Social development
Education and training
School buildings ‘failing test’
Two years out from the 2015 Millennium Development Goals’ target of universal access to education, Cambodia remains plagued by school infrastructure shortages, with a scarcity of classrooms and decrepit facilities that threaten students’ safety, NGOs and teachers say. At Slorkram Primary School in Battambang, teachers ...
Laignee Barron and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/school-buildings-%E2%80%98failing-test%E2%80%99
Chaotic Scene as Gun Seized During Teachers’ Rally
A small gathering to mark World Teachers’ Day at Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park briefly descended into chaos Sunday when a crowd of rally-goers wrested a concealed gun from a man working for the Ministry of Information after he forced his way to the front of ...
Mech Dara and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/chaotic-scene-as-gun%E2%80%88seized-during-teachers-rally-44997/
Unicef Says Girls’ Access to Education Limited
Despite progress having been made in recent years to improve girls’ access to education, there is still a gender-based inequality, particularly in rural areas, children’s rights experts said on the International Day of the Girl Child on Friday. “At the moment there is still a slight ...
Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unicef-says-girls-access-to-education-limited-44937/
Tougher laws for recruiters
A new set of prakases tacked onto a law that regulates overseas employment recruitment agencies is a “step in the right direction” towards protecting some of Cambodia’s most vulnerable citizens from scams and abuse, local and international NGOs said yesterday. But some remain unconvinced that the ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tougher-laws-recruiters
U.S. pledges 20 mln USD to WFP for school feeding in Cambodia
The United States has pledged 20 million U.S. dollars over the next three years to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) to carry out school feeding program in Cambodia, said a WFP press release on Tuesday. The statement said the donation, made by the U.S. ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-10/08/c_132780183.htm
Women’s Rights Assessed by UN Committee in Geneva
Rights groups on Monday shared their concerns about the treatment of women in Cambodia with member states of the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in Geneva. Cambodia last updated the committee—which meets three times a year to assess how member states ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/womens-rights-assessed-by-un-committee-in-geneva-44581/
Floods Claim 39 Lives; Crops, Hundreds of Schools Damaged
The death toll from flooding across the country has risen to 39, while the Mekong River remains above emergency levels in Prey Veng and Kandal provinces, a government official said on Friday. Keo Vy, cabinet chief for the government’s National Committee for Disaster Management, said that ...
Khy Sovuthy and Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/floods-claim-39-lives-crops-hundreds-of-schools-damaged-44434/
What does the future hold?
Officials, business professionals and political analysts have mixed opinions on the leadership of the single-party Cambodian government and what the future hold for the next five years. Sok Touch, a professor of political science at Khemarak University, said the political deadlock won’t help the nation become ...
Kay Kimsong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/analysis-and-op-ed/what-does-future-hold
Flooding closes 513 schools
Thousands of students were unable to attend classes yesterday after returning from holiday, as more than 500 schools remained closed due to flooding that has claimed 50 lives so far this year. According to a report released by the National Committee for Disaster Management, 513 schools ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/flooding-closes-513-schools
Poll Finds Cambodians Generally Happy With Life
It’s one of the world’s 49 least developed countries and almost half of the voting population is unhappy with the current government. But 72 percent of Cambodians are generally happy and spend large amounts of their time laughing, smiling and generally enjoying life. That’s the conclusion ...
Colin Meyn and Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/poll-finds-cambodians-generally-happy-with-life-44145/
Democratic Reform Needed to Ensure Growth, Prosperity
With the long-ruling CPP sworn in to govern for another five years despite the opposition CNRP abstaining from sitting in the National Assembly due to election irregularities, a new report argues that imminent threats to Cambodia’s future development can only be overcome with significant government ...
Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/democratic-reform-needed-to-ensure-growth-prosperity-43690/
After CPP Reshuffle, Sok An’s Fiefdom Trimmed
Deputy Prime Minister Sok An has a stunning portfolio of positions within the CPP government. On Monday, CPP lawmakers once again appointed Mr. An as the Cabinet Minister for Prime Minister Hun Sen. He is also the chairman of the state-controlled Cambodian National Petroleum Authority and ...
Kuch Naren and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/after-cpp-reshuffle-sok-ans-fiefdom-trimmed-43665/
Five More Years For Hun Sen; Some Ministers Reshuffled
A day after its opening session and still devoid of the 55 lawmakers-elect of the opposition CNRP, the country’s new, one-party National Assembly voted Prime Minister Hun Sen in for yet another five-year term Tuesday and approved an extensive reshuffle of his Cabinet. In a ...
Hul Reaksmey and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/five-more-years-for-hun-sen-some-ministers-reshuffled-43133/
Ads warn of H5N1 risk
Amid concerns the Pchum Ben holiday will lead to a spike in bird flu cases, health officials have begun to roll out a widespread education campaign aimed at stanching the spread of H5N1. The highly fatal flu has seen 20 cases and 11 deaths this ...
Amelia Woodside and Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ads-warn-h5n1-risk
Canadian for-profit pre-school to open up
Canada-based Learning Jungle School, an early learning and child care provider, will enter the expanding Cambodian pre-school market, planning to start operations in January 2014. Ly Virak, Learning Jungle School franchisee for Cambodia, said there is an increasing number of young Cambodian parents who understand the ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/canadian-profit-pre-school-open
Cambodian maids raring to go
At 5am, without any alarm clock going off, a dozen Cambodian maids wake up with near-military precision. Over the next hour, the women sweep, wash and scrub spotless their two-storey training centre in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. They all want to be maids in Singapore, eager ...
The Star Online Staff
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Regional/2013/09/23/Cambodian-maids-raring-to-go.aspx
Evening the odds with Mother Nature
About 20 people grinned for the camera as they posed in front of a flagpole-like structure located just off a muddy dirt road in Kampong Chhnang province’s Samaki Meanchey district on Thursday morning. While a rather unimpressive visual, the agrometerological station is a first-of-its-kind device in ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/evening-odds-mother-nature
Familiar feel to shuffle
Ten of the Kingdom’s 24 ministerial positions are set to be reshuffled at the launch of the new government, according to an internal party memo obtained yesterday. Among those tapped for a cabinet position is Say Sam El – the 34-year-old son of Senate deputy president ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/familiar-feel-shuffle
IBBM Launches Chartered Banker Qualifications In Cambodia
The Institute of Bankers Malaysia (IBBM) has launched the Chartered Banker qualification for the Cambodian banking industry to develop talents in the banking industry in that country. The launch of the Chartered Banker qualifications was officiated today by the National Bank of Cambodia Deputy General ...
Bernama News Staff
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v7/bu/newsbusiness.php?id=978465
Shuttered schools, factories
With only about 10 per cent of its 1,000-person workforce at their stations by 8am yesterday, management at Hoyear (Cambodia) Garment Ltd cut its losses and announced that the factory would close for the next two days. Thousands across the capital opted out of work ...
Sean Teehan, Laignee Barron and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/shuttered-schools-factories
Grade 9 test pushed back amid protest
The Ministry of Education has suspended the grade 9 examinations this week without citing a reason. In a letter sent yesterday, parents and students are informed that examinations slated to take place today and Tuesday would instead take place on September 26 and 27. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/grade-9-test-pushed-back-amid-protest
Students Urge All Sides to Keep Election Protests Peaceful
More than 200 students and opposition supporters marched Sunday around Phnom Penh’s Wat Phnom with flowers in hand, urging parties to refrain from violence during Saturday’s protest against last month’s contested national election results and for recent incitement charges against two students to be dropped. The ...
Zsombor Peter and Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/students-urge-all-sides-to-keep-election-protests-peaceful-41556/
Finance Ministry Accused of Ignoring Education Sector
The Ministry of Education on Tuesday again publicly accused the Ministry of Finance of not injecting enough funds into the education sector in order to bring Cambodia in line with the rest of Southeast Asia. Speaking at the close of a two-day workshop to formulate the ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/finance-ministry-accused-of-ignoring-education%E2%80%88sector-41040/
Teachers group urges ministry to open access to exam
Cambodia’s Independent Civil Servants Association (CICA) has written to the minister of education to request teachers and education officials be given equal access to an exam allowing them to move up the ministry’s pay scale. The association claims the ministry has made recent changes to a ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/teachers-group-urges-ministry-open-access-exam