Documentation Center of Cambodia

 

Genocide Education in Cambodia

The Teaching of “A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979)”

Inauguration of Anti-Genocide Memorial

Preah Beida Cheat High School, Kampot Province

 

Photo by: Youk Chhang, Terith Chy, Socheat Nhean, Ratanak Leng, Sophat Mam, and Serey Kith

On June 21, 2011, DC-Cam and the Ministry of Education held an inauguration ceremony for an anti-genocide memorial at Preah Beida Cheat High School. Her Excellency Chumteav Ton Sa-Im, Undersecretary of State of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, and Mr. Tak Hab, Head of Kampot´s Provincial Office of Education were the guests of honor for this ceremony. This is the first memorial at Preah Beida Cheat, the most remote provincial high school, and the eleventh location to hold a memorial inauguration ceremony. The slogans encourage students and their parents to study the Khmer Rouge (KR) period in order to promote reconciliation and genocide prevention. The slogans declare: (1) "Talking about experience during the Khmer Rouge regime promotes reconciliation and educates children about forgiveness and tolerance"; and (2) "Learning about the history of Democratic Kampuchea helps prevent genocide."

 

Preah Beida Cheat High School is located at Chro Neang village, Kampong Trach commune, Kampong Trach district, Kampot province. It was established in 1964 as Preah Beida Thavika Cheat Secondary School. Since its establishment, the number of buildings and students has increased, and the general education has improved. After the coup in March of 1970, Kampot province became unstable and was used as a battlefield between the Khmer Republic forces and KR guerrilla forces. During the period of conflict and KR regime, Kampot was under the administrative control of the southwest zone with Ta Mok as the zone secretary. The entire Kampot province was known as region 35 with Kang Chab as its secretary.

 

The school was reopened in January 1980 and renamed Kampong Trach High School. It was renamed again to Preah Beida Cheat High School in 2010. Today the school consists of 2,029 students, among whom 878 are girls.   

          

During the inauguration, DC-Cam distributed to students over 1,000 copies of “A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979),” its monthly magazine Searching for the Truth, and anti-genocide slogan posters. Her Excellency Chumteav Ton Sa-Im speaks about the significance of the slogans, which had an important role in educating students and survivors about reconciliation, forgiveness and tolerance.

 

The slogans were mounted with financial support from DC-Cam staff members and their friends who were former students of Preah Beida Cheat High School. Apart from the important objective of mounting the anti-genocide slogans, this ceremony was also a great opportunity for former students to meet with each other to discuss the need to prevent genocide. DC-Cam encourages its staff members to continue making efforts to mount slogans in their former high schools and in all high schools across Cambodia.