Michelle Obama urges Cambodian students to be 'role models to the world'

US first lady Michelle Obama urged Cambodian students to stay in school and take advantage of their education to demand greater freedoms and more equality in their Southeast Asian country.

Cambodia has been ruled for 30 years by authoritarian strongman Hun Sen, the prime minister, whose wife Bun Rany joined Obama on her visit yesterday to the northern city of Siem Reap.

Obama is on a five-day trip to Asia to promote the US-led education initiative, 'Let Girls Learn', which she and the president announced earlier this month. The community-based programme, to be run by the Peace Corps, is meant to help get 62 million girls around the developing world back into classrooms.

Mrs Obama spoke to students at a high school filled with dirt paths and red brick buildings that unlike many schools in rural Cambodia has running water.

After being welcomed by rows of children who greeted her waving Cambodian and American flags, the first lady met with 10 girls who shared tales of rising early to feed their families before heading off on long treks to school and studying late into the night.

Watch: US first lady Michelle Obama meets Cambodian students in girls' education push