Phnom Penh: A private school in Siem Reap has become one of the country’s first schools to open its doors in over six months. The International School of Siem Reap has confirmed to EAC News that its high school students are back. In the capital, education department staff are hard at work at some schools, anticipating a reopening in the coming weeks.

The International School of Siem Reap, reopening in part, on Monday 6 September, just over six months after the 20 February Community Transmission Event forced the closure of schools across the country in early March. The school says, for now, the priority is high school students, and they’re already adapting to a new normal – “blended learning”. Only two days of face-to-face classes. The rest remaining online. The school has not said when younger students will be welcomed back.

In the capital, signs that schools will start reopening soon. Chea Sim Boeung Keng Kang High School and Chbar Ampov High School have already been sanitized. Schoolgrounds are being tidied up in anticipation of the return of students. Phnom Penh Governor Khoung Sreng has stated that the capital’s Covid-19 cases are declining, as is its mortality rate. He says this is a “good sign” that the capital will soon be back to normal with schools slowly reopening in areas with the lowest infection rates.

The Ministry of Education is expected to confirm shortly just how many schools across the kingdom have already started reopening.