ADB helps Cambodia revive "lost habit" of reading

ADB helps Cambodia revive "lost habit" of reading

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB)has opened Public Information Centers in three universities inCambodia to provide a range of knowledge resources for Cambodianpeople and contribute to the development of human resources in theprovinces, said a press release of the ADB on Wednesday.

The Public Information Centers are part of a joint ADB/World Bankproject, which the ADB officially inaugurated in late December 2010.

According to the ADB, the three Public Information Centers arelocated in Kampong Cham's Western University, Siem Reap's SoutheastAsia University and Preah Sihanouk's University of Management andEconomics. Each center is equipped with computers, printers, andInternet connections, and stocked with thousands of books in Englishand Khmer on various development issues in Cambodia and across theglobe, including economic theory and statistics, social developmentand information on projects and other activities of developmentpartners.

The ADB plans to open the fourth joint Public Information Centerin Battambang province in early 2011, the release said.

"The Public Information Centers serve as dedicated resource hubsfor knowledge sharing with the public, including students,researchers, staff from civil society organizations and governmentofficials," Putu Kamayana, ADB Country Director, was quoted assaying.

"They provide a gateway to deepen Cambodians' knowledge ondevelopment issues, and at the same time, it will help develop humanresources at the provincial level," Mr. Kamayana added.

Despite increasing literacy rates and standard of living, thehabit of reading is lost in Cambodian society since the turbulentKhmer Rouge era when books became an unnecessary part of peoples'lives.

Mr. Kamayana believes that the Public Information Centers, whichcontain a range of updated versions of books and access to Internetresources, will stimulate the new generation to become increasinglyinterested in reading. "Young people are starting to read more andmore as books and the Internet have the potential to open up a newworld of knowledge for them," Mr. Kamayana was quoted as saying.