History

In 1990 the Salesians presented a proposal to the Ministry of Education to open a Technical School in Phnom Penh. The project was welcome in a post-war period of reconstruction.

In April two officials from the Ministry of Education paid a visit to the Salesian works in Thailand and gained a favourable impression of the style of education. That visit was definitive for receiving the final approval and sympathy of the Cambodian government and they approved the Technical School project in May of that same year.

The historic arrival date for Don Bosco in Cambodia is marked as May 24, 1991 when two Salesians, Brother Roberto Panetto and Father Valter Brigolin, came to live in Phnom Penh. May 24 is also the Solemnity of Mary Help of Christians, a Marian devotion so dear to Don Bosco and to the Salesians. The land for the technical school was bought in what is today the New Phnom Penh District (Phnom Penh Thmey) - at that time a rice-growing-field territory.

The government entrusted to the Salesians the orphanage of Preik Phneu, 11 kms to the north of Phnom Penh. It was a contract between Don Bosco and the Ministry of Social Affairs. The first instructors were Thai past pupils of Don Bosco Bangkok until the first Khmer instructors could take over the instruction. On January 31, 1994, His Royal Prince Norodom Ronnariddh, First Prime Minister, officially opened the Don Bosco Technical School in the New Phnom Penh District. On May 24, 1996 His Excellency, Second Minister Samdec Hun Sen presided at the ceremony of the completion of the Don Bosco Technical School-Phnom Penh. Father Juan Edmundo Vecchi, the 8 th successor of Don Bosco, came to Cambodia on October 7, 1997. His presence was a very important moment of encouragement. His message focused on building up the educative community and the Salesian Preventive System.