Minister: Prioritise training to realise smart city network
MINISTER of Education, Youth and Sport Hang Chuon Naron told an audience at the National Institution of Education on Tuesday that Cambodia must prioritise training in human resources for the education sector if the Kingdom wished to realise its plans of creating a smart city network in the capital and Battambang and Siem Reap provinces.
“Our youths are already using technology to further their knowledge. Initiatives like smart communes, complete with smart school projects, may be integrated into the smart city plan which will require classrooms to be equipped with technology,” he said.
Delivering his speech entitled Smart City and Smart Building: The Role of Education Sector, he stressed that Cambodia must forge ahead in developing smart city projects at its own pace.
“Teaching in such a manner will require the use of applications and digital technology to aid in learning and teaching, so we must introduce new techniques to our students because the trend in learning is for them to pick up concepts themselves, apply them and then ultimately link the concepts to the digital world,” he said.
Chuon Naron said that
Cambodia did not have sufficient resources to integrate the entire Kingdom in a network of smart cities. But, he said, the government was moving forward to develop smart schools in some areas because “the education sector cannot wait for another 10 to 20 years to do it”.
“We must guide students to think critically and resolve the challenges of tomorrow. All of this will require a change in teaching methods,” Chuon Naron stressed.