The Association of the Chinese People in Cambodia (ACPC) on Sunday welcomed 12 teachers from China's Shandong and Jiangsu provinces to work at six Chinese Cambodian community schools with Chinese language education on curricula.

Under the arrangement of the Chinese government and the coordination of ACPC, which is the largest Chinese Cambodian community organization in the kingdom, the teachers arrived here on Saturday and will soon go to work at four schools in Phnom Penh, one in Bantey Meanchey Province and one in Kampong Speu Province, on their one-year term.

"Your arrival embodies the care and support from the Chinese government for the education cause of the Chinese Cambodian community schools," said ACPC secretary general Ming Lean at the welcome ceremony.

Duan Jinzhu, political counselor at the Chinese Embassy, said that the teachers are expected to fulfill their glorious task and contribute to the bilateral cultural and educational exchanges between China and Cambodia.

In the past decade, the Chinese government sent at least two batches of experts and teachers here to help train the personnel at the Chinese Cambodian community schools.

Meanwhile, more than 100 teachers at Chinese-teaching schools were invited by the government to China to accept professional study.

In the whole country, there are currently some 70 schools that teach Chinese language, with about 30,000 students and over 1,000 teachers, according to ACPC.

(Xinhua News Agency August 10, 2008)