Speech
Remarks by Ambassador Carol A. RodleySchool Opening
Pursat Province
September 28, 2009
You’re Excellencies, distinguished guests, school directors, teachers and students of Pursat Province. Thank you for the invitation to be here with all of you today. We at the Embassy are excited to have played a role in the reconstruction of Pursat High School and the expansion of three other schools in Pursat Province to include: Keo Sovann Middle School, Prongil Primary School, and Sophy Primary 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 contractors and all the Cambodians who took part in the construction of these new schools.
As you may already know, Pursat High School was originally built by the U.S. Government in 1962. The fact that we are here today, forty seven years later, points the depth and longevity of our involvement with Cambodia and our dedication to helping the Royal Government improve the 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 Pursat to learn and play, and for their teachers to focus more on instruction than on worries about the environment in which they work.
These schools are just part of our educational support and assistance to Cambodia. We are rebuilding and renovating similar schools and health centers throughout the country as part of our Pacific Command humanitarian assistance program. Through ongoing US assistance programs we are working to improve the quality and availability of education in rural parts of the country. We also provide scholarships to some of the best and brightest students to study in the United States.
So I would encourage the students of Pursat Province to enjoy the renovated building next to me, but also to study hard in it and to remember that they are the future of this country. We at the Embassy are happy to help through programs such as the one that has renovated this school today, but it is the younger generation that will be relied upon to shape what Cambodia will be in the coming years.
