I would like to summarize statistic of the Khmer language software training for pre-service (the teachers will become real high school teachers after one-year pedagogy instruction), in-service and mistry of education staff in 2008.

560 pre-service teachers, 439 in-service (TTC, USS and university) teachers and 210 mistry of education staff had been trained on the use of Khmer language software and computer maintenance in 2008.

In 2008, the Open Schools Program had trained and re-trained the following teachers and staff of MoEYS on the use of Khmer language application and computer maintenance:

On 24 - 28 November 08 - Training of 68 non-ICT upper secondary school teachers by their ICT teacher colleagues (Wat Phnom and Youkunthor high schools in Phnom Penh).

On 20 - 22 October 08 / 23 - 25 October 08 - Training basic Khmer software to 96 staff members of MoEYS from PoE (provicial of education department) of Banteay Mean Chey, Battambang, Kampong Chnang, Kampong Speu, Kampong Thom, Pursat, Preah Vihea, Sihanoukville, Siem Reap, Kah Kong, Pailin, Oddor Mean Chey, Phnom Penh, Kandal, Takeo, Kampot, Keb, Prey Veng, Svay Reang, Kampong Cham, Kratie, Stung Treng, Mondulkiri, Ratanakiri.

For the last year and half, the Open Institute has been collaborating with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport on the use of ICT in Education. Through the joint Open Schools Program, we have been working together on the training of ICT teachers in all upper secondary schools that have computers for education, on writing the ICT textbooks, and on research to define sustainable computer facilities for schools. Now we are writing a four-year Master Plan for ICT in Education.

4 ICT teachers of the Endratevy high school started to conduct training of OpenOffice in Khmer language to 44 none-ICT teachers. On the first week of September 2008, there are many none-ICT teachers registered for this course. The course organized by the Endratevy high school with the support of the Open Institute to only the ICT teachers that have to teach those none-ICT teachers and also the training materials provided by the Open Institute.

This week, Intel has launched the new Atom CPU. These low power CPU's come in five different flavours and are targeted for mobile internet devices. The biggest advantage of these CPUs is their low power consumption: The fastest Atom CPU has a TDP (thermal design power) of only 2.4 Watts. The Atom CPU's are the smallest Intel CPU's on the market today, as they measure only 13 by 14 mm. The cheapest one, the Z500, will have a clock speed of 800 MHz and a fsb of 400 Mhz. The price of this CPU will be around $45,- . The Z510 will run at 1.1 GHz, the Z520 at 1.33 GHz, the Z530 at 1.6 GHz and the Z540 at 1.86 GHz.

Intels commitment has added much to the low power market, which has been dominated by VIA the last few years. For schools that is very good news: More competition means that they will be able to have low cost computers, which are cheap in purchase and cheap in running them.

The Queen of Spain visits the Open Schools Program, a joint initiative of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and the Open Institute to use ICT to improve the quality of Education in Cambodia.

Sofía, Queen of Spain, visited today the National Institute of Education (NIE), entity of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport in charge of training all the upper secondary school teachers in Cambodia.

At NIE the Queen visited the installations of the Open Schools Program, an initiative to integrate ICT in Khmer language in the education system.

A delegation from the Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport visited Spain from the 2nd to the 7th of February to see first hand how Spain is integrating and using ICT in its Education system.

At a massive ceremony that took place on 22 January 2008, the Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport presented its new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Textbook for all schools that have computers, all universities and all teacher training facilities.

The new textbook teaches the use of Khmer language Free and Open Source applications, such as OpenOffice, Mekhala (Firefox) and Moyura (Thunderbird), which have been fully translated to Khmer language (Cambodian). It follows eight months of intensive training during which all new upper secondary school ICT teachers, all ICT teachers at upper secondary schools that have computers, and all ICT Master Trainers from teacher training facilities have been trained to teach this type of software, as well as to maintain their computer facilities. The books are distributed together with a letter from the Ministry indicating that from now on this should be the materials to be taught.

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS), and the Open Institute have the great honor of inviting you to be part of the Launching Ceremony for the ICT Textbook in Khmer for Teaching and Learning and the Inauguration of the Low Cost Computing Research Laboratory for Education under the Framework of the Preparation of the Master Plan for ICT in Education, which will take place at the National Institute of Education at 15:00 p.m. on the 22nd January 2008, and will be presided by H.E. Im Sethy, Secretary of State, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport.