Phase 1 Closing Ceremony: School Health for All Cambodian Children (SHCC)
The School Health for All Cambodian Children (SHCC) project, led by Tokyo Gakugei University, has been implemented since 2020 with generous support from The Nippon Foundation and under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) of the Kingdom of Cambodia, in collaboration with the Phnom Penh Teacher Education College and Battambang Teacher Education College.
On Friday, December 12, 2025, the closing ceremony for Phase 1 of SHCC (2020–2025) was held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The ceremony was honored by the presence of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Youth and Sport, H.E. Dr. Hang Chuon Naron. Distinguished guests included Secretary of State H.E. Kim Sethany, officials from the Department of School Health, presidents of the Phnom Penh and Battambang Teacher Education Colleges, representatives from The Nippon Foundation and Tokyo Gakugei University, as well as many stakeholders who supported and contributed to Phase 1 of the project.
During the ceremony, Professor Takashi Asakura, Project Leader of SHCC, presented the achievements of the project to date. Congratulatory remarks were also delivered by Mr. Takashi Arikawa, Executive Director of The Nippon Foundation, and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Youth and Sport, H.E. Dr. Hang Chuon Naron.
The Royal Government of Cambodia aims to achieve upper-middle-income country status by 2030 and high-income country status by 2050, identifying the development of high-quality education and human resources as one of its key national priorities. In his speech, H.E. Dr. Hang Chuon Naron emphasized that good health is indispensable to education and national development, and that school health plays a critical role in determining the quality of students’ learning and forms the foundation for sustainable societal development. He highly commended the SHCC project for the textbooks produced during Phase 1, including the School Health Textbook for Primary Teacher Education Programs, the Teacher’s Guide, and the School Health Textbook for the Common Course in Lower Secondary Teacher Education Programs.
Furthermore, at the ceremony, certificates of completion were awarded by the Minister of Education to instructors from Teacher Education Colleges who completed the Phase 1 training in school health. Through this recognition, the Cambodian instructors who are members of SHCC were officially acknowledged by the government as lecturers responsible for school health education.
Beginning in January 2026, SHCC will enter Phase 2 under the leadership of an NGO established by Professor Takashi Asakura. In Phase 2, the project will focus on developing textbooks for a specialized school health education course within lower secondary teacher education programs. SHCC will continue to advance the project in close collaboration with Cambodian partners and stakeholders.
