Diversity and ‘Development’: The Challenges of Education in Cambodia

Abstract

Apart from images of peasants toiling tropical rice fields, and of course the brutal and infamous Pol Pot regime, the 11th century ruins of Angkor Watt probably remain the most enduring and well-known symbol of Cambodia (Winters 2007). Not only does the temple complex manage to attract over a million tourists per year, being one of the most important contributors to gross domestic product (Ministry of Tourism 2010), but the image of the temples has appeared on every flag since independence (Edwards 2007). Archaeologists, historians, writers and researchers have all been attracted to the temples in large numbers, producing a significant literature on the temple’s role in Cambodian history.¹ Recently, the temples have been the site of a major renaissance of Khmer culture — from traditional royal dance to traditional Khmer martial arts.² Yet there is nothing new about this, as the iconography of Angkor Watt has long occupied a key place in national myths which establish the Khmer of contemporary Cambodia as the inheritors of a great and powerful ancient empire. From colonial administrators to the independence movement and even the radical Khmer Rouge movement, Angkor Watt has been constructed as synonymous with the Khmer and the notion of a formerly great race looking to retain its past glory after turmoil, internal conflict and territorial loss (Edwards 2007).