Cambodia has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world and an underfinanced and poorly staffed educational system. In an effort to help matters, one element of an upcoming government event will ask the monks of Cambodia’s Buddhist institutions to promote literacy as participants and teachers in a voluntary educational program.
The new policy on non-formal education, which is designed to target those with little or no money for education, awaits approval from the Council of Ministers. The policy will apply to a government plan that will provide $6 million over the next five years for non-formal education teacher training, reintroduction of dropout students and educational promotion.
In The, director of the non-formal education department at the Ministry of Education, said under the new policy the entire monk administration will be asked to help educate Cambodia’s population through voluntary literacy classes, vocational training and credit programs.
“The pagoda is a warehouse of knowledge and information. We’d love to see more monks participate,” he said.
But many monks are themselves illiterate and “need to learn more about general knowledge,” In The said.
Once an important source of education, Cambodia’s Buddhist monks were largely killed or scattered by the Khmer Rouge. Today, Buddhist clergy are not often involved in education because they are too busy constructing and restoring monasteries destroyed by the Khmer Rouge.
“For monks, building human resources and educating people about Buddhist and moral values are more important than building construction,” said Yos Hut Khemacharo, a monk leader who teaches Buddhist doctrine and is helping to build a hospital in Prey Veng province. “But some Buddhists are confused about this.”
The few intellectual monks who survived the Khmer Rouge years were soon overwhelmed with an influx of new monks, many of them illiterate, looking for the education they could not afford elsewhere.
Those that have been educated are an untapped resource, In The and others say. But Yos Hit Khemacharo, who is also the Cambodia director of the Paris-based Khmer Buddhist Foundation, said organizing the participation of Cambodia’s monks is complicated.
He complained that the government has so far given little attention or funding to training monks. He said he appreciated the program’s inclusion of monks, because monks will need training and education themselves before they can begin to teach others.
In The said the new program would not only help strengthen Buddhism in the Khmer community where “Buddhist values have decreased after the war,” but would also “give monks more learning opportunities.”
By using more pagodas as learning centers, the nation’s education efforts will reach better and further into remote areas, In The said.
While he awaits cabinet approval later this year, In The said he would ask supreme patriarchs Tep Vong and Bour Kry, respective leaders of the Maha Nikaya and Dhammayuth Buddhist sects, for their cooperation in the program.
In The said he had expected the legislation to be approved in time for the 65th International Literacy Day celebration on Sept 8, but the legislation has been pushed back.
Sen, who learned from monks at a wat as a pagoda boy, will release an appeal urging Cambodians to join the literacy classes and asking his ministries to commit their energies to improve education programs.
By Lor Chandara
the cambodia daily
Cambodia has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world and an underfinanced and poorly staffed educational system. In an effort to improve, one element of an upcoming government event will ask the monks of Cambodia’s Buddhist institutions to promote literacy as participants and teachers in a voluntary educational program.
The new policy on non-formal education, which is designed to target those with little or no money for education, awaits approval from the Council of Ministers. The policy will apply to a government plan that will provide $6 million over the next five years for non-formal education teacher training, reintroduction of dropout students and educational promotion.
In The, director of the non-formal education department at the Ministry of Education, said under the new policy the entire monk administration will be asked to help educate Cambodia’s population through voluntary literacy classes, vocational training and credit programs.
“The pagoda is a warehouse of knowledge and information. We’d love to see more monks participate,” he said.
But many monks are themselves illiterate and “need to learn more about general knowledge,” In The said.
Once an important source of education, Cambodia’s Buddhist monks were largely killed or scattered by the Khmer Rouge. Today, Buddhist clergy are not often involved in education because they are too busy constructing and restoring monasteries destroyed by the Khmer Rouge.
“For monks, building human resources and educating people about Buddhist and moral values are more important than building construction,” said Yos Hut Khemacharo, a monk leader who teaches Buddhist doctrine and is helping to build a hospital in Prey Veng province. “But some Buddhists are confused about this.”
The few intellectual monks who survived the Khmer Rouge years were soon overwhelmed with an influx of new monks, many of them illiterate, looking for the education they could not afford elsewhere. Many monks today still have little education.
Those that have been educated are an untapped resource, In The and others say. But Yos Hit Khemacharo, who is also the Cambodia director of the Paris-based Khmer Buddhist Foundation, said the participation of Cambodia’s monks is complicated.
He complained that the government has so far given little attention or funding to training monks. He said he appreciated the program’s inclusion of monks, because monks will need training and education themselves before they can begin to teach others.
In The said the new program would not only help strengthen Buddhism in the Khmer community where “Buddhist values have decreased after the war,” but would also “give monks more learning opportunities.”
By using more pagodas as learning centers, education will reach into remote areas, In The said.
While he awaits cabinet approval later this year, In The said he would ask supreme patriarchs Tep Vong and Bour Kry, respective leaders of the Maha Nikaya and Dhammayuth Buddhist sects, for their cooperation.
In The said he had expected the legislation to be approved in time for the 65th International Literacy Day celebration on Sept 8, but the legislation had been pushed back. Sept 8 is also Cambodia’s National Literacy Day.
On Sept 8 Prime Minister Hun Sen, who learned from monks at a wat as a pagoda boy, will release an appeal urging Cambodians to join the literacy classes and asking his ministries to commit their energies to improve education programs.
