Education is a powerful medium for cultivating peace, reconciliation, and ultimately a culture that values human rights and democracy. In a post-conflict society, education also serves as a platform for engaging in a dialogue on what happened and why. Education can be a forum for memorializing the death of loved ones as well as giving somber recognition to the immense suffering of victims who survived. In effect, education becomes a bridge between courtroom testimony and classroom debate. With these aims in mind, since 2007, the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) has been working with the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport to integrate the history of Democratic Kampuchea (DK) in all secondary education schools throughout Cambodia. As part of this work, DC-Cam will begin the first-ever annual training of pre-service teachers at the National Institute of Education.

The training of pre-service teachers complements the Genocide Education Project’s teacher training by way of providing a pre-service baseline of knowledge on the history of Democratic Kampuchea as well as reaching out to teachers who have not been trained by DC-Cam in its previous service trainings. This training is not only critical to the Genocide Education Project’s aim to institutionalize the teaching of the history of Democratic Kampuchea throughout all schools in Cambodia, but also to cultivate new dynamics within the Cambodian teaching profession.

In April 2008, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) formally endorsed the DK history curriculum, and since that time, DC-Cam and the Ministry have provided DK history training to over 3,000 national, provincial, and commune teachers of history, as well as over a hundred university lecturers and professors.

DC-Cam and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport took notice of the fact that some high school students were moving onto higher levels of education before DK history was integrated into their respective high school curriculum. In order to address this cohort, DC-Cam has trained over a hundred university lecturers and professors, representing all public universities in Cambodia. Students who were not able to receive DK history instruction at the high school level will now receive mandatory instruction in DK history in the first year of university studies. Moreover, students at the university who were not able to receive this first year of instruction will have the opportunity to study DK history as an elective in the higher grades.

DC-Cam has also begun training Cambodian Army and Police Officers. Based on an official tasking from the Ministries of Defense and Interior, DC-Cam will provide biannual training for approximately 1,000 military and police officers at their respective service academies. Officers at the Police Academy of Cambodia (PAC) and the Army Institute (AI) will be expected to understand a basic history of Democratic Kampuchea, analyze and evaluate DK ideology and policies; value survivors' knowledge; identify the root causes of genocide; examine state terror in the lead-up to the killings; evaluate the current effects on Cambodian society; foster compassion, empathy and reconciliation; and think critically about how to prevent future mass atrocities in Cambodia and in the global context.

All of these educational efforts are supplemented by an annual nationwide public education forum (implemented in various villages throughout the country). The purpose of the public education forum is to bring DK history to remote areas of Cambodia that fall outside of the public education scheme. In these forums, villagers are encouraged to contribute as mentors in the education of youth and stakeholders in their community’s dialogue on what happened and why during the DK period.

The NIE training represents a critical step forward in the Genocide Education Project’s ability to impact the Cambodian education system and the next generation of youth. The Documentation Center of Cambodia will provide five days of intensive instruction on DK history, including a practicum in which the pre-service teachers will practice student-centered teaching methods taught by local and foreign educators.

The National Institute of Education annually graduates approximately 1,000 preservice teachers. Out of this graduating class, DC-Cam will provide DK history training to approximately 230 pre-service teachers, most of whom will go on to teach in the fields of high-school level history, geography, and Khmer literature. Upon completion of this training, teachers will be expected to understand basic concepts within DK history, including key ideas that underlie student-centered learning.

Educating the public, and in particular government institutions, on the controversial past is never easy. Personal trauma and political affiliations inevitably influence the ability to engage in an open-minded discussion. Indeed, we have observed these difficulties with teachers, who carry the responsibility of guiding the younger generation’s inquiry into the past. And, not surprisingly, some students have even resisted acknowledging this past. As children of former perpetrators often sit (and live) side-by-side with children of victims, conflict may disrupt classrooms.

Despite these challenges, obtaining a proper knowledge of history is important for all individuals and society. As His Excellency Mr. Im Sethy, the Minister of Education, Youth, and Sport has said: "Younger generations of Cambodians must understand and know about this grave past in order to learn from past mistakes, prevent such events from happening again, and recognize and know when to stand up for fundamental principles of humanity, integrity, and justice."

Through this newly-endorsed initiative by NIE, DC-Cam will bring genocide education to future generations of pre-service teachers — deepening the integration of DK history within the national curriculum. Integrating DK history into the national school system is a critical step toward reconciliation and memory, but it is only a beginning. With this new initiative, DC-Cam looks forward to future projects that will stimulate even greater inquiry and debate about the past, and ultimately new opportunities for advancing peace, reconciliation, and a culture that values human rights and democracy in Cambodia.