Flooding Delays School Term Across Country

The start of the school year has been delayed for a month due to flooding that has affected many of the country’s schools this month, the Ministry of Education said Sunday.

Ros Salin, spokesman and cabinet chief for the ministry, said that the school year will begin on November 1 rather than October 1 as originally planned.

“The main reason for this delay is because of the flooding, which has affected schools in many provinces,” Mr. Salin said, adding that next year’s annual school vacation will be moved from July to August to compensate.

Mr. Salin said the entire country’s starting date was delayed so as not to affect the curriculum and ensure students are studying in unison.

“It will not cause any negative impact because all schools will start and finish at the same time,” Mr. Salin said.

This year’s floods have already claimed 35 victims, about 60 percent of whom have been children, according to Nhim Vanda, vice president of the National Committee for Disaster Management.

Although Mr. Vanda said water levels are now decreasing across much of the country, more flooding is expected if heavy rains descend in September and October, generally the wettest months of the year.

He added that more than 120,000 families have been evacuated from their homes and about 10,000 hectares of rice paddies have been affected by the floods this year.

More than 1.8 million people were affected by last year’s floods, resulting in about 168 deaths across the country.

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