We have the opportunity to affect immediate change in the lives of impoverished Cambodian children by simply providing scholarships to existing exceptional schools in their home communities.  Cambodia is in Southeast Asia between Vietnam and Thailand, and is home to the legendary and impressive Angkor Wat temple complex.  Unfortunately, due to the Khmer Rouge genocide in the late 1970s and the subsequent civil war that only ended in 1991, Cambodia is an extremely poor country.  Recently, Cambodia has begun to develop because of the establishment of a democratic government.  We operate in Cambodia understanding the impact of the recent violent past and recognizing Cambodia’s potential in the near future for peaceful social, economic, and political development.

Our scholarships are for attendance at exceptional schools that already exist because the public education system in Cambodia cannot support the full academic development of students.  The Cambodian public education system in Cambodia is developing, but does not reach the poorest Cambodians.  Cambodia has a unique opportunity to develop peacefully in the near future, and the education of a new class of leaders can be the driving force behind that development.  Due to a multitude of factors, including the Khmer Rouge genocide, there is a paucity of teachers and families who can afford to send their children to public school.  In the public schools, teachers are overburdened with classes of sixty or more students in all levels.  Students attend school for two hours in either a morning or an afternoon session.  Our scholarships provide education opportunities that are parallel to that afforded students in American private schools.  We partner with local Cambodian private schools who focus their curricula on the development of critical thinking skills in all disciplines through Khmer and English instruction.

There are multitudes of impoverished children who were orphaned due to economic factors or the death of their parents.  CCEdFund expands the educational opportunities of these children who have little to no access to formal education.  By focusing our energy on ensuring that these children have access to exceptional educational opportunities, we will positively effect the social, economic, and political development of a country ravaged by prolonged civil war and genocide. 

A brief description of Cambodia’s recent history will help to illuminate why Cambodia is in such dire need of assistance and how providing scholarships to promising students will help to create a class of leaders who will promote Cambodia’s peaceful economic, social, and cultural development.

After World War II, Cambodia was governed by France (who was Cambodia’s colonial ruler previously).  When France left at the request of Prince Sihanouk from Cambodia, there was a short period of peace in Cambodia in the early 1960s.  During that time, revolution was fomented in the surrounding countryside of Vietnam and China on the Cold War stage.  During the last years of Sihanouk’s direct rule, students became increasingly politicized and sided with either the red Cambodians (Khmer Rouge, as named by Sihanouk) or with the government side (American-backed).  In early 1970, there was a military coup led by politically conservative leaders in Prince Sihanouk’s regime.  Lon Nol became the leader for five years during which the country was rife with corruption and violence.  It was during that time that many massacres took place of people of other ethnicities, including Vietnamese or Chinese.  In January of 1975, students and teachers were politically organized  as the Khmer Rouge and they took over Phnom Penh (Ayers, 2000; Gottesman, 2002; and Linton, 2004). 

The Khmer Rouge controlled the Cambodia for the next four years until the Vietnamese took over in 1979.  Between 1975 and 1979, the Khmer Rouge abolished all social institutions, (Ayres, 2000).  In other words, they destroyed the infrastructure of the country, including the educational system, and systematically killed all the Cambodians who they discovered to have been educated.  During that time, the Khmer Rouge perpetrated the brutal genocide for which they are most famous. 

In public education, there is a paucity of educated persons who could qualify as teachers throughout the country after the violent purges of everything and everyone related to education before and during the civil war (Duthilleul 2004, Gottesman 2003, Overland 2005, Schiffrin 1999).  All of the highest-ranking leaders in the DK were former schoolteachers, (Ayers, 2000)!  That fact alone is fascinating.  However, what makes it more interesting is that these same former teachers actively worked to make sure that all educated persons were killed under their rule (including teachers and all professionals)!  “During the war, anyone suspected of being an intellectual or a professional – even people wearing glasses – were targets of an insane, genocidal drive.  Today, less than 1 percent of the population has any education beyond high school…” (Schiffrin, 1999).  That dedication to eradicate all those who had been educated in the pre-Year Zero Cambodia resulted in a nation with few persons able to teach in 1979 when the Vietnamese took Phnom Penh.  When the Ministry of Education was re-established under the Vietnamese, they recruited anyone who knew anything (Gottesman, 2003).  Even now, there is a chronic teacher shortage that is occasionally briefly abated by the assistance from outside the nation (Duthilleul 2004, Kiernan 2004, Overland 2005). “Cambodia has turned to volunteer and contract teachers several times in the past twenty-five years.  In 1979, it was urgent to replace the teachers who had not survived the Khmer Rouge regime and almost anyone who could read was eligible to teach after short training…But, by the late 1990s there was a new teacher shortage, this time due to higher requirements to enter teacher training, the forced retirement of teachers at age 55 years and commitments to EFA [Education for All movement],” (Duthilleul, 2004).

The Vietnamese attempted to create a stable Cambodian society after they took control in 1979.  They re-established many of the former social institutions, but with limited success due to continued fighting.  The Khmer Rouge still were recognized by other nations in the United Nations and held their territory in the northern part of the country.  It was not until 1993 that the fighting was called to an end with a United Nations delegation to create democratic elections.  The results of the elections proved mildly stable until 1997 when Hun Sen declared a military take-over.  Since then, national elections were held again in 2002 and 2008 and Hun Sen is still the Prime Minister.

Sources Consulted

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Duthilleul, Yael. (2005). Teacher shortage in Cambodia. Education Today Newsletter, January – March 2005, 2.

Dy, Sideth S. (2004). Strategies and policies for basic education in Cambodia: historical perspectives. International Education Journal, 5(10), 90-97.

Gilboa, Amit. (1998). Off the rails in Phnom Penh, into the dark heart of guns, girls, and ganja. Bangkok, Thailand: Asia Books.

Gottesman, Evan. (2003). Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge, Inside the Politics of Nation Building. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

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Mydans, Seth. (2006). 27 years later, a formal inquiry begins into Khmer Rouge atrocities. New York Times, 8/6/2006.

Ngor, Haing. (2003). Survival in the killing fields. New York, NY: Carroll & Graf Publishers.

Ministry of Education, Youth & Sport. (2004). Policy for Curriculum Development, 2005-2009. www.moeys.gov.kh.

Overland, Martha Ann. (2005). In Cambodia, crafting law amid chaos. Chronicle of Higher Education, 51, 1-5.

Power, Samantha. (2002). A problem from hell, America and the age of genocide. New York: NY: HarperCollins Publishers.

Pran, Dith and Kim Depaul (Eds). (1997). Children of Cambodia’s Killing Fields, Memoirs of Survivors. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

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Short, Philip. (2004). Pol Pot, Anatomy of a nightmare. United States: Owl Books.

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Sen, Hun. (2004). Rectangular Strategy for growth, employment, equity, and efficiency. Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Royal Government of Cambodia.

Thida Khus. (2006). The khmer rouge tribunal is worth the effort. The Cambodia Daily, 34(78), 19.

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