Saturday, February 4, 2023
Khmer Daily Cambodia News
34 °c
Phnom Penh
  • LATEST
  • CAMBODIA
  • ASIA
    • JAPAN
    • SOUTH KOREA
    • TAIWAN
  • WORLD
    • CHINA
    • RUSSIA
  • BUSINESS CAMBODIA
  • TECHNOLOGY
No Result
View All Result
  • LATEST
  • CAMBODIA
  • ASIA
    • JAPAN
    • SOUTH KOREA
    • TAIWAN
  • WORLD
    • CHINA
    • RUSSIA
  • BUSINESS CAMBODIA
  • TECHNOLOGY
No Result
View All Result
The Khmer Daily
No Result
View All Result
Home ASIA Cambodia

Cambodia Private schools hit hard by income loss due to COVID-19

June 28, 2020
in Business, Cambodia, National
0
0
SHARES
21
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday expressed concern over private schools that have rented buildings and are now facing closure because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Premier Hun Sen also appealed to the owners of the building to be gentle and understanding in reducing the cost of renting buildings while the whole country is facing a Coronavirus outbreak.

He also asked the Ministry of Economy and Finance to continue working with banks to restructure credit to enable private educational institutions to have the opportunity to borrow money to develop online programmes because there are many private schools that do not have them that are teach students during the pandemic.

At the same time, the prime minister encouraged private educational institutions to continue their efforts and he said he did not want to see any private institutions collapse.

Pech Bolen, president of Westline Education Group, and president of the Federation of Education Services in Cambodia (FESC), welcomed the government’s move. He said that the prime minister’s calls and support will help the private education sector.

According to Bolen, because schools are having to conduct e-learning courses, many have claimed a major drop in revenue of around 50 percent, in turn, leading to many private schools having to cut staff and staff salaries considerably just to afford basic utilities, rent and the upgrade in technology infrastructure to support e-learning.

“Because students are no longer coming to school, about 20-30 percent of profit is being lost from extra costs usually associated with physically coming to school, such as bus fees, food, uniforms, books and other administration fees to support the business model. We are then losing another 20 to 30 percent in school fee discounts and dropouts. This is how we get to losing 50 percent,” Bolen said.

“If the bank can reduce the interest rate, or provide the interest from 6 to 7 percent, it will be good. I feel warm on this issue when he [the prime minister] raised these issue regarding to the private education institution as the private sector encountered the financial crisis,” he said.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic PRASAC microfinance institution still provides loans to clients as normal with special rates and conditions to small and medium businesses (SMEs) and micro enterprises, said PRASAC’s Executive Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer Say Sony.

He added there are some private education institutions that borrow money from PRASAC which are mostly for vocational skill training such as English and Chinese language classes as well as kindergartens. “There are only 23 clients asking for a restructuring out of 127 clients. The amount of restructuring is about $500,000 of the total loan portfolio in this sector with an education loan disbursement of $2.1million and an outstanding loan portfolio of $1.7 million,” Sony said.

Bolen however said that private schools themselves have to consider thoroughly whether they have the ability to borrow and pay back the loan or not. He said that some schools have  additional loans to expand the online learning programme. But they have to consider the loan and make use of the loan with the right target, create the income against the expense to support the operation until November when schools reopen.

“If they have a bigger loan and no clear target and they are not sure they will get the income to support the operation and the monthly payments, the new loan will increase their debt and burden,” Bolen added.

Speaking in April, Mengly Quach, CEO of Mengly J Quach Education, said that since the pandemic began, schools have not had enough tuition fees to cover paying wages, rents, utilities and interest on loans and will have to suspend their operations in the near future.

“Rental fees are our biggest issue and, while we acknowledge there has been some support from the government and financial institutions, this simply won’t be enough. As an educational institution, our funding requires more than just solely the tuition fee. We also rely on the school bus, food, uniforms, books and other administration fees to support the business model. Now there are no students, all this income has been lost,” Mengly said.

This article was first published in Khmer Times. All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.

Tags: CambodiaCambodia Private schoolCambodia Private schoolsHun Sen
Previous Post

China tech giant Tencent expands into streaming in Asia

Next Post

Pung Kheav Se, chairman of OCIC, is developing 500-hectare industrial park in Kampong Speu

Related Posts

Cambodia confirms readiness to exit the Least Developed Countries (LDC) status

Cambodia confirms readiness to exit the Least Developed Countries (LDC) status

by Khmer Times
February 3, 2023
0
4

Cambodia confirmed its readiness to exit the Least Developed Countries (LDC) status, saying that studies on the impacts of the...

Cambodia cashew production likely to touch 1 million tons this year

Cambodia cashew production likely to touch 1 million tons this year

by Khmer Times
January 31, 2023
0
9

The cashew season has begun with the start of picking cashew nuts in the Kingdom, and growers of the commodity...

Cambodia GDP expects to growth 5.6 percent in 2023

Cambodia GDP expects to growth 5.6 percent in 2023

by Khmer Times
January 26, 2023
0
3

Cambodia is expected to register a 5.6 percent GDP growth in 2023, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance....

Most Popular

Passenger in Nepal plane crash livestreams last seconds of his life on Facebook

Passenger in Nepal plane crash livestreams last seconds of his life on Facebook

January 18, 2023
31
Nepal plane crash searchers rappel, fly drones to find last passengers

Nepal plane crash searchers rappel, fly drones to find last passengers

January 18, 2023
26
Prince William feared Prince Harry was being ‘brainwashed’ by his therapist

Prince William feared Prince Harry was being ‘brainwashed’ by his therapist

January 9, 2023
17
Japanese firm to study urban, provincial railways in Cambodia

Japanese firm to study urban, provincial railways in Cambodia

January 11, 2023
16
California doctor who drove Tesla off cliff to be charged with attempted murder

California doctor who drove Tesla off cliff to be charged with attempted murder

January 6, 2023
16
UK paper group bids to throw out Prince Harry and others’ privacy lawsuits

UK paper group bids to throw out Prince Harry and others’ privacy lawsuits

January 14, 2023
15

© 2020 By Khmer Daily News

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Latest
  • Cambodia
  • ASIA
  • World
  • Business
  • Tech

© 2019 The Khmer Daily.

error: Content is protected !!