The Meaning of “Labor” After Pol Pot’s Regime in Cambodia: The Differences Among the Elementary School Curriculum, Teachers and Ex-Students

Abstract

  In this paper, I aim to study the differences of the meaning of “labor” among the government, teachers and ex-students. “Labor” was an important subject in the curriculum as socialist education after Pol Pot’s regime in Cambodia. During Pol Pot’s regime, the education system was abolished, and many teachers were slaughtered. In the era of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea (PRK), after Pol Pot’s regime ended in 1979, the Kampuchea People’s Revolutionary Party (KPRP) government faced the difficult task of reconstructing the new nation state and building a new education system, which reflected the Eastern bloc socialist ideology. There are only a small number of empirical studies about education during the PRK era since researchers from the western bloc were prohibited from entering Cambodia, in addition to the ongoing civil war near the Thai-Cambodia border area. Therefore, this research considers the intention of the subject from not only the perspective of the curriculum that reflected the KPRP policy, but also from an individual perspective based on interviews with elementary school teachers and ex-students.

  This research’s significance lies in re-evaluating the meaning and the value of socialist education in Cambodia. Although the concept of socialism has had a great impact not only on Cambodian politics, but also on people’s lives, there have been very few studies from the point of view of socialist education in Cambodia. The Cambodian People’s Party, which has its roots in the KPRP, is the ruling party of Cambodia, and they initiated the education reconstruction process following Pol Pot’s regime, continuing the reconstruction process from the PRK era to the present. Understanding the meaning and the value of “labor” could not only make up for the lack of previous research, but also could gain a new perspective on the present education system.

  In order to reveal the differences of the meaning of “labor”, the following two aspects were analyzed: (1) I first discussed the background of the KPRP, and the purpose and contents of the “General Primary Education Curriculum in 1980,” (2) I then analyzed the experiences and the recollections of the teachers and the ex-students from the PRK era.

  The findings are as follows:

  First, according to the history of the KPRP, it is clear that the KPRP and Pol Pot’s group had a common origin. The KPRP had a strong friendship with Vietnam; however, Vietnam was considered an enemy of Pol Pot’s group. The KPRP government hoped to join the international socialist community, which was centered on the Soviet Union, through its close relationship with Vietnam.

  Second, from the analysis of the “General Primary Education Curriculum in 1980”, I identified “labor” as a key subject, because it is closely related to the purpose of the complete general primary education while reflecting a socialist ideology. The purpose of “labor” was to connect the school to the home and the community and thus the concept of “labor” was roughly divided into two components: productive labor and labor to learn solidarity. The subject of “labor” reflected an ideal of socialism pedagogy.

  Third, according to the interviews with teachers, it was revealed that the teachers were almost uninterested in “labor” as the key of socialist education. On the contrary, they were inclined to think that “labor” had an educational value in Pol Pot’s regime. Additionally, during the PRK era their teaching methodology in elementary school referenced their own learning experiences received before Pol Pot’s regime. This establishes the following two important explanations; first, the KPRP government could not distinguish clearly between their socialist ideology and Pol Pot’s communist ideology. (View PDF for the rest of the abstract.)