South Korea has asked the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports to set up several new language centres, as the Korean language will be taught to students in six Phnom Penh high schools from July.
The request came during a meeting between education minister Hang Chuon Naron and Korean ambassador to Cambodia Park Heung-kyeong on May 31, according to ministry spokesman Ros Soveacha.
“[Park] requested that we establish additional Korean language centres, as part of the project which will teach the language in some high schools,” said Soveacha.
Park congratulated Cambodia on its results at the recent Southeast ASEAN Games (SEA Games) in Vietnam and suggested a review of school textbooks to include the history of South Korea to the curriculum.
Chuon Naron thanked South Korea for assisting in the development of education and sports in Cambodia. He said the East Asian country had provided scholarships for Cambodian students, equipment to educational institutions and technology training for teachers in response to demand for distance learning.
The minister also invited Park to take part in the first ASEAN Youth Debate in July.
Yang Kim Eng, president of the People’s Centre for Development and Peace, said the establishment of Korean language centres was important as South Korea has an advanced economy. As Cambodia’s education sector becomes more diversified, students may choose to learn Korean. He supported the idea of students having more choice when it came to learning a foreign language.
“South Korea and Japan have advanced technologies and are at the forefront of new technology development. Learning Korean could be a massive advantage to students who want to work in tech in the future. I think it would be a good choice for many students,” he told The Post on June 1.
Last month, the ministry – in collaboration with South Korea’s Busan Department of Education – announced a training session on the use of information technology for digital teaching and learning. The session will be held in Busan City from September 19-25.
The training will invite 18 Cambodian teachers from public high schools and will enhance their information technology teaching skills.
Back in 2019, the education ministry received tablets and other information and communications technology (ICT) materials from the Busan education department. They were used to support ICT education in eight public primary and high schools.
