Remarks by Charge D’Affaires Theodore Allegra at Veal Khmum Primary School Opening

Tbong Khmom District, Kampong Cham September 22, 2010

Charge D’Affaires Theodore Allegra: ... We are also working to improve the quality and relevance of basic education in Cambodia, and increasing access to schooling for all children...

Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, school directors, teachers and students of Veal Khmum Primary School.  Thank you for the invitation to be here with all of you today.  We at the Embassy are thrilled to have played a role in the reconstruction of this school.  I know a lot of hard work and coordination went into making this day possible, and I would like to specifically thank the local building contractor CDW and all the Cambodians who took part in its construction.

The United States is committed to improving the Cambodian education system, both in terms of human capacity and infrastructure. Through projects like this we are helping to provide a space for young students in Kampong Cham to learn and play.  We want their teachers to focus more on instruction than on worries about the environment in which they work.

We are also working to improve the quality and relevance of basic education in Cambodia, and increasing access to schooling for all children, in particular underserved groups such as minorities and the very poor.  Under our education program, 59% of targeted schools have reported reduced dropouts, while 64% have reported a decline in grade repetition.  We are very pleased to be in partnership with the MOE for this success.

This school is just part of our educational support and assistance to Cambodia.  We are rebuilding and renovating similar schools around the country through our humanitarian assistance program, and Kampong Cham will see five additional school and medical clinic projects scheduled for completion between 2010 and 2012.  We are also working to improve the quality and availability of education in rural parts of the country, and we provide scholarships to some of the best and brightest students to study in the United States.  Our Fulbright programs remain among the most popular and sought-after scholarship programs in Cambodia, and we are very proud of our partnership with Cambodian students in that effort.  Our association of alumni of Fulbright and other U.S.-sponsored programs now has over  800 members.

So I would encourage the students in Kampong Cham to enjoy the new classroom building next to me, but also to study hard in it and to remember that they are the future of this country.  And I would encourage the teachers here today to make the best use of this new facility to provide the best possible education to a new generation of Cambodians.  We at the Embassy are happy to help through programs such as the one that has built this school today, but it is the younger generation that we will all rely on to build Cambodia for the future.

Thank you.