A new group has started up a rural literacy program it hopes will help alleviate poverty in Cambodia.
The group, Young Generation for Development, has 16 members and will undertake a three-month project in Kampong Cham province, funded by the US Embassy in Phnom Penh and the International Republican Institute.
Director Hing Soksan said in an interview with VOA Khmer that the reading would help children improve critical thinking, cleverness, broad knowledge and dignity.
The children will be role models for their community and Cambodian society, Hing Soksan said.
"The Young Generation for Development wishes all students' parents or guardians to be a part of the students' learning, so that they can encourage their children to like and love reading and learn to avoid illiteracy," Hing Soksan said.
The group's project coordinator Heng Socheata called on all parents to send their children to school.
"We want to promote the awareness of the importance of reading among children and their parents and to make children's parents aware of their role in pushing their children to read as much as possible," she said.