
Medical students, Gov’t tussle over new exam
About half of the University of Health Science’s class of 2014 risks not graduating this year, having refused to register for a new compulsory final exam. A 2007 sub-decree states that a national-level examination for medical students would be implemented from that academic year onwards. But ...
Sinary Sany
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/medical-students-govt-tussle-over-new-exam-56780/
China donates to encourage Chinese language education at Cambodian schools
The Chinese government on Thursday donated 203,000 U.S.dollars to the Chinese Association in Cambodia to support schools offering Chinese language courses in Cambodia. Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Bu Jianguo handed over the money to Duong Chhiv, the president of the Chinese Association in Cambodia. ...
Kong Defang and Liang Jun
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90777/8601478.html
Thailand trains workers from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar
Thailand has begun training workers from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar ahead of the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) next year, the National News Bureau of Thailand reported Wednesday. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=YjNhNDg5MDQ1ZWQ
Schools take funding plan to the bank
Like mob deals and black market trades, the Cambodian school budget is dealt in suitcases of cash. Four times a year, the school operating budget is dispersed in stacks of cash transferred from the central bank to the Ministry of Education, eventually ending up with the ...
Laignee Barron and Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/schools-take-funding-plan-bank
Education Ministry to delegate junior high exam to schools
Education Ministry officials on Monday confirmed that the ministry would no longer organize or oversee the junior high school exam, delegating the process to individual schools. As part of Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron’s reform of the graft-riddled education system, his ministry will forgo coordination of ...
Kuch Naren and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/education-ministry-to-delegate-junior-high-exam-to-schools-56015/
Cambodia leads doubts over AEC
In a rare moment of honesty a Cambodian official has admitted his doubts about his country’s ability to meet regional expectations in time for the launch of the much vaunted ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of 2015. “If you talk about short-term: Yes, we ...
Luke Hunt
http://thediplomat.com/2014/04/cambodia-leads-doubts-over-aec/
Capturing corruption in modern Cambodia
Towering temples and graceful apsaras are missing from a new Cambodia-themed photo show. Instead, camera lenses focused on corruption. The photos show poverty, inadequate sewage systems and parking squeezes at markets. Contest rules allowed photos to be staged—as long as contestants clarified that a photo was ...
Emily Wilkins
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/capturing-corruption-in-modern-cambodia-55812/
Child labor probe on Preah Vihear sugar plantation moves forward
Police in Preah Vihear province say they have uncovered more evidence of child labor on a Chinese-owned sugarcane plantation and will send the case to court if further investigation confirms their preliminary findings. A former employee of the Lan Feng plantation filed a complaint last month ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/child-labor-probe-on-preah-vihear-sugar-plantation-moves-forward-55643/
Ministry, ACU continue campaign for clean high school exam
The Education Ministry’s crusade to clean up the national high school exam continued Wednesday, with the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) releasing a statement inviting concerned parties to monitor exams in August and warning that cheats would be failed and effectively banned from sitting again for two ...
Kuch Naren and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministry-acu-continue-campaign-for-clean-high-school-exam-55667/
Moratorium on new universities
The Ministry of Education has vowed to shift its focus from the quantity of the country’s universities to their quality by instituting a moratorium on the approval of new institutions, officials said yesterday. Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron said that with more than 100 universities already ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/moratorium-new-universities
Official says Cambodia not ready for ASEAN Free Trade
Cambodia is not prepared to join Asean’s single regional market and production base next year, a Labor Ministry official said Friday. Next year, the 10 nations of Asean are to create the Asean Economic Community (AEC). Within this community, labor is to flow freely and import ...
Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/official-says-cambodia-not-ready-for-asean-free-trade-55203/
Workers to file stories from the factory floor
The Cambodian Center for Independent Media (CCIM) is hoping to turn a select group of garment workers into muckrakers by offering a journalism program through the Voice of Democracy news outlet. Free of charge, the course will last until October and have a firm focus on ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/workers-file-stories-factory-floor
Boxes for donations, not bribes: minister
The minister of education proposed yesterday that donation boxes for teachers be installed in schools across the country, but stressed their aim would be to diminish rather than grow a culture of bribery in the system. Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron presented the idea for the ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/boxes-donations-not-bribes-minister
Education official says don’t jail exam cheats
A senior Education Ministry official on Thursday said that jailing students caught cheating, as threatened by the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) on Tuesday, was the wrong approach to cleaning up the national high school exam. Instead, he called for a budget increase to offset losses that teachers ...
Matt Blomberg and Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/education-official-says-dont-jail-exam-cheats-55135/
Exam proctors promised pay boost
The Ministry of Education is promising to pay national exam proctors double the fees earned last year in its newest move to stymie widespread bribes exchanged for exam answers or inflated scores. Previously, proctors earned an average salary of 190, 000 riel ($47.50) over the three-day ...
Chhay Channyda, P.4
http://phnompenhpost.com
ACU Threatens Jail for Students Caught Cheating
The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) will join with the Ministry of Education this year to curb cheating during national-level high school and junior high exams, according to ACU chairman Om Yentieng. In order to eliminate old habits of purchasing answer sheets and paying bribes to exam monitors, ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/acu-threatens-jail-for-students-caught-cheating-54933/
U.S. holds intellectual property rights workshop for Cambodian, Lao officials
The United States government on Tuesday organized an intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement workshop for some 50 Cambodian and Lao law enforcement officials. ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-03/25/c_133212172.htm
New policy to combat corruption in schools
The Education Ministry will reconfigure how it ranks high school graduates seeking placement at state universities as part of its campaign to promote accountability in the school system, Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron announced on Friday. Delivering closing remarks at the Education Ministry’s annual meeting, Mr. ...
Kuch Naren and Emily Wilkins
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/new-policy-to-combat-corruption-in-schools-54886/
ACU tackles exam cheats
Cheating on national grade nine and 12 exams – which has been rampant in the past – just got harder. The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) announced yesterday that it will enlist the services of independent NGOs, civil society groups and private companies to monitor the more than ...
Chhay Channyda and Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/acu-tackles-exam-cheats
Safe water lowers absenteeism
Reducing absenteeism in schools in developing countries may be as simple as providing students with safe drinking water. A new study indicates that, but researchers are not sure why. The study was done at eight schools in Cambodia where the attendance records of more than 3,500 ...
Joe Decapua
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/water-absenteeism-18mar14/1874739.html