A total of 227 public and private lower and higher secondary schools across Phnom Penh capital start reopening today, said the Municipal Governor H.E. Khuong Sreng while inspecting the in-class resumption of three schools this morning.

Of the number, 68 are public and 159 are private educational institutions, he pointed out, adding that those schools have been fully prepared in conformity with the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) guided by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and the Ministry of Health, and with the instruction of Phnom Penh municipal administration.

Some 139,578 students return to school with 10,443 teachers and education staff, he underlined.

According to the governor, only vaccinated students and teachers against COVID-19 are allowed to enter the school.

The in-class resumption has been allowed thanks to the high vaccination rate among teachers, education staff and children-youth aged from 12 to under 18 years old, and to steady decline of new infections in the capital.

For the kindergarten and primary schools, they must apply for authorisation from the municipal administration which will dispatch a working group to examine and assess the risk level in accordance to the actual situation before making any decision.

Recently, the Phnom Penh municipal administration issued a directive on the preventive measures against the COVID-19 spread for the reopening of public and private educational institutions.

The measures include continued education on health safety rules and the “3 Dos, 3 Don’ts” measure, the class size limit (at most 15 students per classroom) along with 1.5 metre safety distancing, mandatory mask wearing, temperature screening, hand cleaning, conducting rapid tests on all teachers and education staff before school resumption, and so on

Source: Agency Kampuchea Press