Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - International Red Cross gifts educational kits to disabled students

International Red Cross gifts educational kits to disabled students

Content image - Phnom Penh Post
The handover event was held at a physical rehabilitation centre in Battambang province with the participation of 57 students from Battambang and neighbouring provinces. SUPPLIED

International Red Cross gifts educational kits to disabled students

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has provided educational material to nearly 60 middle and high school students with disabilities as the new semester starts for schools that have been closed for more than a year and a half due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the ICRC press release on October 19, the handover event was held at a physical rehabilitation centre in Battambang province with the participation of 57 students from Battambang and neighbouring provinces.

ICRC said each student was given a backpack, books, stationary, and some were presented with bicycles for travel to school. An additional $50 was given to each student to assist them and their families in coping with the economic stress caused by the pandemic.

Dena Fisher, ICRC’s Head of Mekong Region Mission, said the donations were part of the organisation’s commitment to promoting social inclusivity for people with disabilities. Access to education is so important for children, particularly now when classes have been suspended for so long due to Covid-19.

“These donations are part of our support for the government’s efforts in helping thousands of people with disabilities . . . to regain mobility and reintegrate into society,” said Fisher.

“Despite the challenges, we have worked hard over recent months to ensure that other parts of the ICRC social inclusion programmes could continue, such as the provision of grants for people with disabilities to start small businesses.”

According to Phalla Keo, ICRC officer in charge of physical rehabilitation programme in Cambodia, the donations will assist students with disabilities to return to school when face-to-face learning resumes.

“We have all heard that the lower-income families in rural areas are hit harder by crises. That’s why one of the most heart-warming things I feel today is that what we do – small as it may seem – is playing a role in making sure that the children’s desire to learn is not extinguished by the hard times that people face today,” he said.

ICRC started its Physical Rehabilitation Programme back in 1991 to support communities affected by mines and other explosive remnants of war (ERW).

The organisation continues to work closely with Cambodia’s Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation in support of Phnom Penh’s orthopaedic component factory and Battambang and Kampong Speu provincial rehabilitation centres, which provide services across seven provinces in Cambodia.

ICRC said that close to 11,000 people have benefited from services provided at those centres every year. While there are still new patients with injuries caused by ERW. Services are also offered to victims of road traffic accidents, illness and other accidental injuries.

Yeap Malino, director of the social affairs ministry’s Department of Welfare for Disabled People, said on October 20 that there are currently more than 50,000 children with disabilities across Cambodia, with more than 6,000 children with disabilities studying in primary and special education schools.

“For the welfare for disabled people department, there are many partner organisations working to help people who have children with disabilities. But the ICRC is a strategic partner organisation that has helped people and children with disabilities in Battambang and Kampong Speu on physical rehabilitation,” he said.

MOST VIEWED

  • Wing Bank opens new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004

    Wing Bank celebrates first anniversary as commercial bank with launch of brand-new branch. One year since officially launching with a commercial banking licence, Wing Bank on March 14 launched a new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004. The launch was presided over by

  • Siem Reap airport to close after new one opens

    After the new Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI) opens in October, the existing complex serving the northwestern province will be “completely closed”, according to State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) spokesman Sin Chansereyvutha. SAI developer Angkor International Airport Investment (Cambodia) Co Ltd (AIAI) last month

  • Girl from Stung Meanchey dump now college grad living in Australia

    After finishing her foundational studies at Trinity College and earning a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Melbourne in 2022, Ron Sophy, a girl who once lived at the Stung Meanchey garbage dump and scavenged for things to sell, is now working at a private

  • Rare plant fetches high prices from Thai, Chinese

    Many types of plants found in Cambodia are used as traditional herbs to treat various diseases, such as giloy or guduchi (Tinospora cordifolia) or aromatic/sand ginger (Kaempferia galangal) or rough cocklebur (Xanthium Strumartium). There is also a plant called coral, which is rarely grown

  • Ministry using ChatGPT AI to ‘ease workload’; Khmer version planned

    The Digital Government Committee is planning to make a Khmer language version of popular artificial intelligence (AI) technology ChatGPT available to the public in the near future, following extensive testing. On March 9, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications revealed that it has been using the

  • Cambodia returns 15M Covid jabs to China

    Prime Minister Hun Sen said Cambodia will return 15 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to China for donation to other countries. The vaccines in question were ordered but had not yet arrived in Cambodia. While presiding over the Ministry of Health’s annual meeting held on