The opening of the digital skills programme for students kicked off on September 22. Heng Chivoan
The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and partner organisations launched a digital skill capacity building project in the education sector to provide a digital education which will contribute to the Kingdom’s human resource development.
The project, kicked off on September 22, is the result of collaboration between the education ministry and Woori Bank (Cambodia) Plc), Child Fund Cambodia and Teach for Cambodia, and aims to reduce the digital gap in the education sector.
Twenty-one schools in Phnom Penh, Kandal and Kampong Thom provinces have been selected for the programme to be implemented in, in the hope that it will lead to significant changes in the digital capabilities of the schools, and provide equal opportunities for students to develop themselves in digital age.
According to the ministry, the project will provide basic computer skills, financial literacy and online safety knowledge to more than 24,000 students, through the direct participation of around 60,000 teachers, parents and civil servants.
Ministry secretary of state Im Koch said the significant project is in line with the government’s Pentagonal Strategy on digital capacity building.
“The Cambodian people are approaching the Industrial Revolution 4.0. I’m excited to launch this project,” he added.
He explained that during the Covid-19 pandemic, students began learning online, but many faced the challenge of slow internet speed. In addition, many documents were not yet ready for inclusion in the online learning system.
“Child Fund Cambodia prepared a training manual to educate teachers on how to teach online more effectively. Wat Bo School in Siem Reap province has paid close attention to implementing digital education. I think in the future, this school will teach entirely through screens. In addition to internet infrastructure, all teachers must have tablets, laptops or smartphones, and the ability to resist hackers,” he said.
Child Fund country director Prashant Verma said school’s information, communication, and technology (ICT) infrastructure and teachers’ abilities to use digital resources are important factors to the promotion of human resources.
“Our organisation has focused on education in more than 200 schools. Some children are still having problems with their studies, but education is one of the most important things there is. We created this digital programme to contribute to the lessons of the 21st century, and help children develop digital literacy,” he explained.
