Japan, U.S. donors helping build Cambodian schools 11/04/1999
Japan Economic Newswire Copyright Kyodo News International Inc. 1999
PHNOM PENH, Nov. 4 -- Donors from Japan and the United States have helped build three schools in Preah Vihear Province, the first educational facilities in a remote part of Cambodia to be equipped with computers and access to the Internet. Some 200 new schools are to be built in remote parts of the country, with half the total cost to come from the World Bank, the other half to be supplied by Japan Relief for Cambodia and about 20 individual donor-communities in the U.S. Each school is estimated to cost 30,000 dollars to build and equip. Former Japanese Minister of Environment Wakako Hironaka and Bernard Krisher , chairman of American Assistance for Cambodia, inaugurated the first three schools in Preah Vihear , which borders on Thailand, on Thursday.
Hironaka said the village children are being taught to use computers to provide them with skills that will allow them to benefit from services and knowledge that would not be possible without access to the Internet. She said one of the three schools is already equipped with two solar-panels that provide enough power to operate a computer for several hours each day. With nearly 43% of the Cambodian population under 15 years of age, and nearly one in three from 7 to 14 years old unable to attend school, the prospect of breaking out of poverty without improved education is grim. Japan Relief for Cambodia, in a statement on the project, said, "Many donors are average people who believe education for village children will assure a more stable and peaceful environment in the future for Cambodia."
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