The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport released guidelines for schools to follow when they physically reopen in September.

Minister Hang Chuon Naron said on August 24, his office discussed reopening kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools.

The two approaches laid out in the guidelines include first prioritising the safety and well-being of students and staff. The second covers encouraging blended learning between self-distance learning through electronics and studying from a distance with books.

Ministry spokesman Ros Soveacha said on Monday the government supports the reopening of schools and the ministry is prepared to advise about the process.

“The ministry will inform schools about any related information later. For now, it calls on administrators to be prepared to organise schools in the Covid-19 context,” he said.

Federation of Education Services in Cambodia president Pech Bolen said he appreciated the ministry’s approach. Roughly 100 private schools are members of the federation.

“This is thoughtful of the ministry in terms of private schools. If the ministry does not allow private institutions to reopen, some will be closed.

“Our private institutions will cooperate with the ministry and follow all approaches and standardised measures. I believe our institutions can make it,” he said.

Bolen expressed the belief that private institutions can follow measures from the ministry of education as they have good internet access which is good for online teaching and Online Plus, the e-learning programme the ministry developed.

“Some private institutions can teach Online Plus as well as distance learning,” he said.

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