Private schools in 12 provinces and Phnom Penh conducted Grade 9 examinations on Monday and will continue on Tuesday, as per the advice of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport.

Education ministry spokesman Ros Soveacha said each school had to organise its examination centre, which is checked by the ministry. Ten to 15 students are allowed to be in the same room, following World Health Organisation advice on maintaining social distancing.

In total, 138 examination centres with 646 rooms have been prepared for students.

The president of the Federation of Education Services in Cambodia and co-founder of Westline International School Pech Bolene said the responsibility of organising examinations – a task usually handled by the ministry – will increase the capabilities of schools.

“In the future, the ministry will likely want private institutions to manage the quality of education by themselves,” he said.

Westline International School has eight campuses in Phnom Penh and 500 Westline students will take the examinations, he said.

Sovannaphumi School (SPS) CEO Khim Phon said: “The departments of education in Phnom Penh and the provinces assigned representatives to check the process of examinations in all centres. We have 1,146 students who are taking the examination, of which 597 are females. No one was absent [on Monday].”