I have great pleasure to be present once again at the National Institute for Education (NIE) for this solemn occasion of graduations but I also would like to ask for your understanding that my wife could not make it to this ceremony for a minor health problem. It is a great pleasure to be here once more. For some graduates, graduates as teacher trainees and on-going pedagogical students, we might have met more than one time in the course of your studies.
Let me take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to the National Institute for Education (NIE) for the effort in sustaining its works from the time it was a University of Pedagogy to presently the National Institute for Education. For thirty years NIE has been serving as a center for teacher training. I have mentioned already that I used to be here in the initial stage to give lectures. We did not have electricity and lecturing at night depended on a small electric generator.
As you know we are now in a different state. Though a few old buildings are still here but many new ones have sprung up. This is also because we have to preserve and conserve some of the buildings too. NIE staff’s efforts in sharing and transferring knowledge to new generations of teachers have been well taken and highly noted.
These efforts have been very useful as it has trained and retrained teaching staff before they are being sent back for teaching jobs. Today we have the graduation of teaching staff who attain bachelor degree plus one year of pedagogy and French language training. We have the 13th and 14th batch of teaching staff in training.
This has indeed reminded us of those who know more teach those who know less, and those who know little teach those who do not know. It was after the Pol Pot’s regime which was the most difficult time for us. Upon being liberated from the Pol Pot’s regime, our people had to keep one hands fighting the return of the genocide, while another to restore every fields that were in complete destruction and to cope with sanction that was imposed upon by the United Nations. The embargo meant development assistance was forbidden making our youngsters at that time studying under trees, in Buddhist monks’ residences, and charcoal was used as chalk.
We have now come to a new and different stage of development as we started to globalize ourselves by integrating with the world without anymore sanction from anyone. We are also a member of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, World Customs, etc. We have even fulfilled some international obligations like sending de-mining teams to Sudan and are in the process of sending more to Chad and Central African Republic.
These steps of developments have allowed us more time to improve our country’s education service in quality and quantity, in which number of students throughout the country has reached 3,4 millions together with increasing number of teachers to 106,300 … This is starkly different to when we first started with only few teachers in 1979-1980, in addition to even less number of teachers of pedagogy left from the genocide. We have suffered multiple consequences in the field of education. Some efforts to make our people literate had failed because of what is called “literacy disremember” because after literacy campaign they do not have books to read or TV to watch as we do now, so they tended to disremember. This is our sad memory of what it was like.
HE Im Sothi, Minister for Education, has just reported that in 2007-2008, we have a graduation of 4,861 teachers for all levels of education. Among them, 488 graduates are to be distribute among universities. We also have pedagogical teachers who have been transferred from Phnom Penh’s Pedagogical School to NIE to further train Bachelor + 1 professors and 12 + 1 for those who come from regional pedagogical schools … And these efforts are made for all — male and female.
I have been accused and sued to have abused women when I made a remark which did not even specifically name any names. S/he felt my remark meant on her/him and sued me for that in her/his generalization that I meant all women in the remark. I have now gathered sufficient proofs and evidences to sue the person of what was being said of me. It is not that I counterclaim but I bring a claim upon the person for her/his remark that discredits my honor …
After making noises about what is to be “my wrong actions,” and as soon as I decided to sue the person, those voices that initially support the person’s claim have raised concerns and opted for no legal actions taken.
The person even threatened and challenged me for parliamentary immunity removal together with her/his. I am ready for that. However, the person should think of the two-third majority I have in the National Assembly. It is up to the Court to decide, if they see me committing any wrongdoings, they should request to the National Assembly for such immunity removal. As for me, I have no doubt that the two-third majority of the CPP in the parliament will not go her/his way. As for the person, I am sure it will be a piece of cake … The person always back up her/his position by resorting to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) but I am also a member of parliament and I also have my honor to protect.
I was sued for 500 Riels in compensation for whatever cause the person may claim but I am suing the person for Riel 10 million and the money will go to orphanage centre. Now when I say those “ill-will politicians who reckoned no truth” … they may think I discredit them and they may think that they are the ones who do not reckon the truth for real. So, they may sue me on that too … How dare the person link her/himself with women in the whole country, I also have my wife and my daughters and female members of the CPP too …
All this have proven what a former parliamentarian Khem Viesna said “keeping scolding Hun Sen will make a person famous” … Now you have it but I will get Riel 10 million for the orphans. The legal action will have to cover both persons in the press conference they conducted. In what count that the lawyer is in the press conference with the person?
I have to take this opportune moment to share with all of you and your loved ones my joy for the successes you have achieved in the course of your study and soon you will be going out teaching in various educational institutions. I think as the country’s development has come to a better stage perhaps distribution of teachers to various provinces in the country will be easier in comparison to some ten years ago.
In 1986, I requested Takeo province to send some 100 teachers to Ratanakiri province (in the northeast) and about five or six stay there up to now. It was a hard decision to make in presence of malaria, Khmer Rouge’s guerilla activities and in absence of road connections to Phnom Penh …
As of the present, the province is well connected and traveling to Phnom Penh would not take four or five days or via Vietnam as before but in few hours. We still have the section of national road 78 under construction from O Pong Moan to Baan Lung and soon we will have an agreement signed with the People’s Republic of China on other national road 76 construction which soon we will have this area well connected by asphalted roads. Teachers who have to fulfill mission in Koh Kong province will also be there and from within four hours.
What is now the most important achievement of Cambodia is the fact that the whole country is under one control and the presence of no war has allowed our people to travel freely wherever they wish to. There have no longer been internal boundaries, beside which former warring factions filled them with mines … So when we achieve peace in the whole country well connected infrastructure will add on to educational and healthcare facilities in place in local areas or communities … these have made us different from before indeed.
However, my ambition has been far greater as I wish to focus on building more functional residences for teaching staff and this ambition has been fulfilled in some places like in Romeas Hek of Svay Rieng province by HE Pol Saroen, Chief of General Staff and also by Bun Rany Hun Sen in Memot of Kompong Cham province where functional residences for teaching staff are provided …
I usually say that an important criteria among all in order to have good teachers is to provide basic facility for living condition, residence included. Teachers will choose your provinces if they see that you take care of basic facility for them …
We have now stratified our development in a more even manner as in the forthcoming time the northeast region will become one of the strong economic poles and as you know Mondulkiri, Kratie, Stoeng Treng, with better road accesses will attract more teachers … the local authorities should be wise as to look for land for cultivation for them as well. Giving priority to education, we have augmented more budget regularly whereas human resources development enjoys our special attention …
Knowledge economy must be provided for all Cambodian citizens and that is why we have done everything we can to establish secondary school in all communes with the hope that we will be able to fulfill the mission by 2011 …
Before and after 1979, in the whole province we have only one senior secondary school … In Kompong Cham for instance before 1970, students who wished to pursue their education to senior secondary school level will have to come to the town of Kompong Cham and by after 1979, we still had one senior secondary school in the town. As of now we have more in all districts, with at least two each in Dambe and Memot districts, while others have more than two …
As far as junior secondary school is concerned, by late 2011 we will achieve the target and more will help students from having to travel across rivers to study… We should apply the Hun Sen theory in this matter by upgrading junior to senior secondary school by adding more buildings and providing more teachers …
Having said so I would urge all to maintain school land property – at kindergarten, primary, secondary school and university levels – for future demand for more buildings to be built for educational purposes and I would deny categorically any assumption that so and so school has got so and so much of unused land … Remember that in 30 years the Cambodian population have grown from about four millions to about 14 millions …
So we need to have more good teachers … Indeed we have started after the liberation with our bare hands and teaching was an activity in exchange for about ten different food and utensil items – ranging from rice, salt … to soap, etc.
It has been a tightened-belt effort to be able to increase civil servants’ salary for 20% per annum and it is not at all easy to do unlike so and so increase would be made by some irresponsible politicians … We are not opting for collecting tax on land to just fulfill this wish … Increase of salary will have to be implemented in accordance with the level of growth that the country has achieved … Preaching irresponsibly is not my style …
In addition to this I have some messages for our people as the world is being threatened by swine flu and its rapid spread if we compare to SARS or bird flu. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the Ministry of Health have taken precautionary measures by raising our people’s awareness and also by sending veterinaries to all country’s entrance and exit points …
However it has been noted that the disease is not being contaminated from eating pork, so I would urge our people not to refrain from eating pork completely as those who have contaminated with the disease in Mexico are 99% not pork eating …
I have HE Cham Prasidh contact with HE Surin Pitsuvan, the General Secretary of ASEAN, to discuss the possibility of getting a common ASEAN mechanism to be prepared for the disease as we had done that with SARS while Thailand was under HE Thaksin, for which ASEAN had the participation from Hong Kong and China … That is just an initiative proposed in the name of ASEAN to take up a common ASEAN approach to the matter while where to meet and who to meet will be another matter to decide. As the scale of the issue is rather big we should examine whether a meeting of such nature could make effective decision or should there be a meeting at a higher level. I support Thailand to host such a meeting …
IN many countries, travelers have been stopped while finding out at point of entrance to be contaminated, where in Cambodia, I suggest the Ministry of Health will have to contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation immediately to inform them of nationals who have identified to be contaminated or carried the disease and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation will have to inform respective embassies about such cases involving their nationals and what should be appropriate measures to be observed … We will wait for further information and evaluation from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Ministry of Health before more serious measures be taken, while in some countries, Mexicans have been strictly forbidden from entering their countries … We have been safe because of our precautionary measures. We are unsophisticated in terms of our ability to deal with the disease, but as in the case of SARS and bird flu, because we are pro-active and cautious, we are not spiritually weak …
Another message is for our people to speed up rainy season rice cultivation as rain starts quite early this year. Rice cultivation to start early will help us deal with impacts from the world financial and economic crisis … We have observed impacts on garment industry, tourism, construction, and investment flow, etc.
However, agriculture has in this state of being shown out to be opportunity that we have in stock a surplus from meeting an increasing demand for local food security and export … It is time for us to take all efforts in speeding up cultivation and high yield will help us guarantee food security for the country and economic growth to a certain extent, … We can go less oil but not without rice …/.
