The new academic year 2020-2021 of the public schools will begin on Jan. 11, 2021, announced Prime Minister Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen in his special statement broadcast live from his residence in Takhmao town, Kandal province this morning by the National Television of Cambodia (TVK).

Schools must re-open, but the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports must work with the Ministry of Health to develop a “new life path in education”, he underlined.

The Premier also explained his decision to let all students who have registered for the lower- and upper- secondary school exams to pass automatically without sitting for the exams.

At the same time, Samdech Techo Hun Sen told the Ministry of Economy and Finance to request more budget for educational equipment, preventive materials … to make sure that the students and teachers are safe from the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the statistics on public and private educational institutions, there are 4,810 pre-schools, 7,716 primary schools, 1,324 lower-secondary schools, and 638 upper-secondary schools, with a total of 3.4 million students and 93,703 teachers in Cambodia. The Kingdom also has 44 public and 77 private higher education institutions.