1. Introduction
The teaching and learning of civic and moral
education in Cambodia schools take place against the
backdrop of the country’s traditional political and
social culture. This paper discusses the Cambodian
government’s attempt to promote civic and moral
values in Cambodia schools through the subject
‘‘Civics and Morals’’. The paper explores how the
prevalent practice of corruption and the cultural
preference for social harmony, conformity and
passivity make the desired outcomes of civic and
moral education difficult to achieve. The paper argues
that the tensions and challenges associated with civic
and moral education are linked to a fundamental
difference between the traditional view of education in
Cambodia, and the modern view of education
promoted by the Cambodian government and external
donor agencies. The paper proposes that
policymakers need to understand and appreciate
Cambodia’s traditional view of education, and
encourage schools to make the inculcation of civic
and moral values central to their educational endeavours.
The evidence for this paper is obtained
from literature review, official documents, the
author’s role as a visiting lecturer to a university in
Cambodia, and interviews conducted with a school
principal, a vice-principal, three school teachers, seven
students, and four university lecturers in the province
of Sihanoukville, Cambodia in December 2006.
2. A brief history of education in Cambodia
Cambodia was ruled by the Funan and Chenla
empires from the second to the eighth centuries.
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That was followed by the Golden Age under the
powerful Angkor empire from the ninth to the 15th
centuries which was characterised by territorial
expansion, economic prosperity and architectural
splendour (Sodhy, 2004). But the Angkor rulers fled
south after repeated attacks by the Chams, Javanese
and Siamese, and the next few centuries were
marked by bloody struggles among the rulers, civil
wars, disasters and territorial loss (Fergusson and
Le Masson, 1997). The French took control of
Cambodia in 1863 and made some attempts to
integrate French-oriented curriculum into the traditional
Cambodian curriculum from the early 1870s.
For example, the French established the Frenchlanguage
School of the Protectorate in 1873, a
college for interpreters, and three French-language
primary schools in 1885 (Clayton, 1995). The
French had limited success in educating the
Cambodians due to several reasons. First, the
enrolment in these schools was kept small because
the French government only wanted to educate an
elite group of Cambodians to serve the colonial
powers. Many Cambodians also preferred to send
their children to wat schools which were Buddhist
temple schools where their children could learn
Khmer and religious teachings. Efforts to ‘‘modernise’’
wat schools were less than desirable due to
resistance from some Buddhist monks who objected
to the French attempt to romanise the Khmer
scripts (for a fuller discussion, see Osborne, 1969;
Chandler, 1991; Shawcross, 1994; Clayton, 1995;
Dy, 2004).
The French colonial period lasted till 1953 when
King Sihanouk became the ruler for the next two
decades. The education system during this period
reached its peak as King Sihanouk embarked on an
ambitious plan to build many schools and universities.
A coup d’e´tat by General Lon Nol led to
the abolition of the monarchical rule and the
establishment of the Khmer Republic in 1970. But
his success was short-lived as he was defeated by the
Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot in 1975. Over the next
5 years, at least 1.7 million people out of about
seven million died, including most of the educated
population. Backed by Vietnam and other socialist
bloc countries, Heng Samrin gained victory over the
Khmer Rouge and ushered in the People’s Republic
of Kampuchea (PRK) from 1979 to 1989.
Civil conflicts and political unrest continued until
1991 when the Paris Peace Accords was signed
which paved the way for free elections organised by
the United Nations in 1993. Subsequently millions
of dollars from international financial institutions
and external donor agencies were poured into
Cambodia in the early 1990s. But aid was temporarily
suspended due to political struggles between the
two coalition prime ministers, Hun Sen of the
Cambodia People’s Party (CPP) and Prince Norodom
Ranariddh of the FUNCINPEC party. Another
election was organised in 1998 which led to
Hun Sen’s party winning the majority votes and
assuming the office of Prime Minister, a post he still
holds today.
The 1993 Constitution of Cambodia states that
the state is obligated to provide 9 years of free
education to all citizens in public schools:1
The State shall provide free primary and
secondary education to all citizens in public
schools. Citizens shall receive education for at
least nine years. The State shall protect and
upgrade citizens’ rights to quality education at all
levels and shall take necessary steps for quality
education to reach all citizens (Chapter VI,
Articles 65 & 68).
Since 2001, the Ministry of Education, Youth and
Sports (MoEYS) has published several documents
which outline the government’s Education Strategic
Plans (ESP): ESP 2001–2005; ESP 2004–2008; and
ESP 2006–2010 (MoEYS, 2001, 2004a, 2005). The
overarching aim for MoEYS is for all Cambodian
children and youth to have equal opportunity to
access education by 2015.
About 113 organisations support 233 education
projects in Cambodia at an estimated cost of
US$225 million from 2003 to 2008 (MoEYS &
UNICEF, 2005). After more than two decades of
external aid, Cambodia remains one of the poorest
countries in the world with a per capita income of
US$320. Only about 30 per cent of the adult
population has some school level completed, and
the illiteracy rate is 63 per cent (World Bank, 2005).
Eleven per cent of children do not attend school in
ARTICLE IN PRESS
1
The Basic Education (Grades 1–9) curriculum in Cambodia
comprises 9 years and refers to three stages:
Primary Grades 1–3
Primary Grades 4–6
Lower Secondary Grades 7–9
The Upper Secondary Education (Grades 10–12) curriculum
comprises three years and is divided into two stages:
Grade 10
Grades 11–12
C. Tan / International Journal of Educational Development 28 (2008) 560–570 561
Cambodia, 56 per cent of children between 15 and
18 years of age that enter school complete primary
school, and 35 per cent of those who start
school actually complete the basic education cycle
(World Bank, 2005). For the year 2004–2005, the
enrolment rate nationwide dropped drastically
from 81 per cent in the primary level to 26.1 per
cent in the lower secondary level, and further to 9.3
per cent in the upper secondary level (MoEYS,
2005). Children take an average of between 7 and 10
years to complete 5 years of primary school
(Duggan, 1996). The repetition and dropout rates
are so high that it takes an average of 19 student
years to produce a primary school graduate
(Thomas, 2002).
3. Civic and moral education in Cambodia
Historically, Cambodian male students learned
civic, moral and religious values in wat schools run
by Buddhist monks. As a school subject, civic and
moral education was used as a tool for political
leaders to transmit their political ideologies and
consolidate their power. King Sihanouk attempted
to erase the colonial mentality and promote a sense
of national pride among the Cambodians by
emphasising Cambodian history, culture, literature,
civic and moral instruction (Clayton, 2005). Pol Pot,
on the other hand, made the Cambodians learn
about the history of the revolutionary struggle,
Khmer Rouge’s politics and anti-American ideology
(Ayres, 1999). Civic and moral education was used
by Heng Samrin, the leader of the People’s Republic
of Kampuchea (PRK), to influence the students to
support the solidarity of the three Communist
countries in Indochina (Cambodia, Laos, and
Vietnam), as well as the Soviet Union (Neau,
2003). Rather than pointing to Vietnam as a threat,
as Lon Nol did, Heng Samrin’s government
promoted the Vietnamese socialist system as a
model for Cambodia.
The aims and contents of civic and moral
education in Cambodia today reflect the country’s
adoption of liberal democracy based on market
economic practices (Clayton, 2005). MoEYS hopes
to engender in the Cambodian students a sense of
‘‘national and civic pride, high standards of morals
and ethics and a strong belief in being responsible
for their own future’’ (MoEYS, 2004a, p. 11). The
ministry’s philosophy and policy on civic and moral
education are set out in the document, ‘‘Policy for
Curriculum Development 2005–2009’’ (MoEYS,
2004b). MoEYS states in the document that it aims
to achieve the key priorities of equitable access to
basic education; high-quality upper secondary
provision; pro-poor financing policy; efficient management
of resources; and accountability through
development of standards (MoEYS, 2004b). The
policy for curriculum development is for a period of
five years (2005–2009) and will be reviewed in 2009.
In terms of civic and moral values, MoEYS aspires
to produce students who should have ‘‘the capacity
to exercise judgment and responsibility in matters of
morality’’, possess ‘‘a public spirit characterised by
equality and respect for others’ rights’’, ‘‘be active
citizens and be aware of social changes, understanding
Cambodia’s system of government and the
rule of law, and demonstrating a spirit of national
pride and love of their nation, religion and king’’
(MoEYS, 2004b, p. 5). MoEYS has also specified
the desired outcomes for different levels. For the
Basic Education curriculum (Grade 1–9), MoEYS
wants to ensure that every student has acquired
‘‘knowledge of the na