His Excellency Ith Sam Heng, Cambodian Minister of Social Affairs, Veterans, and Youth Rehabilitation (MoSVY) congratulates a graduate. David Murphy/The Cambodia Trust
The Cambodian School of Prosthetics and Orthotics (CSPO) celebrated two major milestones this year: its 20th anniversary, and its first double graduation ceremony. The September 10 graduation saw ten students graduate from CSPO’s internationally accredited Category II training course; nine more graduated with bachelor of science degrees from a joint program run by La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia, and CSPO. High-profile guests, including H.E. Andrew Mace, British Ambassador to Cambodia, and H.E. Margaret Adamson, Australian Ambassador to Cambodia, joined staff and students at the graduation ceremony in Phnom Penh.
In her speech to the graduates, CSPO Director Cathy McConnell said, “To all who graduate today, I want to convey my heartfelt congratulations. You have all worked very hard. CSPO students have spent three years working in the workshop, studying for tests and exams in the evenings, and living together in the dormitory. La Trobe students have had an intense two years at their computer screens as they have studied largely via the Internet and have passed difficult courses. I, the CSPO, and Cambodia Trust staff are very proud of each one of you for the accomplishment you have achieved.”
She later commented in a press release, “What the students and CSPO have achieved in this, the Cambodia Trust’s 20th anniversary year, will have long-lasting and far-reaching implications. The CSPO and La Trobe education programs are ensuring that sustainable local capacity is built in the prosthetics and orthotics field in the developing world. This is having a positive impact on the lives of people with disabilities who require prosthetic and orthotic services.”
The students graduating included men and women from Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and Nepal. Since 1994, 143 students have graduated from the CSPO and are now working in rehabilitation center in Cambodia and other developing countries such as Lao PDR, Burma, Timor Leste, Iraq, and Sri Lanka.
