KOICA-BY-FUNDED PLAYGROUND HALL INAUGURATED IN KAMPOT PROVINCE

[THE PRESS RELEASE WAS PUBLISHED IN KOH SANTEPHEAP DAIL, DATED 12-13^THFebruary 2011, NO. 7187]

KOICA-BY-FUNDED PLAYGROUND HALL INAUGURATED IN KAMPOT PROVINCE

On 8^th February, 2011, the inauguration ceremony was held for the KOICA-by-funded playground hall in Anuwat primary school of Kampot province with the attendance from a Director of the Provincial Department of Education; a Director of City Office of Education; KOICA Deputy Representative; a KOV program manager; fifteen KOICA volunteers; a chief of commune; a school director; and teachers as well as students. Ms. KIM Sori, the KOICA volunteer who has been providing teaching assistance in physical education with Anuwat primary school for nearly two years, has played an important role in producing a model for enhancing physical education of primary schools in Cambodia through the playground hall project. It takes eight months to get the project finish, starting from June 2010 to January 2011. The project is very important for school children’s sport activities; they could play sports in the playground hall whenever they wish without fear of the head from the sunlight during dried season and without fear of rainfall during rainy season.

Based on the KOICA news release, the project is aimed at developing a sport textbook for the primary school, installing physical education facilities, and constructing a hand-washing place, which demonstrates an effective way of providing students with physical education and key aspects on how physical education can affect both academic learning and physical activity patterns of students. The beneficiary group of the project shall be consisted of 270 students from Anuwat primary school and about 300 beneficiaries from Provincial Teacher Training College (PTTC) including nearby residents.

Through the playground hall project for vitalizing the physical education of Anuwat primary school, a major expected outcome will be made in a sense that teachers could develop their teaching methodologies and study materials according to a well-organized sport textbook, and they shall be able to generate a good atmosphere for students to follow instructions in the textbook and creative lesson plans. More importantly, the playground hall will enable students to feel enthusiastic about, to participate more actively in, and to pay more attention to the school physical education program. For the long term outcome, it might be possible to consider the physical education project, initiated by Ms. KIM Sori, to be a model for other primary schools and NGOs that have missions related to volunteer work in Cambodia to adopt nationwide.

Having seen advantages of physical education at the primary level, Ms. KIM Sori strongly believes that the playground hall shall be a place where students learn about all of the benefits gained from being physically active as well as the skills and knowledge to incorporate safe, satisfying physical activity into their school lives. A healthy, physically active student is more likely to be academically motivated, alert, and successful. Students with qualified physical education will be equipped with social, cooperative, and problem solving competencies.

After the inauguration ceremony finished, lots of students have participated joyfully in sport games under the roof of the playground, which is a good sign for the expected outcomes in the near future.