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Minority education in Cambodia:The case of the Khmer LoeuJennifer EscottPublished online: 01 Jul 2010.

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Intercultural Education, Vol. 11, No. 3, 2000

Minority education in Cambodia: the caseof the Khmer LoeuJENNIFER ESCOTT

ABSTRACT In this article I take a close look at the educational situation of the hill tribes

in Cambodia. These remote communities are presently in a struggle to survive. Formal

education tends to fail the hill-tribe peoples, who are increasingly turning to non-formal

education to receive the knowledge and training they need to guarantee their future

existence. Though many of these initiatives are quite effective they do not reach enough

people.

Introduction

Cambodia, like all countries, is not homogeneous. Cambodians have differenthistorical backgrounds, speak different languages, and practice different customsand beliefs. The Khmer people make up the majority of the population but there arealso several ª minority groupsº in Cambodia: the indigenous population of thenorth-eastern provinces, the Muslim minority called the Cham and the ethnicVietnamese and Chinese communities. Between 3.34% and 10% of the populationare members of minority groups.1

Minorities are often vulnerable. It is easy to exploit or mistreat those who are ina vulnerable position. They can be used as scapegoats for the social and economicproblems of a country and it is all too easy for the majority to fall back on stereotypesof a minority. They may be stereotyped as lazy and ignorant or perhaps violent anddangerous. Many of these stereotypes may simply be based on ignorance of aminority culture and traditions. But fear, intolerance, prejudice and discriminationcan spring from ignorance, which are all a threat to human rights, democracy andultimately peace.

All of Cambodia’ s minorities have been persecuted at different times and stillexperience prejudice at the beginning of this new century. Education focusing onminority rights is desperately needed in Cambodia. For instance, while the authorwas in Cambodia in the summer of 1999, 14 hill-tribe members were slaughteredÐtheir throats slit by knivesÐ in an attack by armed bandits in the Ratanakiriprovince.2 This murder of ® ve Jarai men, six women and three children is anincident as yet unexplained and uninvestigated by the authorities.

This article is concerned with the education of indigenous minorities in thenorth-east of Cambodia. For lack of space I cannot examine the other minority

ISSN 1467-5986 print; ISSN 1469-8489 online/00/030239-13 Ó 2000 Taylor & Francis LtdDOI: 10.1080/14675980020002394

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240 J. Escott

groups, though they each have their own history, religion, customs, language, andlivelihood. It can be mentioned however that both the Cham and the Chinesecommunities have their own schools where the former learn Arabic and the Koranand the latter learn in Chinese. They must follow a national curriculum but havetheir own linguistic and cultural studies.3 The Cham community have recentlybene® ted from assistance from Islamic nations after terrible persecution during theKhmer Rouge years. The Chinese, also persecuted, were not granted completefreedom until 1991, but today their schools and festivals are popular and someKhmer families send their children to bene® t from a Chinese education. TheVietnamese, who still suffer severe racism, tend to attend Khmer schools.

This article will now proceed to introduce the indigenous peoples and thenexplain the threats posed by today’ s world and the challenges they face with respectto their education.

It should be noted that indigenous Cambodians are suffering the fate of many ofthe world’s indigenous peoples. First, they are losing their land as they have noª of® cialº land rights.4 Second, many communities are suffering from the vast illegallogging of recent years. Third, as more Khmers move to the highlands and marketforces increase, pressures to assimilate are becoming stronger, especially amongstthe young who obviously do not want to experience prejudice. However, denial orloss of one’ s indigenous culture usually engenders an identity crisis when they arenot fully accepted into mainstream society. Additionally, money, greed and com-munity breakdown are arising as new factors in a painful transition phase.

The Indigenous Peoples

The hill tribes of Cambodia constitute the majority of the population in thenorth-eastern provinces of Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri, and can also be found invarious neighbouring provinces. There are 14 or 15 different tribes in the north-east,including the Kreung, Charay, Kravet, Tampouen, Jarai, Prou, Kachak, Lun,Phnong, Stieng, Raong, and Krul. These people are also referred to as the KhmerLoeuÐ the Highlanders. Their ethnicity, language, religion, lifestyle and traditionsare often very different from those of the Khmers.

Language

The different hill tribes in Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri each speak their own lan-guage. Their languages, with the exception of Jarai, belong to the Mon Khmer(Austroasiatic) language family, which is related to the languages of the highlandpeoples of Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Burma. Jarai, which is Austrone-sian, is related to other highlander languages, including Rhade, Cham, Malay andIndonesian.5

There is no formal system of writing in any of the Khmer Loeu languages. Anamusing story is told by the Kreung to explain why this is the case:

Once upon a time, all the ethnic groups were sisters and brothers with thesame parents. The Khmer Loeu were the oldest, then the Khmer, Lao,

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Minority Education in Cambodia 241

Vietnamese, Chinese, French and Japanese¼ Their father was very ill andcalled all his children to give them his advice. All of the children listenedand copied his words onto pieces of paper. The oldest child, the KhmerLoeu, copied the words onto a piece of buffalo hide, but he was eatingsugar cane while writing down his father’ s advice, so he couldn’t copy allthe words down. This is why the Khmer Loeu languages have fewer wordsthan other languages. The French came late, and copied down words justas their father was dying and couldn’ t speak clearly. That is why the Frenchlanguage has lots of sounds and is dif® cult to understand. The KhmerLoeu then took the buffalo hide with the writing to dry it, but a dog camealong and ate it, and that is why they don’t have any form of writing.6

History

There has been contact between the highlanders and the lowlanders for centuries.There are records which show that Khmer and Cham people came to the north-eastas early as the thirteenth century. In fact, an ancient Cham settlement has beenidenti® ed in the Ratanakiri district of Voeun Sai. The lowlanders came to exploit theforest goods: elephants, ivory, hides, feathers, wood, wild spices and herbs. Theyalso raided the highland villages as a source of slaves. Ancient Chinese records fromthe late thirteenth century describe how the majority of the people living in AngkorWat were slaves who had been taken captive from the mountain tribes.

During the French colonial period, rubber plantations were introduced and manyhighlanders were employed on them. They were also employed by the French tobuild roads and bridges. After independence in 1953, King Sihanouk and later LonNol encouraged the highlanders to adopt a lifestyle more like the lowland Khmers.Attempts were made, with mixed success, to resettle the highlanders in lowlandareas and to change their farming methods.

More recently, the hill tribes suffered upheavals similar to the rest of the Cambo-dian population. During the 1970s the area was bombed by the American air forcesince they feared that North Vietnamese bases were there and that these bases weresupplying the ª front lineº of the war in Vietnam. The Khmer Rouge had a ® rm basein, and control of, the north-east long before they gained control of the rest ofCambodia. During this period, the people were forbidden to speak their ownlanguages and families were forcibly separated. Although they may not have beendeliberately persecuted, as were the Cham and Chinese minorities, the people of thehill tribes suffered a great deal of hardship and deprivation during the Khmer Rougeyears.

In the 1990s there has been an increasing awareness of the natural resourcepotential of the sparsely-populated highland areas by the state and by privateinvestors. Additionally, thousands of Khmer families are presently moving tothe highlands for land. Market forces from the growing district towns and thecapital are beginning to penetrate the hill tribe villages. Past changes experienced bythe hill tribes may prove to be very limited compared with the rapid changes oftoday.

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242 J. Escott

Village Life

A typical highlander lives in a village of between 70 and 500 people. Generally, a hilltribe village is constructed in a circular or semi-circular pattern with the housesfacing inwards towards a central communal area where village meetings, festivalsand ceremonies are held and visitors are welcomed. The style of the houses variesfrom tribe to tribe. A circle of smaller houses is built inside the outer circle whereteenagers or young married couples live. Teenage boys of the Kreung tribe some-times build very tall houses (the taller the better) where they entertain their friendsand sleep apart from their families.7

Often, highland families have a second house out in the ® eld where they spend alot of time, especially during the harvest. In fact this may be the principal house andthe family may spend up to nine months of the year here. As we will see this posesa problem when it comes to education.

Courtship and Marriage

Highland girls tend to get married when they are 15 or 16 years old and boys whenthey are 19 or 20. Boys and girls visit each other’ s houses each night in a very relaxedway before it is decided who will marry whom. The period of courtship usually takesplace over a long period of time. Generally, young people are allowed to chose theirown partner but they must obtain their parents’ approval before they can marry.Each couple must choose a marriage mediator, ª a ganongº , before they get married.The ganong can be a man or a woman and plays a very important role during thewedding ceremony and the future marriage. He or she is required to make a speechat the wedding and serves the water from the rice wine jars at the feast. Thereafter,if there are any problems or disputes between the couple, the ganong must come andmediate between husband and wife.

During the ® rst two years of their marriage the new couple lives with the bride’ sparents: they have their own house but live within the family group. After two yearshave passed the couple moves to live with the groom’s family. They alternate untilthey have their own family, at which time they settle permanently with the bride’ sfamily. When the new couple leaves a house or village a feast is held to give thema good send-off!8

Livelihood

The highlanders plant rice, grow vegetables, pick fruit, ¯ owers and roots, and raisepigs, oxen and buffalo. The men also ® sh and hunt. From the surrounding foreststhey collect turtles, lizards, snakes, dry resin, wood oil and rattan and sell them inorder to buy tobacco, medicine, salt, soap powder, clothes and other necessities.Some farmers are also starting to grow oranges, jackfruit, custard apples and cashewnuts to sell at market. Other highlanders are government employees working inof® ces or as soldiers and policemen.

The people believe that the forest is owned by everyone. Anyone who chooses to

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Minority Education in Cambodia 243

farm a particular piece of land is then deemed to own that land: there is no of® cialsystem of land ownership or inheritance. ª Slash and burnº farming is practiced.This involves clearing pieces of forest land for cultivation. Every few years, new plotsof land are cleared and ª oldº plots are allowed to rest (for up to 20 years) to enablethem to become fertile again.

Feasting, Religion

The highlanders live to hold feasts: there can be up to eight in one year. They maybe held on various occasions; for instance after a healing ceremony or to ask thespirits to ensure safe and successful work in the ® elds and a plentiful harvest. Ananimal sacri® ce such as a buffalo, a pig or a chicken is a central part of any feast. Thesacri® ce is made to keep the spirits happy. The head of the family calls the spiritsover a rice wine jar, then the animal is sacri® ced and the family and neighbours feastand drink together.

The highlanders are animists. They believe that the super-natural world is verypowerful and that spirits can in¯ uence the health and well being of people. There arethree principal kinds of spirits. First, there are the spirits who dwell in the surround-ing environment, in the forests and in the earth. It is important that these spirits arekept happy, as they are especially dangerous and unpredictable. Second, we encoun-ter the spirits of the dead. Third, there are house spirits which can in¯ ict misfortuneand ill-health if they are angered. Because the people of the hill tribes believe sostrongly in the power of spirits they may often call on a spirit medium or ª arakº ifa member of their family is ill.

When an arak is called upon to cure an ill person, a close relative of the patientvisits the arak and gives her (she is always a woman) something belonging to thepatient, maybe a piece of clothing or jewelry. The arak then consults the spirit world.This is done by either waving a waxed cotton candle over a bowl of cooked rice orby sleeping with her head resting on the item belonging to the patient and ª visitingºthe spirit realm in her sleep. In doing this the arak should be able to discover whathas caused the illness, which spirit has been angered and how the spirit can beplacatedÐ often an animal sacri® ce is called for.

If the patient is severely ill, the arak may actually allow herself to becomepossessed by the spirit which is in¯ icting the illness on the patient. The arak robesherself in a white sheet. She clutches a bowl of uncooked rice, which is lit in thecentre by a candle. While musicians play in the background, she moves heroutstretched hands forward and back sometimes passing her hands over her eyes.She moves faster and faster until she falls into a trance. The spirit is now inside herbody and she begins to speak in a different voiceÐ the voice of the spirit. The araktakes back the patient’ s soul from the spirit who has captured it and returns it to thepatient’ s body.9

Challenges of Today

In recent years, as contact with lowland Khmers and foreigners has increased,a number of different problems have arisen. First, there is the question of

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244 J. Escott

land ownership. The highlanders do not own title deeds to the pieces of land thatthey farm so it is very easy for them to lose their land. The government has signedmany concessions for agribusiness and plantations without taking the indigenouscommunity into account. Land is sold which is already being farmed by a highlandfamily and may have been in their family for centuries. In this way families have losttheir means of survival as well as their ancestral lands. The state also interferes intheir unique lifestyle by trying to persuade them to change the location of theirvillages and to use alternative farming methods. The hill tribes are rarely consultedabout decisions that affect their lives and futures.

Deforestation is also a big issue in the north-east of the country. SometimesKhmers are too quick to blame the hill tribes for this problem as their agriculturalmethods involve the clearing of forest lands for cultivation. Of course, the land isallowed to lie fallow for 20 years before it is cultivated again which allows the forestto revive. At the same time their population is increasing so this method will becomeunsustainable. But this is not a problem today. What threatens the forest in thisregion is large-scale logging. At present rates of logging the forest will be lost in 3± 5years!10 Forest cover and the quality of the forest has decreased at an alarming ratesince 1993 due to anarchic and illegal logging activities.11 From the north-east muchof the timber is transported to Vietnam. The opportunity for a quick pro® t has beengrabbed, with the military heavily implicated and controlling many of the areas: thegovernment receives little. It hardly needs to be stated that many communities aresuffering from this vast illegal logging.

Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri are becoming increasingly popular as holiday destina-tions among both Cambodians and people from abroad. More and more touristsvisit this beautiful part of Cambodia each year, drawn by the fresh air, the sceneryand the uniqueness of the people who live there. This brings many opportunities fordevelopment which could be of great economic bene® t to the area if the govern-ment, business interests and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) work closelywith the people of the hill tribes in order to protect and preserve their unique lifestyle and the beauty of the area.

The perception of the lowland peoples is that the Khmer Loeu are ignorant anduncivilised. The civilisation of a people is usually developed through communicationand exchange with other civilisations (Sokhom, 1996, p. 6) but until now, theKhmer Loeu have lived in remote mountain areas without depending on marketsand with little access to roads. At the moment the number of new settlers isincreasing and there is pressure to assimilate. The challenge is to preserve theirculture and traditions as they interact with the new world. As capitalism penetratesand with it the desire for material goods the Khmer Loeu are attempting to stay incontrol of their own destiny and understand the consequences of change. Alreadycommunities are breaking down and individualism is increasing with sometimesstartling results.12

This brings us to the role of education. First, mutual understanding can lead toharmonious integration, as does knowledge of one another’ s culture. Thus intercul-tural education is necessary to accomplish this. Second, human resource develop-ment is needed to familiarise the Khmer Loeu with the new conditions they have to

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Minority Education in Cambodia 245

face in the future. At the same time the authorities should provide education,especially for the young, as to the value of their culture and encourage them topreserve it. We know, from past experience, that it will otherwise be lost.

Education

In examining educational issues, my research was, due to logistical impediments,con® ned to the Ratanakiri province. Mondulkiri is more remote and public access isdif® cult, though there may well be more illegal logging taking place there. It ispoorer, colder and wetter, Malaria is worse and NGOs have penetrated less.

Ratanakiri province is located in the far north-eastern corner of Cambodia andborders Laos to the north, Vietnam to the east and Stung Treng province to thewest. It is one of the least developed provinces in Cambodia, and we need toremember that Cambodia’s health, education and poverty indicators are among thelowest in Asia and in the world. It is mountainous and heavily forested. Access islimited, there is one road and one river and irregular ¯ ights for the privileged few.Consequently, public services are very limited and in particular teachers and medicalstaff are not motivated to serve there.13

Ratanakiri’ s population density is very low. Estimates of the population vary from75,000 to 96,000. The province is made up of nine districts, which are sub-dividedinto 49 communes. There are 252 villages in total. The ethnic makeup of theprovince is estimated to be around 86% highlanders, composed of ® ve main ethnicgroups, the Tampoeun, Jarai, Kreung, Brao and Kravat. The main power holders ofthe province are the Lao and Tampoeun people. The Khmers in the province aremostly newcomers who arrived in the last 15 years.

Formal

The formal education system in Ratanakiri Province is severely under-resourced interms of resources and human capacity. This has resulted in a lack of access toeducation throughout the province.

There is one high school in Ratanakiri. It is situated in the capital, Ban Lung. Ofthe 468 students only 8% belong to an ethnic minority, most of whom are in thelower grades and only one or two continue and ® nish. The latter are from rich ethnicminority families living in Ban Lung and indeed the vast majority of studentsenrolled at the high school are from Ban Lung.

At present 35 teachers are working at the school, of which 17 are universitytrained from Phnom Penh. The remaining 18 are from Ratanakiri and attendedteacher-training colleges in Phnom Penh. However, generally speaking, these localteachers did not complete high school and due to their lack of training are unableto teach the senior years. Thus the school is totally reliant on teachers from PhnomPenh to teach these years. Since it is dif® cult to get teachers from Phnom Penh togo there some subjects go untaught for years.

The lack of ethnic minority students in the high school creates a vicious cycle,

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since, due to the government entry requirements to become a primary schoolteacher, ethnic people cannot then be trained to teach in their own communities.

There are 72 primary schools scattered throughout the province. However, thevast majority do not teach beyond grade 3, if they function at all. There are anumber of reasons for this. Many primary schools in the province are inactivebecause of the lack of teachers. Teachers assigned to the schools are often unableto support themselves on the government salary, and since they are not from thecommunity to which they have been assigned, they have no land or the opportunityto supplement their incomes by getting additional work. Without additional supportfrom the community or their families they are unable to ful® l their role as teachers.The teachers assigned to primary schools in the district are, in general, Khmer andthey ® nd life extremely dif® cult living amongst people who do not speak their ownlanguage and who have a very different culture and belief system to their own.Hence after a few months the teachers usually pack up and return to Ban Lung.14

The Head of the Provincial Education Department wants to establish a teachertraining centre in the Province to limit the cost and inconvenience for local teachers.Such a centre would enlist local teachers who are willing to live among and teachbasic school classes in the ethnic communities. His proposal obviously requiresfunding.

The schools that function are characterised by a high student repetition rate.Often the teacher is unable to teach all the primary school levels, lacking theknowledge and skills, which inevitably leads to a high student drop out rate.

Furthermore, the formal system fails to address the needs of the HighlandCommunities. The primary curriculum is academic, and emphasises Khmer lan-guage, culture and mathematics. There is little or no provision for the teaching ofpractical skills. Therefore, Highlanders see little relevance in sending their childrento school, especially the girls, since school does not prepare them for their future rolein society. Most children instead work as agricultural labourers or sell fruit andvegetables and girls assist in housework. This is another reason why educationallevels in Ratanakiri are signi® cantly lower than those in the lowland provinces,particularly for girls and women.

From the government’s point of view further problems with the formalsystem arise due to the remoteness and lifestyle of the people in this region. Whenthe villages are very remote the nearest school is far from the houses and the childrendo not want to travel there. Sometimes the government will build schools in thelocality but then, during the farming season, the children go to work on the farm.Moreover, the people are nomadic and may move on for various reasons (forexample death) and so the government has built some schools that have fallen intodisuse.15

As a consequence, although primary school education is a constitutional anduniversal right for ethnic groups, a comprehensive primary school system does notexist in the province. Cambodia spends less than 1% of GNP on education: perpupil expenditure was less than US$1 in 1997± 1998.16 Thus Cambodia’ s institu-tions are de® nitely not equipped to meet the complex and varied needs of itsvulnerable groups.

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Minority Education in Cambodia 247

The task of addressing the many germane issues in the formal system is amammoth one, which must be addressed at the national level and requires huge® nancial input. No NGO or IO working in the province has the capacity to presentlytake on the task. However, various groups are contributing. PASEC, funded by theEU, is running correspondence courses with primary school teachers in order toupgrade their knowledge. UNDP/CARERE (Cambodian Area Rehabilitation andRegeneration) provided training in 1996 and 1997 on the primary curriculum.Cooperation Internationale pour le Developpement et la Solidarite (CIDSE) assiststhe Provincial Education Department with small grants and advice and also supportsthe construction or repair of school buildings.

With the development by World Concern of an alphabet based on Khmer ciphersfor the Tampoeun and Kreung, it is now possible to teach these young children howto read and write in their own language. There are de® nite merits of teaching in thelocal language to young children. Since the alphabet is Khmer the system alsofacilitates the learning of the Khmer language, which in turn facilitates primaryschool education in non-language subjects. At the moment, however, no compre-hensive plan exists to enable ethnic children to attend primary school using theirown language in their own settlements.

Non-formal Education

The problems of the formal education system have created a massive need forNon-formal Education (NFE). NFE takes a fundamentally different approach toeducation than the formal education system. Learners are regarded as activepragmatists as opposed to passive recipients, and the curriculum is based upon thepriorities of the learners. The need for basic education has fast become a priorityof the Highland people. They have expressed an urgent need for basic skillswhich will enable them to hold dialogues with government authorities andother stakeholders regarding their traditional lands and natural resources, whichare currently being encroached upon and threatened. They see non-formal edu-cation as an avenue to equip both the adults and the future generations to face therapid move towards a market economy, as well as other development issues such asthe need for food security and improved community health. The NFE curriculumaims to teach literacy by using topical materials which re¯ ect the felt needs of thevillagers. Thus it is hoped that the knowledge gained by the learners from the NFEsessions will lead to an improved living situation for villagers as well as provideopportunities for their own empowerment as their traditional way of life is beingthreatened.

Additionally, NFE is much preferred by the villagers since it is done locally.Teachers are selected and trained to teach in their own communities, thus Khmerteachers are not necessary and even the remotest communities can be reached.

Various organisations have been using this approach for several years. There is agrowing consensus that much skills training is ineffective without literacy. This iswhy NFE integrates literacy training programs with income generating skills andskills in improving families’ health and welfare. Since 1995 the main emphasis of

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UNDP/CARERE’s education program has been on developing the Non-formalEducation System. It has been working with the Provincial Department for Edu-cation in cooperation with the Ministry for Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS).After a slow start the program was reevaluated and CARERE currently has 43classes in 34 villages and will expand to a further ® ve villages this year. CIDSE hasalso been working on NFE since 1995 and now has 26 classes. World Concern has23 classes as does Non Timber Forest Products (NTFP). The latter organisation’ sclasses are mostly held in the `chankar’ (® eld) sites rather than being village based.Efforts are being made to combine all forces to work together: government, provin-cial government, IOs and NGOs.

The UNDP/CARERE project is typical and thus shall be used for illustrativepurposes. The NFE project cannot address the needs of all age groups in the village,so the project targets the age group of 15 years and older. The average age is 20. Theclasses are limited to 25 students per class, with only one class per village. Theretend to be two volunteer teachers in each village and they take turns teaching theclass. The classes are held every evening from January to July, from 7 to 9 pm. Thelarge number of primary school age children who have no access to formal schoolingare not given educational materials (exercise books, pens, student manuals) but areallowed to observe the NFE classes. Often 30 children regularly observe a villageNFE class, and actually could be counted as unof® cial learners. At the same timeNFE does not substitute for primary education. Observing the NFE evening class isa popular event for which the whole village often turns out to either watch orparticipate. The majority of literacy learners do not seek formal schooling. Theywant to improve the income, health and well-being of themselves and their families.Indeed, the immediate bene® ts of literacy are recounted by many villagers, especiallybeing able to sell their goods at higher prices at the market and knowing if they havebeen given the correct money.

Their curriculum addresses the following issues: cause and prevention of malaria,cause and prevention of diarrhoea, advantages of the forest and ways to protect theforest and its wildlife, the different workloads of men and women and ways toreduce the workload of women, how to increase agricultural yields, and how toprevent animals from becoming sick. It was clear from the results of their evaluationthat the classes have achieved the goals of a NFE program rather than merely aliteracy program. Very high numbers pass the tests on life skills. The enthusiasm forthe program by teachers, students and the local communities is clearly evident. Thebuilding of schools with local materials in 70% of the villages is a demonstration ofthis strong commitment to the program. However, sustainability is still a conceptthat the Provincial government and CARERE are not clear on.

In their classes CIDSE used the national test for literacy and found that over 70%passed. However there was concern that fewer women take the exam and that alower percentage of them pass. They pro® t less from the classes since they do nothave much time to attend and are shy to ask questions. Part of their curriculum isgender related in order to improve the situation of women, decrease their workburden, increase their income and strengthen their position in a male-dominateddecision-making process. Another concern, which is shared by CARERE, is that the

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Minority Education in Cambodia 249

drop out rate is quite high, around 17%. Students have to return to farming and girlsget married. Of course, new students immediately take their place.

Village libraries are another initiative that UNDP/CARERE and CIDSE areworking on. Bookcases with reading materials on agriculture, health and other issueshave been introduced after the literacy classes. Instruction on how to use thematerials is part of the activity. Though limited they will play an important role inpromoting post-literacy efforts and ensuring that the neo-literate do not revert toilliteracy. Villagers are pleased to have access to written materials in their ownvillage. There have been ideas to commission transcriptions of local folk tales usingthe Tampeoun and Kreung alphabet. This would probably not only increase interestbut would serve to preserve part of the cultural heritage.

Until now the majority of the NFE classes have been taught in Khmer. However,World Concern has developed materials in Kreung and is piloting the teaching ofKreung in a number of villages in O’chum district. Further to MoEYS’ s ª Nationalliteracy programº , launched in early 1998, and with support from UNESCO,bilingual manuals were printed for the Kreung, Tampoeun and Pnom peoples.Building on World Concern’ s knowledge, Khmer ciphers were used to create awritten version of the languages. These three languages were selected as they werethought to have the largest populations: more will be based on funding. Thebooklets are on relevant issues to the hill tribe peoples. They include ª family needsº ,ª our forestº , ª our villageº , ª healthy livingº , ª work-income-pro® tº and ª HIVº . Theyemphasise retaining local knowledge as well as adapting to modernisation. This is amajor step by the Cambodian government that is unprecedented in South East Asia.However, the work has not been fully followed up by either UNESCO or theMinistry.

Interestingly, there is a surprising gap between the government’ s estimates forilliteracy and those of NGOs in Ratanakiri. According to the data compiled by theauthorities, the literacy rate is 54.34%. However, CIDSE quoted an illiteracy rate inRatanakiri of over 90%, which is not surprising since the majority of the populationbelongs to ethnic groups without a written language.

The last initiative of interest that I would like to mention here relates to theCambodian Institute of Human Rights (CIHR). They target the hill tribe peoplethrough their radio shows, and especially through the Distance Learning Program(DLP) project. Their shows are translated into three local languages, Tampoeun,Charay and Kreung, and reproduced on audio-cassette. The programs focus onhuman rights, especially women’ s rights. They are presently raising funds for amobile media unit to reach the more remote communities and educate them abouttheir rights.

Looking to the Future

Every ethnic group has the right to maintain its own existence. To preserve theirculture and identity the government has to recognise the Khmer Loeu’ s rights to theforest and land on which they have lived for centuries.

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250 J. Escott

Khmer Loeu children have effectively no primary school education. Though thereare various strategies and interesting ideas involved, NFE is a survival technique andit is not reaching enough people. Sixty-six out of 252 villages have been reached bythe combined efforts of the royal government, the provincial government, the IOsand the NGOs: this is one in four. At the same time we are seeing enormous threatsto the highland peoples’ livelihood. Their education is a key component for theirdialogue with the outside world. First, pro® ciency and literacy in Khmer is necessaryin order to represent their rights. Second, skills education is necessary to enable thehill tribe people to modernise and embrace the market economy. Third, I can notemphasise enough the importance of curricula developed to include lessons relatingto the local realityÐ agricultural methods, the use of forest resources, etc.Ð in orderto retain local knowledge.

For a people entering a race for survival ª knowledge is powerº .

Acknowledgements

With thanks to John Lowrie and to the Cambodian Institute of Human Rights. Withcredit to Aine Doody.

Address for correspondence: J. Escott, 2 Muir® eld Road, Inverness IV2 4AY, Scotland.

Notes

1. In March 1995 the Ministry of the Interior published ® gures which stated that 3.38% of thepopulation were members of minority ethnic groups. However, these ® gures may be too lowand the real ® gure is most likely to be closer to 10% of the population, since there could beas many as 1 million more ethnic Vietnamese in the country than the of® cial government® gure of 100,000.

2. The Cambodia Daily. Monday 12 July 1999.3. Interview with Mr In The, Director of Non-Formal Education Department, Ministry of

Education, Youth and Sport.4. This is also a problem facing the poor in the countryside and the Cham people, arising from

the abolition of private property rights under the Pol Pot regime.5. Health Unlimited study. Appendix 2.6. Taken from ª Minorities of Cambodiaº .7. Minorities of Cambodia.8. Ibid.9. Ibid.

10. Word Bank Forest Sector Review, February 1999.11. ª Land and Forest: The Key to Sustainable Development in Cambodia’ s North-east.º NTFP

Project Ban Lung.12. Health Unlimited Report, July 1995 p. 30: ª In one case a sick child died (after several healing

ceremonies) and I was surprised, the next day, to visit another villager who described how herchild had been sick with the same problem. This mother then showed me the medicine shehad bought from the market pharmacy to treat her child (who had recovered). When I askedwhy she had not given this medicine to her neighbours, she described how they had no moneyto pay for it.º

13. CIDSE Report May 1999, p. 17.

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14. UNDP Report Ratanakiri February 1999.15. Supra note 3.16. UNDP/UNESCO Report: ª Basic Education for all.º

References

CHANDLER, D. (1983) A History of Cambodia. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.DOODY, A. (1997) Minorities of Cambodia. Phnom Penh: CIHR.MCCAUSLAND, C. (1999) UNDP/UNOPS CARERE Evaluation Report of Non-Formal Education

Ratanakiri, February.PROVINCIAL RURAL DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE, PROVINCIAL DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING,

RATANAKIRI Provincial Development Plan for 1999± 2000.RENOU, G., for UNDP & UNESCO (1999) Basic Education for All in Cambodia: A Strategic

Approach for Human Development and Poverty Alleviation.SOKHOM, H. (1996) The Khmer Loeu in Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri Interdisciplinary Research on

Ethnic Groups in Cambodia: Cambodian Research Assistant’s Reports.VIJGHEN, J.L. (1999) Evaluation of CIDSE’s Integrated Community Development Programme in

Ratanakiri Province.

WHITE, J. (1995) Of Spirits and Services: Health and Healing amongst the Hill Tribes of Ratanakiri

Province, Cambodia. Ratanakiri: Health Unlimited.

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