School’s out for the year but studying and exams to go on
THE Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport has postponed secondary and high school examinations this year to contain Covid-19 infections.
In a letter on Wednesday the ministry said: “In the 2019-2020 academic year, the Ministry of Education will continue implementing new reforms to all kinds of examinations in line with the principles of law, justice and transparency and obtained results.”
The secondary school examination was scheduled to be held from August 3-10, while the high school examination was to be held from August 17 to September 9. The ministry will inform students of new dates for the examinations at a later time.
The further said the date of receiving secondary examination application forms and providing secondary examination registration letters as hard copy and soft copy for candidates are to be sent to the Department of Affairs at the Ministry of Education at a set time.
It said all students had to self-study at home by using basic books and e-learning materials contained in the formal website of the Ministry of Education, YouTube, ?Facebook, the Electronic Learning Centre, E-School Cambodia and Wiki School.
The programmes are available on smartphones across iOS and Android platforms and will be broadcast on Apsara Television ( TV11), OneTV, Channel 6, SKY ONETV Channel 35, Wiki School TV.
Ministry spokesman Ros Soveacha could not be reached for further comment on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Education has allowed the closure of private and state pre-schools to higher education since March 16 until further notice amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
On Wednesday, Minister of Education Hang Chuon Naron and Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith co-signed a memorandum of understanding to produce and broadcasting e-learning programmes electronically.
The Ministry of Education reiterated on its Facebook post on Wednesday that the production and dissemination of the programmes would ensure that education services had balance, especially for rural students who can obtain the same quality of education as city dwellers.
Quoting Chuon Naron, the ministry wrote in a Facebook post that both ministries had collaborated to organise TV channels to broadcast online teaching on TV and students can learn it across the country.
The Ministry of Education further said that Chuon Naron had also instructed parents and guardians of students to prepare their children to study properly using basic study books conducive to online learning.
In the future, the ministry will prepare further question and answer systems to make it easy for student learning online.
A press release issued by the ministry on Wednesday noted that the Ministry of Information requested a Cable TV channel per province to broadcast e-learning of “TechoTV” and “TVK2”.
The press release also announced that the DTV Network Limited handed over 10 sets of DVT skills development training videos to the Ministry of Information.