Monday, 7 March 2011

DC-Cam to assess KR history teaching


via CAAI

Monday, 07 March 2011 15:02 Kim Yuthana

The Documentation Centre of Cambodia, which produced the first government-sanctioned textbook of the Khmer Rouge regime, will travel today to Kampong Thom province, the birthplace of Pol Pot, to evaluate how Cambodia’s darkest chapter is being taught in five high schools across four districts.

Youk Chhang, director of DC-Cam, said yesterday staff will engage students, teachers, parents and local officials in order “to see the impact of what we have done so far”, which includes producing and distributing the textbook and training teachers.

DC-Cam has distributed about 300,000 copies of A History of Democratic Kampuchea to 1,700 schools in cooperation with the Ministry of Education.

“The purpose of the evaluation is to strengthen the quality of teaching about the history of the Khmer Rouge as well as the process of building peace, to heal the nation and prevent genocide,” Youk Chhang said.

High school tests omitted basic facts about the regime prior to a national history exam introduced last year in which five out of 14 questions are related to the Khmer Rouge period.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY THOMAS MILLER

No comments: