{
  "id": 6266200,
  "title": "Hong Kong Jockey Club to offer computer training to more children in Cambodia",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/08/hong-kong-jockey-club-to-offer-computer-training-to-more-children-in",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-08T10:19:15.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "South China Morning Post - Hong Kong",
    "slug": "south-china-morning-post-hong-kong",
    "url": "https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/3366790/hong-kong-jockey-club-offer-computer-training-more-children-cambodia"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust has teamed up with Cambodian education officials to broaden a computer education program that will now include early childhood learning in the Southeast Asian country. This agreement, which follows a similar commitment made last year to introduce the club’s CoolThink@JC initiative in primary schools across Cambodia, was formalized at the Philanthropy for Better Cities Forum 2026 on Tuesday. The program, which was first launched in 2016, originally aimed to provide computational thinking education to younger students in Hong Kong. It was developed jointly by the Jockey Club, the Education University of Hong Kong, City University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The program integrates computer programming with logical reasoning, problem-solving, and other related skills. The Hong Kong Education Bureau began implementing the program in publicly funded schools in 2023, and it was adopted in mainland China via a \"sister school\" initiative launched in 2025. Last year, the trust signed a memorandum of understanding with Cambodia's Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport to bring the program to the country’s primary schools. The initial rollout of the initiative, which began earlier this year, is set to reach 100 public schools in Cambodia between 2025 and 2028, benefiting approximately 30,000 students. The recent agreement aims to extend the program to cover early childhood education. During the signing ceremony, Kim Sethany, the permanent secretary of Cambodia’s Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports, signed the MOU alongside Dr. Gabriel Leung, the Jockey Club's executive director for charities and community. Kim highlighted that the program's initial rollout had exceeded expectations, with around 600 teachers using the scheme in the first six months of its implementation, despite the ministry's initial projection of 500 teachers participating between 2025 and 2028. The program has been utilized in 40 schools across Cambodia, reaching approximately 16,000 students. Kim also expressed pride in the fact that girls constituted the majority of the students benefiting from the program. She noted that witnessing young girls collaborate, write code, and confidently lead group projects demonstrated that when equal access to quality tools is provided, gender barriers can be overcome, and the potential of these young girls can truly shine.",
  "summary": "The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Cambodian education authorities to expand a computational training programme to cover early childhood learning in the Southeast Asian nation. The MOU, which builds on an earlier agreement signed last year to roll out the club’s CoolThink@JC programme in the country’s primary schools, was signed at the…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "South China Morning Post",
        "title": "Hong Kong Jockey Club to offer computer training to more children in Cambodia",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/08/hong-kong-jockey-club-to-offer-computer-training-to-more-children-in-6266894",
        "published": "2026-09-08T10:19:15.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}