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MoEYS Permits Higher Educational Institutions to Reopen

Phnom Penh: The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports has now allowed the reopening of both private and public higher educational institutions across the country starting from the third week of September. This is after schools have been closed since the 20 February Community Transmission Incident. MoEYS has set guidelines that the school administrations required to follow for safe reopening, to avoid the further spread of Covid-19. Prime Minister Hun Sen has been urging MoEYS to start safely reopening schools, especially those in low-risk areas.

According to MoEYS, higher education institutions need to have "information and consultation mechanism" to discuss their situation and must comply with the health standards set. A pilot phase of reopening will be conducted by the Ministry of Education prioritising the fully vaccinated individuals, with vaccination cards to be presented upon entering the school premises. It also says that mixed learning process must be implemented, however, it must be conducted on a voluntary and equitable basis after an assessment. That means that students who prefer to study online must be adhered while those who prefer face-to-face classes must learn in a safe way with limited number of students. Students per class are limited to 20 with a safety gap of 1.5 metres each.

If Covid-19 infection will be discovered, schools must be ready for immediate temporary suspension for 14 days. School administrations must be responsible to conduct immediate testing to all staff and students in accordance to the safety health measure set by the Ministry of Health. They are also required to set up facilities to prevent Covid-19 such as hand washing area, sanitizing and temperature checking.

MoEYS says that the capital-provincial administration must meet with the capital-provincial board of governors to discuss the risk of each areas where the schools are located. It states, “Through the risk mitigation mechanisms that each higher education institution has to establish, higher education institutions must decide on the level of risk that may be posed to staff, educators, students, individually or institutionally, and provide information and raise urgent solutions for discussion with MoEYS.”

School administrations are allowed to choose their own date of reopening once the risk assessment is conducted and evaluated by MoEYS. It has added, “All activities of selling food, canteens, sports activities, sharing drinking water are prohibited.” Constant wearing of masks and the practice of proper hygience are a must for students, teachers and all other school staff. MoEYS has also stressed that prior to the reopening, schools must conduct rapid tests and must have rapid test kits available all the time in case of Covid-19 suspicions in the class.


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