The signing ceremony for the grant assistance for Japanese NGO project was held in Japan embassy in Cambodia on Monday. Supplied
The government of Japan, via its embassy in Cambodia, granted more than $190,000 on Tuesday to Nature Centre Risen, an NGO for environmental education at kindergarten and secondary schools in the Kingdom.
The grant is for the project, “Realisation of Sustainable Life Environment through the teaching of practical environmental education in Teacher Education College”.
“In this project, Nature Centre Risen will establish a continuous training system of environmental education from pre-school to lower secondary schools in Cambodia.
“This will be done through revising instruction books for teachers, publishing the environmental education textbooks for students and providing support for the Pre-School Teacher Training Centre,” said the Embassy of Japan in a press release.
“It will continue to help Cambodian people become more aware of environmental issues,” it said.
Japanese ambassador Masahiro Mikami said the grant was provided to Nature Centre Risen because the NGO has been educating youths about the environment and the importance of nature at teacher training colleges in Phnom Penh and in Battambang province.
“For this year’s project, the NGO will revise instruction books to improve the quality of teaching for environment officials, print books for students at primary and secondary schools and support environmental education at the kindergarten teacher training centre,” Mikami said.
He expects the project to help raise awareness about environmental protection in order to preserve the biodiversity of nature and a green living environment for the people.
The embassy said financial assistance for projects started in Cambodia in 2002 to support activities by Japanese NGOs for Cambodia’s reconstruction and development efforts.
It said the Japanese government had provided over $37 million for 121 projects, mainly in the field of primary education, health, agriculture and mine clearance.
Ministry of Education spokesperson Ros Soveacha said his ministry welcomed the positive cooperation from relevant stakeholders in reforming the education sector.
He said Japan had been playing an important role in raising the quality of education at all levels, including environmental education and improving the quality of teacher training.
