Investing in future of China-Cambodia ties with education project

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet (2nd R, front) and Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Wang Wenbin (3rd R, front) attend the inauguration ceremony of a China-aid school improvement project in Kampong Cham province, Cambodia on Oct. 26, 2024. (Photo by Nitola/Xinhua)

KAMPONG CHAM, Cambodia, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- A China-aided project has played a crucial role in helping improve learning facilities and education quality in Cambodia, Prime Minister Hun Manet said here on Saturday.

Hun Manet made the remarks during the inauguration ceremony of the project, which was held at the Hun Sen Peam Chi Kang High School in the southeast Kampong Cham province's Kang Meas district.

He said the project had school buildings, dorms for teachers, sanitary facilities, wells, football pitches, basketball courts, fences, roads and sewage at 26 high schools and the Hun Sen Kandal Regional Teacher Training Center, located in the capital Phnom Penh, Kandal province and Kampong Cham province.

The project has also supported information and communication technology development for education in Cambodia.

Hun Manet said these achievements are a new testament to excellent ties and close cooperation between Cambodia and China, particularly in the education sector.

"This project has significantly contributed to improving the quality of education in Cambodia, benefiting both teachers and students," he said.

Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Wang Wenbin was confident that the project would importantly contribute to improving the quality of high school education in the Southeast Asian country.

"Youth represent the future. Investing in the education sector of Cambodia is investing in the future of China-Cambodia relations," he said.

Wang added that an alignment between China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Cambodia's Pentagonal Strategy would help deepen cooperation in the education sector between the two countries.

A photo, taken on Oct. 26, 2024, shows a China-aid physics lab at a high school in Kampong Cham province, Cambodia. (Photo by Nitola/Xinhua)

Sean Sophal, deputy principal of the Hun Sen Peam Chi Kang High School, said a total of 1,452 students at the school have greatly benefited from the project.

The project had a resource building, a three-storey school building with 15 classrooms, a dorm for teachers, and other infrastructures such as a basketball court, a physics lab, a computer lab, he told Xinhua.

"I'd like to thank China for providing a great deal of assistance, enabling our school to have enough educational materials and school buildings for the students," Sophal said.

Roeurn Liza, a grade 12 student at the Hun Sen Peam Chi Kang High School, said the project has transformed the school into a modern one, with enough learning facilities and laboratories.

"I'm really glad that I have luck to study at a school that has good learning materials and buildings, and these have motivated us to study harder," she told Xinhua.

Say Bunkheang, another grade 12 student at the Hun Sen Peam Chi Kang High School, said he was pleased to see the school's library full of reading books.

"I feel excited because this assistance has provided tremendous development to our school, and will importantly contribute to the development of human resources in our country," he told Xinhua.

"I'd like to thank China for having provided a great amount of assistance to Cambodia, especially in the education sector," Bunkheang said.