The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport is working with the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, development partners and private sectors to install the internet at thousands of public schools as part of a four-year programme lasting until 2023.

The project aims to equip schools with digital learning and teaching capabilities.

Education ministry spokesman Ros Soveacha told The Post on October 25 that regarding the plan in connecting internet for public educational institutions, Minister Hang Chuon Naron led a meeting with Chun Vat, the director-general of the telecoms ministry’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) General Department on October 23.

Soveacha said: “The meeting of these two ministries was plan how to connect 3,000 schools with the internet in four years, from 2020 to 2023, within the framework of the Global Telecommunications Service Obligations Fund.”

He said the education ministry will select 300 public schools at the beginning of the project this year to be connected with the internet. In 2021, the ministries will choose 600 to 700 more schools to receive internet services.

Chuon Naron said at the meeting that schools will be evaluated in terms of how easy the school can participate and which schools have a high commitment to using technology.

Vat confirmed to The Post on October 25 that the education ministry requested the telecoms ministry to install internet services at 3,000 schools within four years.

“We [both ministries] will assign teams to evaluate whether schools have electricity and enough tools and commitment to connecting to the internet,” he said.

He added that fibre optic cables would be used for internet connections.

“My institution just helps to give internet service, while the education ministry will install various equipment to serve e-Learning,” he said.