17th School Health Lecturer Training

School Health Lecturer Training was held in Siem Reap from May 28 to 30, 2024.

Dr. Yung Kunthearith, Ms. EK Titthida, and Ms. Hun Sophorn from the School Health Department of the Ministry of Education Youth and Sports of Cambodia attended the training. On the second day, Mr. Mori, Mr. Matsushima, and Mr. Horie from The Nippon Foundation joined the training.

On the first day, Professor Dr. Asakura gave an overview of the school health textbook for the lower secondary courses for all student teachers (15 hours per credit).
Ms. Saomoline from Phnom Penh Teacher Education College (PTEC) gave a trial lesson on “First Aid” to other lecturers who pretended to be college students.
Lecturers from the TECs reported on the results of height and weight measurements and vision tests conducted at the attached primary school and presented an analysis of the results. Additionally, school health lecturers trained the attachment school teacher on how to implement body measurements and vision tests.

On the second day, Ms. Bunmakara from Battambang Teacher Education College (BTEC) gave a trial lesson on “Lifestyle and Health.”
As usual, in our program, lecturers are also working on revising textbooks for the primary course.
Dr. Asakura introduced an social and emotional competencies card game for teachers.

The third day was a visit to a public primary school called Prey Chrouk which is located in Siem Reap.
The school has a teacher who graduated from BTEC who studied school health lessons.
This time, we observed a health class on “Parasites” being in the 6th grade class.
The teacher demonstrated some ingenuity in presenting pictures of parasites and facilitating group work.
After the class, it was heartwarming to see the lecturers happily taking pictures with the alumni student teacher.
We hope to visit alumni who are working in their respective provinces and to step up our efforts to understand the current situation of health education in each province, not only in urban suburbs but also in rural areas.

Moreover, Ms. Khim from PTEC and Ms. Somnea from BTEC gave a class on “School Safety and Crisis Management” to the 3rd-grade class. The class incorporated group work to classify illustration cards depicting behaviours into safe or dangerous behaviours.
The children applauded and cheered when they checked the correct answers for each question.
The lecturer, who usually teaches college students, switched to teaching primary school students, and I was impressed by their skills and understanding of the subject matter.