PHNOM PENH, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on Monday met with 443 students who passed the 2019 high school exit exam with Grade A, awarding each of them an iPad and 500 U.S. dollars.
Speaking to them at the Peace Palace here, the prime minister praised them for earning Grade A in the exam, saying that they would be valuable assets for both their families and the country.
He said peace and political stability were the most important factors that enabled them to get education smoothly.
"Education is one of our top priorities," Hun Sen said. "We need quality human resources for socio-economic development."
Cambodia held the annual high school graduation exam in August with a total of 115,208 exam-takers. As a result, 79,052 candidates, or 68.6 percent of them passed the test with 443 gaining Grade A.
The top-scored graduates are 220 males and 223 females.
High school exam is a prerequisite for students to pursue their studies at university levels.
The Southeast Asian nation has begun to strengthen high school quality since 2014 through cleaning up cheat and bribery during the grade 12 national exam.
