Ministry of Science and ICT Begins Establishing 'EBS Model' Educational Broadcasting Station in Cambodia

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 27th that it will officially begin establishing a mobile-based educational broadcasting station modeled after the Korean Educational Broadcasting System (EBS) in the Phnom Penh area of Cambodia.

As part of the Ministry of Science and ICT's Official Development Assistance (ODA) project, approximately 9.2 billion KRW will be invested in the Cambodian educational broadcasting station construction project from 2021 to 2022. The goal is to build educational broadcasting facilities equipped with studios, online and mobile platforms, HDTV transmission equipment, and a Learning Management System (LMS).

The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to transfer EBS's operational know-how, including content planning and production, training personnel in various broadcasting fields, and supporting station operations, to enable future independent operation. The Cambodian side will provide the site and building for the educational broadcasting station.

This project has attracted attention as a representative ODA project of Korea, having been selected as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' "New Southern Signature Project" and the Ministry of Economy and Finance's "77 Special Projects" from the planning stage. The Cambodian government, the recipient country, has also expressed strong commitment by forming a "Project Promotion Steering Committee" involving the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, and Ministry of Information.

Kim Seong-gyu, Director of International Cooperation at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, "In Cambodia, the education completion rate for children from low-income families is only 40%, and due to a shortage of teachers and the COVID-19 pandemic, non-face-to-face educational infrastructure such as an educational broadcasting station is urgently needed. The Cambodian educational broadcasting station will help reduce educational disparities within Cambodia and can also serve as an advanced base for cultural exchange between the two countries through sharing broadcasting content and personnel exchanges in the future."

Kim Setani, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport of Cambodia, said, "With the urgent need for remote education support for students and teachers due to COVID-19, this ODA project by the Korean government is very timely. Above all, it is meaningful in that it aims to establish a system that can provide educational content nationwide beyond individual schools or specific regions, and we will spare no effort to ensure it is sustainable as a national project."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.