Prime Minister Hun Sen has announced plans to build more dormitories in high schools and universities in Phnom Penh and several provincial centres. The dormitories will encourage female students who do not have accommodation to continue their studies.
The prime minister said that the number of women pursuing higher education is currently in decline and this may be due to a lack of safe places to stay.
He made his remarks while presiding over a graduation ceremony for more than 3,000 students at Western University on January 26.
“I intend to build additional dormitories, potentially for female and impoverished students. I am looking into this, and also considering the needs of foreign students,” he said.
He added that while male students could stay at pagodas, women had fewer options.
The prime minister also said that dormitories have not only been built in Phnom Penh, but also in the provinces’ high schools since 2016. He also proposed increasing accommodation for faculty members.
“In the provinces that have universities, there should be dormitories so that students from other villages and districts can have the opportunity to study, especially female students. Such an investment will benefit Cambodia, as it will provide an inexhaustible supply of human resources,” he added.
Ros Soveacha, spokesman for the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, said that the ministry will follow the prime minister’s recommendations and will cooperate with all parties involved in responding to the suggestions.
He added that each year, the ministry offers free accommodation at its female student dormitory centre near the Institute of Technology of Cambodia to 100 to 120 female students. The students are selected to replace fourth and fifth year students each year.
“The students who are eligible are orphans, the disabled, those from poor families and women from remote parts of the Kingdom,” he continued.
The dormitory centre has seven buildings, and houses 745 students, 598 of them young women.
Among the students who stay there are scholarship students from China, Laos and Vietnam.
He said that in total, there are 745 students, including 598 females, staying at the dormitory centre.
