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Educational development aid and the role of language: A case study of AIT -Danida and the Royal University of Agriculture in Cambodia

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Educational development aid and the role of language: A case study of AIT -Danida and the Royal University of Agriculture in Cambodia

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EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AID
AND THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE:
A CASE STUDY OF AIT-DANIDA AND THE
ROYAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE IN CAMBODIA
by
Rita X. Stafford
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(EDUCATION)
May 2000
Copyright 2000 Rita X. Stafford
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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY PARK
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90007
This dissertation, written by
R it a X a n th o u d a k is S t a f f o r d
under the direction of h&x. Dissertation
Committee, and approved by all its members,
has been presented to and accepted by The
Graduate School in partial fulfillment of re
quirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PFULOSOPHY
Dean af Graduate Studies
D a te . 23 , 2000
ATION COMMITTEE DI!
- I
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For my family and friends, and especially for Freddie
and
In memory of Oscar
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my committee members, David Eskey, William Rideout
and Steve Lamy for their guidance and support. I am especially grateful to David
Eskey for his encouragement throughout my graduate work and invaluable comments
on this manuscript, and to William Rideout for introducing me to the world of
international development aid. I also wish to express sincere appreciation to William
Maxwell and Nelly P. Stromquist for their excellent teaching in the International
Education Program.
I owe special gratitude to the CLET faculty members at the Asian Institute of
Technology, especially to Bill Savage, Nick Dimmitt and Richmond Stroupe for
making this research possible. But to Bill, I am especially thankful for his perceptive
comments throughout my research and for generously sharing his insights and
experiences with me. To Mads Korn of Danida, a special thanks as well for
generously sharing his time, thoughts and experiences so candidly, and for making
the fine work that Danida is doing in Southeast Asia available to me. Thank you also
to Powena for her support and for always being a friend in need.
Finally, I am infinitely grateful to all my Cambodian colleagues and friends
at RUA’s Faculty of Fisheries and especially to Chhouk Borin, Chan Rotha, Seng
Samphal, Huot Vutha and Holl Tharine.
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ABSTRACT
This case study examines educational development aid and the diffusion
o f English in Cambodia through the presence of international aid organizations. It
inquires into the goals and objectives of aid agencies and Cambodian educational
institutions; what it means for Cambodians to know English; the educational and
language training programs donors implement; the dynamics o f donor-recipient
relationships; and the social, cultural and political problems they encounter in the
process. The focus o f this research is curriculum development, capacity building
and sustainability at the Royal University of Agriculture (RUA) in Phnom Penh.
It explores how Danida, the Danish international aid organization, along with the
Asian Institute o f Technology’s (ATT) regional Aquaculture Outreach Program
extended support to RUA’s Faculty of Fisheries, and the implications their
economic and technological partnership has for educational development and
English language pedagogy. In Cambodia, the restructuring o f its educational,
social, political and economic systems has been impeded by its recent history,
economic fragility and recurrent internal political conflict. Nonetheless, this
study revealed an increasingly integrative role for language—and especially
English—in development aid. It also suggested that both donor and recipient
nations must develop more coherent policies for insuring that all participants
achieve high levels of proficiency in the international language chosen for an aid
project so that donors and recipients can interact as true partners in educational
development.
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V
Table of Contents
Abstract iv
Acronyms and Abbreviations viii
List of Tables and Figures xi
List of Appendices xii
Chapter One
Introduction 1
Statement of the Problem 3
Purpose o f the Study 7
Guiding Research Questions 11
Definition o f Terms 14
Summary and Overview o f Remaining Chapters 16
Chapter Two
A Review of the Literature
Introduction 18
Part I: Changing Trends in Educational Development Aid 19
Part II: Language and Development 27
Summary 36
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VI
Chapter Three
Retrospective o f Cambodian History and Educational Development
Introduction 38
Part I: A Bibliographic Essay 40
Part II: Historical Background of Cambodia 43
Part HI: International Aid in Cambodia Since 1990 60
Summary 73
Chapter Four
Methods and Procedures
Introduction 75
Theoretical Assumptions 75
Rationale for Using Case Study Methods 78
The Role of the Researcher 80
Reframing the Research Questions 82
Sites Relevant to Data Collection 85
Data Collection Procedures 87
Data Analysis 91
Validity and Reliability 94
Chapter Five
Educational Development Aid and the Role of Language:
The Case of AIT-Danida and the Royal University o f Agriculture in Cambodia
Introduction 96
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The Royal University of Agriculture (RUA)
Planning AIT’s Involvement in Cambodia
Danida Joins AIT’s Aquaculture Outreach Program
AIT-Danida and RUA: Phase One
AIT-Danida’s First Language-focused Workshop
Capacity Building at RUA
AIT-CLET and the RUA Faculty of Fisheries Intensive
Language Workshop
AIT-Danida and RUA Phase Two: Autonomy, Sustainability
And Ownership 134
Sustainability and Ownership: A Concluding Perspective 139
Chapter Six
Conclusions and Recommendations for Further Research
Introduction 141
Conclusions in Light of the Research Questions 141
Possibilities for New Research 158
References 161
Appendices 177
vu
97
104
110
118
121
127
132
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Acronyms and Abbreviations
AARM Aquaculture ad Aquatic Resources Management
ACE Australian Center for English
ADB Asian Development Bank
ATT Asian Institute of Technology
ASEAN Association of South East Asia Nations
CCC Cooperation Committee for Cambodia
CDAI Chamcar Daung Agricultural Institute
CDGK Coalition Government o f Democratic Kampuchea
CDRI Cambodian Development Resource Institute
CG Consultative Group (sponsored by the World Bank)
CLET Center for Language and Educational Technology
CPK Communist Party of Kampuchea
CPP Cambodian People’s Party
Danida Danish Development Assistance
DK Democratic Kampuchea
DOF Department of Fisheries
EFL English as a Foreign Language
ELT English Language Teaching
ESP English for Specific Purposes
FoF Faculty of Fisheries
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FUNCINPEC National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful and
Cooperative Cambodia
HDI Human Development Index
HRD Human Resource Development
ICORC International Committee on the Reconstruction of Cambodia
IELTS International English Language Testing Service
IMF International Monetary Fund
MAFF Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries
MOEYS Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports
NAPHAE National Action Plan for Higher Agricultural Education
NAP HE National Action Plan for Higher Education
NHETF National Task Force on Higher Education
ODA Overseas Development Agency
PRK People’s Republic of Kampuchea
RUA Royal University of Agriculture
SEATO Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
SIDA (Sida) Swedish International Development Authority
SOC State of Cambodia
TEFL Teaching English as a Foreign Language
TOEFL Test of English as a Foreign Language
UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
UNDP United Nations Development Program
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
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UNICEF
UNTAC
USAID
United Nations Children’s Fund
United Nations Transitional Army in Cambodia
United States Agency for International Development
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XI
List of Tables and Figures
Table Page
1. Trends in Development, Education and Language Aid 10
2. Summary o f Assistance Cancellations and Suspensions 70
3. AIT-Danida Interviews 88
4. RUA Interviews 89
Figure Page
1. Cambodia’s Educational Resource Allocation 27
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List of Appendices
Appendix Page
1. Organizational Structure o f RUA 178
2. Donors at RUA 179
3. Staff Assigned to Different Faculties 180
4. Students Enrolled in the Five Programs o f Study 181
5. Occupations Targeted for Future Training 182
6. Predicted Student Enrollment for 1998-2007 183
7. Institutional Management and Maintenance
Policy Recommendations 184
8. Institutional Income Generation 186
9. Non-salary Incentives for Staff 187
10. Ministry Statement Regarding Language Training 188
11. January 1993 Planning Meeting Summary,
Objectives, Expectations and Outputs 189
12. February 1993 National Workshop o Small-scale
Aquaculture Framework 191
13. February 1993 National Workshop Findings 193
14. February' 1996 Trip Report Excerpt 195
15. Contributions o f Teachers in RUA Fisheries
Curriculum Development 198
16. Training o f Teachers (sample short-course description) 202
17. Conditions for Supplementary Salaries 204
18. July 1996 Intensive Faculty Workshop:
Purpose, Objectives, Format, Pre-workshop Task,
Timetable, and Participants list 205
19. English: Feedback on Writing 207
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20. Sample o f‘Tasks” 208
21. Workshop Evaluations 209
22. Workshop FoF Poster Session (selected samples) 211
23. English Training Assessment and Training Proposal 216
24. Time Bound Activities and Terms o f Reference (ToR) 219
25. Section of Administration Action Plan 221
26. RUA Faculty of Fisheries Curriculum Development
Activities: Summary Report June-November, 1997 222
27. Revised Terms of Reference for Supplementary Salaries 228
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Chapter One
Introduction
D on Y choose a straight path and don Y
reject a winding one. Choose the path
your ancestors have trod.
Cambodian proverb
This case study seeks to understand the educational, social, political and
cultural dimensions of development and English language use in Cambodia as it has
come about through the presence of international aid organizations. The dominance
o f English in the development context and the diffusion o f English through small,
time-limited aid projects where day-to-day activities and personal interactions reflect
far bigger dreams is at the heart o f this research and is loosely referred to throughout
the study as language in development.
Cambodia is a small (181,035 sq. km.) agricultural country in Southeast
Asia, bordered by Burma and Thailand to the west, Laos to the north and Vietnam to
the south and east. By the end of the Khmer Rouge period (1979) nearly 90 per cent
o f the country’s educated and professional class had been either killed or had fled the
country, and it was estimated that one in four of the adult population was completely
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2
illiterate. Today, with a population of 10.2 million and growing at an estimate o f 2.5-
2.8 percent per year, Cambodian women constitute a majority (52.6), and at least half
the population is under 18 years of age. Most Cambodians, or 85 per cent, live in
rural areas and malnutrition has been estimated at 10 percent in Phnom Penh and 20
percent in the provinces.1
My own interest in Cambodia though genuine, is not especially unique. I say
this because I did not seek Cambodia out as the first place to do my research. My first
choice had been Vietnam, and much of my preparation was focused on that country.
However, my study was transposed to Cambodia at the suggestion o f my sponsors at
the Center for Language and Education Technology (CLET) based at the Asian
Institute of Technology (ATT) located north of Bangkok. Cambodia is where CLET
colleague and author, Bill Savage has spent the past five years traveling back and
forth from AIT as a language education specialist; he was, therefore, able to
introduce me to the Faculty of Fisheries (FoF) at Cambodia’s Royal University of
Agriculture (RUA), in Phnom Penh. In addition, I had been interested in the work
that Danida, the Danish governmental aid agency, was doing in the region and
Danida was the funding agency of the project I was being introduced to. Thus, my
research engaged the Faculty of Fisheries at RUA as well as RUA’s aid and
intermediary partners, Danida and ATT.
While the social, political, and economic changes that have take place in
Cambodia are similar to those in Vietnam, Cambodia is very different. It does not
1 Statistical data on Cambodia are unreliable, and as of this writing, most of the current economic
statistics available were for 1996 and in some cases, 1992.
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3
have the educational infrastructure or human resources of Vietnam, and the
challenges facing Cambodia are quite distinct despite the fact that both countries
endured the same wars and were recipients of Soviet assistance. In Cambodia, the
restructuring o f its educational, social, political and economic systems has been
impeded by its recent history and recurrent internal political conflict. Nearly 20 years
of war have left the country’s educational system in tatters, and the uncertainty that
followed the departure first of the Khmer Rouge, then the Vietnamese, and finally the
Soviet Union still play a significant role in the success or failure of present-day
international educational development aid.
Statement of the Problem
What does development aid mean for Cambodians and what does it mean for
them to know English? Today, knowledge of English has economic advantages
sought after by the many Cambodians who have flocked to Phnom Penh, and where
numerous storefront language schools further attest to this fact. However, the
integration of English into the development context and the important role English
has assumed reveal that more attention should be paid to development as a culture in
itself,2 and that the developmental needs of Cambodia should determine the extent
and quality of English language training.
In many respects, it might be said that Cambodia’s present day development
activities have much in common with what was once America’s Wild West. Most
2 In Cambodia, the presence of international aid professionals and their personal and professional
lifestyles in certain respects, contributes to social change and economic opportunity beyond the
activities of an aid project.
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buildings in Phnom Penh are at eye level and the chaos has yet to be tucked away
inside corporate architectural high rises. Many of the city’s side streets are unpaved
and muddy with rain, and it is as though the Cambodian economy is carried on
people’s backs as they peddle their wares on bicycles and push carts. The attraction
Cambodia has for speculators, entrepreneurs, traders, adventurers and outlaws, in
addition to multinational corporations and foreign aid workers with humanitarian
goals, is often overlooked as variables in the spread of English.
Studies of English language spread (e.g., Ferguson, 1968, 1971; Das Gupta,
1975; Fishman, Cooper and Conrad, 1977; Kachru, 1983, 1992) are often analyses of
linguistic phenomena and/or the formulation of abstract theoretical constructs that
reflect historic events such as war and colonialism. Additionally, traditional language
policy and planning studies have, as Kaplan (1994a, p. 3) notes, been o f interest
mostly as an academic enterprise. However, real world events since the demise of the
Soviet Union and the emergence of a global economy have given world-wide
prominence to language issues— e.g., in Western Europe where the creation of the
European Economic Community has focused attention on language diversity
(Baetens Beardsmore, 1993); in Eastern Europe and former Soviet republics and
satellites where ethnic language loyalties have surfaced in the wake o f political
change (Coulmas, 1994); in Canada where French/English bilingualism has yet to
find a compromise; in South Africa where language in education is linked to the end
o f apartheid (Webb, 1994); in Australia and New Zealand where language policies
regarding indigenous and emigre languages are being debated and, in the case of
New Zealand, have already been implemented into education (Lo Bianco, 1987,
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Kaplan, 1994b respectively); and in parts of Asia where regional economic alliances
like the ASEAN have adopted English as the lingua franca.
An important assumption in the present study is that English language
diffusion comes from social change and more specifically through interpersonal
contact with individuals from the “outside”, the plans they have in mind, and the
social and economic benefits this contact represents to the people o f the host culture.3
Cambodia’s renew’ ed contact with the West and the economic ventures that have
been undertaken since 1991 when Cambodia became a market economy have given
Cambodians a new perspective on their future in the region. In addition, their role on
the international stage has been enlarged not only by their alliance with ASEAN
(May, 1999) but with the interest the West has shown in both assisting and profiting
from Cambodia’s economic and political reconstruction. Providing adequate English
language education for those who want it has not, however, been a simple matter. A
shortage o f teachers and resources only magnifies the problems that arise when
English permeates a society through economic aid activities.
In my own research, I was struck by the manner in which the use of English
is often taken for granted by aid organizations. It is the lingua franca of economic aid,
and a multitude of short and long-term language programs are implemented as a
matter of course, usually independent of coherent language planning from donor
countries or within Cambodia. Duggan (1996, 1997) has criticized the pervasiveness
of language programs particularly in higher education, which he states are employed
3 Similarly, see Cooper’s 1989 Language Planning and Social Change. This is an in depth
depiction of language policy and planning in terms of “who does what to whom (or for whom),
when, where, how and why’.
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without any coordination on behalf of donors. Lack of donor coordination, he notes,
causes unnecessary replication and squanders resources that would be better spent on
developing Cambodia’s teachers. The shortage o f qualified teachers is a problem
throughout the country, and RUA is no exception. In this study, however, it might be
said that at RUA’s Faculty of Fisheries, Danida did things in the right order—
beginning with teacher and curriculum development and supplementing English
language training as needed. The problem is that more needs to be done throughout
Cambodia’s educational system.
Cambodian history reveals that language and education have never been
neutral matters. The present situation, especially in regards to teacher quality, came
about through the Khmer Rouge’s decimation of the school system and by the feet
that most materials written in Khmer or French, stored in the country’s libraries, were
destroyed during the years of war and revolution. Discussions o f the Pol Pot era
frequently surfaced in my conversations with many Cambodians, and are discussed in
subsequent chapters. Yet, it is important to state that the Khmer Rouge period sowed
widespread distrust among Cambodians and as result, even today very little happens
without the presence of ghosts—or the ways in which the recent past personally
haunts many of the Cambodians I spoke with. In feet, the university campus where I
did my most of my field research is in close proximity to the Killing Fields. Many
faculty members, who, but a few years ago were themselves students at RUA, talked
about having to guard their rural campus with Russian-issued AK-47s. Night, for
them, was especially stressful and all were convinced that the ghosts o f Pol Pot’s
victims inhabited the trees.
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Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study was to explore the role o f English in developing
countries and the significance of international aid agencies from non-English
speaking countries in the diffusion of English. There are many international aid
agencies in Cambodia that are providing many different kinds of assistance.
However, this research looks at educational aid, and specifically at one time-limited
educational development aid project in Cambodian higher education (RUA) from one
non-English speaking country (Denmark’s Danida).
Furthermore, this study seeks to examine the ways in which donors from
non-English speaking countries handle the role of English within their aid projects. It,
therefore, does not look at aid from English-speaking donor countries (e.g. AusAid,
USAID, or Britain’s ODA), or English language programs in general, but rather at
how language is integrated into an aid project whose primary focus is something
other than language training. Despite the facts that good communication is essential
in development and that development cannot exist without a common language,
many non-English speaking international aid organizations do not have a policy in
place for the delivery of English language programs. More often, it is something they
confront after an aid project is underway. (This was initially the case with Danida in
Cambodia, though they did address this dilemma.) Additionally, the language issues
that emerged in my study of the Faculty of Fisheries at RUA involve Khmer and the
other languages that have been used in instructional settings, i.e. French, Vietnamese,
and Russian. English, however, is of primary concern.
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By examining English language use in a development project, my goal was
to draw implications for English language education and language policies for donors
and recipients. Danida’s internal language policy requires Danish nationals to be
highly proficient English speakers if they expect to work abroad; and while this is
commonly taken for granted it is worth remembering that learning and becoming
sufficiently proficient in a second language is a demanding task. In addition, recipient
countries must have an adequate complementary number o f English speakers for
development to succeed, and these speakers face the same challenges in terms of
language learning.
Finally, in Cambodia, social hierarchies, the dearth of existing institutional
and human resources (35% literacy rate) and the quality of those which do exist, all
play an important part in capacity building and sustainability4 , two key objectives of
present day aid projects. Thus, this study examines the goals and objectives of aid
agencies and Cambodian educational institutions; what it means for Cambodians to
know English; the educational and language training programs donors implement; the
dynamics of donor-recipient relationships; and the social, cultural and political
problems they encounter in the process. I attempt to bring these elements together to
better understand how language is integrated into the development context.
Theoretical frameworks, including world-systems, dependency, human
capital and globalization theories have helped illuminate this study (e.g., Galtung,
1972; Wallerstein, 1974; Amove, 1980; Colclough, 1982; Coombs, 1985; Boli and
Ramirez, 1986; Arndt, 1987; Altbach and Selvarantnam, 1989; Fagerlind and Saha,
4 See “Definition of Terms” in this chapter.
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9
1989; Adick, 1992; McGinn, 1994; Hon, 1994; Little, 1996; Stewart, 1996). As
trends in development aid continue to change, reviewing critical theory literature was
also helpful in understanding the controversies regarding development aid and the
role of language (e.g., Hancock, 1992; Phillipson, 1993; Pennycook, 1994;
Fairclough, 1995; Crush, 1995).
Table 1, (adapted partly from Chabott, 1996, p. 20) displays the changing
trends in national development and language education over the course o f five
decades. As evidenced in the table, the major long-term goal o f development has
been to strengthen a country’s institutions. The health of any institution is reflected in
its ability to endure while at the same time responding to the changing needs of
society.
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1 0
Table 1. Trends in Development, Education and Language Aid
Decade International Development
Strategies
Educational
Development Priorities
Role of Language in
Education
1950s US and UK development aid
changes from national to
international activity. Cold War
determines focus of aid.
Post-war reconstruction of Europe,
Japan and South Korea.
Comprehensive economic planning
and industrialization.
Structural-functionalist models.
Human resource
planning.
Fundamental education
at all levels. Elite
higher education.
Centralized educational
bureaucracies
Minor. French or English
as a language of wider
communication in former
colonies.
English for Special
Purposes (ESP). University
foreign language study
programs and cultural
exchange.
1960s Neo-liberal policies for economic
growth. Modernization. Core
periphery' countries. Third World
Dependency in Africa, Asia and
Latin America. Regional trade
alliances are formed, e.g., ASEAN.
Human Capital Theory.
Equity and efficiency.
Technical higher
education and vocational
priorities. Greater focus
on literacy.
Institution building.
Limited. French or English
as the language of wider
communication. University
language programs. Peace
Corps. Technical language
programs (ESP).
1970s Greater international participation
from newly developed nations.
North/South polarization.
“Underdevelopment” theories.
Micro-level development: Basic
human needs; poverty alleviation.
Macro-level development:
International Economic Order.
Increase in foreign
student aid. Gender
issues.
Vocational and non-
formal education; adult
education and life-long
learning.
Quality of Life.
Universal access.
Significant Rapid
increases in foreign student
study. Technical training
and ESP increases.
Language policies within
the European Union.
Foreign language
university programs
continue. Private language
schools increase in newly
industrializing countries.
1980s Increase in participation from Asia.
Ecology' and environment.
Poverty reduction.
Democratization.
Post-industrialization. Low,
Medium and High-income
countries.
Structural adjustment reforms;
Privatization and deregulation.
Transnational agencies and
corporations. Globalization.
Primary education
priority;
Decentralization in
education.
Accountability.
Privatization.
Human resource
development.
Information Technology
and Telecommunications
(ITT)
Significant. English in
business and commerce
peaks. Rapid changes in
immigration. EFL at
primary and secondary
education levels.
Technical and small-scale
development education
includes English language
training. Worldwide
proliferation of private
language schools.
1990s Globalization. Capacity building
and Sustainable Human
Development. Neo-liberal
Capitalist markets and democratic
peace: “Peace, Prosperity,
Democracy”.
Primary education
priority.
n r .
Major. All of the above.
The Internet
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11
Guiding Research Questions
I began my study with three main questions that were modified by the
investigative context in the form of sub-questions enumerated below:
1. How does language function as a variable within educational aid and
development?
a. What is the role of English in development aid?
b. What is the role of English at the grass roots level of
development aid?
c. What does English language proficiency mean to Cambodians?
d. What is the role of English in the educational system?
2. How well does language policy in educational development aid meet the
needs of recipients?
a. How do Cambodians feel about learning English?
b. Which Cambodians learn English?
c. For what purposes do they use English and how competent are
they?
d. Are there inconsistencies between English language teaching
practices and the needs of learners?
e. What effect does English diffusion have on the Khmer language?
f. How is the long-term national educational policy cum practice
being structured to address these questions?
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3. How does the social context influence the delivery, content and quality
of language education in educational development aid?
a. What social and institutional constraints impact educational
development?
b. What historical issues impact the role of language education and
specifically the role of English in educational development aid?
c. What cultural constraints affect the use of English in Cambodia?
d. What problems (other than obvious linguistic limitations)
impede language learning and proficiency?
e. What goals and needs emerge from the social context which
might appropriately be met by educational aid and English
language teaching?
f. How can sustainability of language and developmental progress
best be secured or facilitated?
As the study progressed, one additional question emerged:
4. Given the crucial role o f language in development, how can donor and
recipient language policies and language planning be better integrated
into the aid process?
This last question attempted to address language policies that are inadequate
and do not respond coherently to the complex relationship between language and
foreign aid, and the realities of development in a global economy. Furthermore, a
proposition embracing the diverse aspects o f this research can be stated thusly:
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The relationship between language and development has grown increasingly
more powerful. It enables donors and recipients to define ownership, power and
control and to foster equity and amicability. Without the communication that an
international language imparts, present day development would be untenable fo r
donors and recipients alike.
Finally, my research was limited to the Faculty of Fisheries at RUA, and to
an educational aid project funded by Danida in its association with ATT. RUA is
located in Phnom Penh, the most English-influenced city in Cambodia, which in
itself offered additional insights into the data I was able to collect.
Phnom Penh is the country’s cultural capital, its center o f government and
business, the major location of international aid activity, and the destination o f most
foreigners. In the rural areas outside of Phnom Penh English language speakers are
rare, if they exist at all, and the benefits of English language proficiency reaches
these citizens only indirectly through the transmission of information, usually
technological, that is translated and simplified as an aid project reach the grass roots
level.
A recurring theme in this case study is the need for English by academic
faculties in Cambodia and the absence of realistic language planning and language
policies. However, the problems encountered in this study are complex and indicative
not only of the Cambodian situation, but also of other developing countries in other
regions where international aid agencies are not fully prepared to respond to the
demands o f language in a development context.
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Definition of Terms
Terms used in this study that would benefit from clarification include:
Aquaculture
Aquaculture is the bio-technological process in which aquatic resources are
controlled and maintained for the purpose of conserving endangered fish and mollusk
species, introducing new aquatic species into the environment, and ensuring an
adequate fresh food supply for human consumption.
The Aquaculture and Aquatic Resources Management Program (AARM) is
part of AIT’s School o f Environmental Resources and Development (SERD) and is
sponsored by Danida. While aquaculture is a widespread activity throughout much o f
Asia, Danida-AIT’s AARM outreach program operates in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos
and Thailand.
Autonomy
In terms of educational aid and this study, autonomy means allowing and
encouraging participants to express “who they are, what they think, and what they
would like to do in terms of the work they initiate and define for themselves”
(Kenny, 1993, p.440)
Capacity building
Capacity building is the gradual development of an individual’s (or an
institution’s) knowledge, skills and capabilities to do his or her job more effectively.
Capacity building may take place through formal education and training courses, or
through on-the-job training (CDRI, 1999)
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15
Donor and recipient
In aid funded development projects, donor refers to the funder, agency or
provider of aid, and recipient to the host ministry or institution, and individuals who
are the actual beneficiaries living in the country receiving aid.
Local counterpart
A counterpart is a local professional that works alongside an expatriate
advisor and is going through a process of preparation to take over the job and
continue the work after the “expert” leaves (CDRI, 1999). In this study, “counterpart”
means a colleague and natural complement to the foreign advisor.
Outreach programs
Outreach programs are the activities that agencies and institutions (in this
case, Danida and AIT) undertake using their own external resources to assist in
specific development projects within a given region or locale (see Aquaculture in this
glossary).
Stakeholders
Stakeholders are individuals, institutions and countries whose commitment is
crucial to the success of an aid project.
Sustainability
Sustainability as it applies to aid-funded projects refers to an institution’s
ability to continue after the aid funding has ceased.
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Summary and Overview of Remaining Chapters
Understanding the role of foreign aid organizations in the spread o f English
necessitates a study o f the historical, social, political and economic dimensions o f
English language use in a development context. In Cambodia, development issues,
language issues, educational issues in an economic aid setting reflect not only the
needs of people seeking to improve their lives, but reflect the sum of experiences life
has presented them. Understanding the current needs of English teaching in
Cambodia also requires a study of the educational setting if the implications o f this
research are to be relevant and feasible for educators, be they policy specialists,
language teachers, teacher trainers or curriculum specialists.
The following chapters attempt to do just that. Chapter Two is a review of
literature with respect to foreign aid and the increasingly integrative nature o f
language in development. Chapter Three is a retrospective of Cambodian political
history, the pertinent scholarly literature, the evolution o f educational development
and the role of language and foreign aid. Chapter Four is a detailed description o f the
methodology I used to design my research. I include my research strategy,
assumptions, and the manner in which I applied the case study approach to data
collection and analysis. Chapter Five is a summary of the study—a chronological
narrative that describes the relationship between AIT-Danida and RUA, and the
present day education and language needs of the Faculty of Fisheries. Finally,
Chapter Six presents conclusions in light of the research questions and offers several
strategies for how English language education might be used in Cambodia and
elsewhere to accomplish the goals o f educators, policymakers and aid organizations.
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This chapter concludes with recommendations for further research and is followed by
a bibliography and appendices.
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Chapter Two
A Review of the Literature
Introduction
The following literature review is divided into two parts. The first looks at
some of the changing views of educational development over time and includes
world-systems and dependency perspectives, human capital, and globalization
research relevant to the Cambodian educational development context. The second
part pertains to the present role of language aid in development and is approached as
a separate, though related area. While this section includes several references to
critical sociolinguistic literature, the majority of citations are based on small case
studies of language aid projects that highlight the multifarious nature o f language in
development. Some o f the issues germane to the present research and found in this
section include: 1) the language aid project as a conceptual model, 2) donor-recipient
relationships, 3) power, sustainability, capacity building and, 4) the discourse of
language in development. Finally, the literature in this chapter and in Chapter Three,
have helped me appreciate the findings in my research.
In order to understand the role of language in development and its
relationship to international aid organizations, it was helpful to first look at the
changing orientation of educational development aid. As a single resource, King
(1991) is a comprehensive comparative analysis of educational development and
donor assistance. King’s handling of his subject covering education and training, the
agencies involved, their organizational structure and the economic and political
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interests that determine their policies has yet to be matched. However, he provides no
discussion o f language education in any sense—linguistic, cultural, economic or
political.
The generally low status of language education often colors the perceptions
of theorists and aid planners alike. However, the need for language in development is
greater now than any time in the past (Markee, 1993; Malcolm, 1993; Waters, 1993).
Globalization and the advent o f international information technology has propelled
English language aid to a much more significant role than it had during the period of
formal de-colonization 40 or 50 years ago. Finally, what I attempt in this review is to
build an argument for the unique role of language in development and to stress the
need for further research within and outside the realm of language planning and
sociolinguistics. While Chabott’s (1996) study of international aid to education and
two sociolinguistic studies of English in former socialist states, O’Reilly (1995) and
Petzold (1994), reflect many of the issues in this work, I have been unable to locate
another study that is as specific to this subject matter in the literature. To my
knowledge, this case study research is the first of its kind to emphasize the role of aid
organ izations in English language spread.
P a rti
Changing Trends in Educational Development Aid
In the early days of foreign aid, the impetus for the industrialized West in
extending assistance was the belief that they, as wealthier nations, had a moral
obligation to fight totalitarian Communist regimes and relieve the vast numbers of
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the world population who were living in abject poverty (Lumsdaine, 1993). This
drive to alleviate social and economic injustice in underdeveloped African, Asian and
Latin American countries took the form of economic, political, educational and
technological aid and has been the subject of continued analysis and debate ever
since. World-systems, dependency and human capital theories in education have been
the most extensively debated theories (e.g., Galtung, 1972; Meyer et a i, 1975; Di
Bona, 1977; Amove, 1980; Altbach, Amove and Kelly, 1982; Ramirez and Boli-
Bennett, 1982; Coombs, 1985, 1974; Boh and Ramirez, 1986; Amdt, 1987; Adick,
1992; Meyer, 1992; Meyer et al., 1992).
Amove (1980), in his classic essay, Comparative Education and World-
Systems Analysis, views education and educational aid in relation to the economic,
political and social forces that dominated the discourse o f development from the
early 1970s to the mid 1990s. The heart of his argument is that the economic
assistance failed to strengthen “self-identity” and “cultural autonomy” in the third
world. He bases his analysis on Wallerstein’s (1974) world-systems theory. Key
concepts such as economic and cultural dependency, center and periphery countries,
convergence and divergence are used to amplify the manner in which unequal
development has served to benefit donors far more than recipients. The programs of
international aid networks have, in fact, solidified the political, economic and cultural
power of center nations by intentionally opening up world markets to consume
Western goods and ideas, and, by producing such unintended outcomes as brain
drain in third world countries. Amove also discusses the manner in which non-formal
education and grass roots practices, perceived panaceas o f the time, actually
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shortchanged a majority of people by giving urban elites “a disproportionate share of
educational expenditures and benefits” (p. 53). The educational academic literature
published during this period and later contained very little analyses of the competing
models—that is, a critical look at socialist and communist cultural and economic
hegemony—as Amove himself noted.
Berman (1992) corroborates Amove’s perspective in his analyses of
educational development aid. Berman discusses the initial concerns of donor agencies
with human rights and the independence movements of former colonial territories.
However, the manner in which donor agencies influenced the direction o f third world
development is symptomatic of the often coercive and unequal relationships between
donor and recipient since foreign aid’s inception.
Educational aid from affluent countries like Britain and the U.S. often
transferred plans and projects to underdeveloped regions with barely a consultation
with individuals in recipient countries. Berman also points out the manner in which
donor agencies have been adamant about “institutionalizing educational practices that
are unacceptable at home” (p. 72). One example he cites is the insistence by the
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that “third world
countries produce elaborate educational plans when such macro-level planning has
never been acceptable in their own system” (p. 72). However, Berman concludes that
many countries have begun to see their role differently. Some, like Sweden, are
concerned with establishing equal partnerships between themselves and recipient
countries. A priority for them is that aid should correspond to the goals and practices
of the partner countries themselves.
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In Farrell (1992) criticisms are directed at the failings o f social development.
For years, industrialized countries believed that formal education was the key to a
more equitable society. If people were given the opportunity to receive a formal
education, they would be able to improve their circumstances and contribute to the
development o f their countries. Donor educational aid and institutional lending
organizations like the World Bank reflected this belief and substantial amounts of
money were invested in education, especially at the secondary and tertiary levels.
However, by the mid-1970s conditions in many third world countries revealed the
widespread failure of education to accomplish its goal. The high dropout rate,
wastage and so on not only diminished the hopes placed on education, but also
caused an actual reversal in thinking. It had become apparent that an underdeveloped
country that allocated a disproportionate percentage of its annual budget to education
generally produced a large educated class with no prospects for employment.
Education was certain to fall short of its expected goals in a country that did not have
the infrastructure to absorb its newly educated population. (This was certainly true of
Cambodia during the 1950s and 60s: see Kieman, 1985 and Chandler, 1993.) By the
late 1970s and throughout the 1980s educational budgets began to shrink
considerably. Donor aid to education was being re-assessed and the lending practices
by institutions like the World Bank were being revamped to encourage private
funding and user fees (Easton and Klees, 1992).
More recently, world-systems and dependency theory have been revised to
highlight global institutions rather than the hegemony of core-periphery nations
(Gereffi and Fonda, 1992). This view, however, is also not very far from
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23
Wallerstein’s formulation o f a globalized economic system structured by world
capitalism. Nevertheless, the state of current educational analysis has redirected
many original assumptions and has posited a post-dependency perspective that
accounts for the economic and political ascendancy of many formally third world
countries, particularly in Asia (Yamashita, 1991; Pang, 1992; Sweeting, 1993, 1995;
Cummings, 1995).
Human capital theory, in large part the studies conducted by the World Bank,
the IMF and the Asian Development Bank, has eclipsed world-systems and
dependency views. However, the impact of neoclassical economics has produced a
body o f educational development literature concerned with the process of
globalization (e.g., Ilon, 1994; McGinn, 1994; Little, 1996; Stewart, 1996).
According to Little (1996) the impact o f globalization on developing and
newly industrializing nations is essentially an economic process that accounts for the
gradual weakening of economic, political, cultural “arrangements” transcending
national boundaries and achieving integration on a world scale (p. 427). Quite often,
the concept to globalization evokes Orwellian world government imagery. Stewart
(1996), however, avoids the Orwellian apprehensions one often encounters in
discussions of this topics and is more to the point in his research since he focuses on
human resources, a glaring deficit in Cambodia. Stewart, an economist, analyzes the
links between globalization and education and points to the ways in which
globalization has increased opportunities for developing countries that have good
levels of education. According to Stewart, the impact of globalization on educational
^ o r a more droll and scathing interpretation of globalization and education see Sweeting, 1996.
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development is a result of the relatively free movement of capital and technology,
and notes that the expansion o f the world economy is characterized by the following
phenomena:
1) In 1996 (the year Stewart’s article was published) computerized
transactions o f financial capital were over $500 billion a day, a sum which “dwarfs”
the total domestic resources o f most countries—certainly those of Cambodia with an
annual per capita income of $300. 2) In the late 1980s, economic migrants were
estimated at 10.7 million, three times higher than they were in the 1960s. 3) World
communications together with multinational investment have been the catalysts in the
creation o f a cultural globalization; and 4) with the disintegration o f Communism, the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have come to represent Western
ideology (p. 328).
An important factor in the rise of newly-developing economies (mostly in
Asia and to a lesser degree in Latin America) is that capital is relocating at a
phenomenal rate to countries that pay low wages. According to Stewart, “human
resources, which is a critical element in determining the rate o f development
generally, is even more important in the new context o f a global economy” (p. 331),
and is the decisive factor for international and transnational investment.
The human resource aspect, or Human Development Index (HDI) used as an
economic descriptor by the UNDP (United Nations Development Program) measures
progress or economic growth through educational development. In the “tiger”
countries, which many other developing countries have sought to emulate, there have
been universal primary education enrollments and a high percentage of secondary
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education enrollments for some time (see Colclough, 1982; Benavot, 1989;
Psacharopoulos, 1990; Jones, 1992; Cummings, 1995). It is this resource, along with
infrastructure and law and order that attracts foreign investment (Stewart, 1996, p.
331). In Cambodia, these three resources are weak and have impeded its ability to
attract the level of aid it requires, or to adequately use the aid it receives.
Finally, countries that have experienced success in the world economy have
done so by becoming export economies, supported by high domestic savings. This is
in direct contrast with the 1960s and 70s when nearly all third world countries were
characterized by their reliance on imports from the West. However, Stewart
recognizes problems with the present-day development paths followed by these
countries, including “repressive governments, poor working conditions, and adverse
environmental effects” (p. 329). 1.) Stewart concludes, “(that) development failures
are invariably associated with poor human resources” (p. 331).
The Need for Agency Coordination in Aid
Duggan (1997) in discussing the role of international organizations in
Cambodia sees economic constraints as only a part of the picture.6 The above
mentioned conditions have contributed a great deal to the manner in which
educational aid projects are now being managed and can often be in conflict with the
real needs of the individuals involved, be they local or foreign. However, Duggan
contends that the lack of a coordinated effort on the part aid projects is perpetuating
6 See also Curtis, “Cambodia: Rehabilitation and Reconstruction” in Vietnam. Laos, and
Cambodia: The Path to Economic Development. 1993 pp. 185-207.
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the deficiencies o f the educational sectors of developing countries. He describes a
situation in Cambodia where proliferation of similar language programs funded by
foreign universities and private consultancy firms tended to promote their own
interests rather than the development needs of country and sector they were there to
assist. Aid agencies can fragment the sy stem they are attempting to strengthen when
there has not been a realistic appraisal of the sector itself and the needs of the
country, or when there is a lack o f consensus and coordination among agencies and
recipient institutions.
Finally, decisions regarding bilateral aid investment are too often based on
studies that pertain to conditions that may not be relevant in all contexts. For
example, the widely held view that the socio-economic returns to higher education
are poor (e.g., Jones, 1992; World Bank, 1994; Asian Development Bank, 1996) may
not be appropriate for all countries. Duggan cites examples where the neglect o f
higher education has directly contributed to the failure of aid to develop human
resources in Cambodia, and Stewart, in counterpoint (1996) states that poor human
resources are directly responsible for development failures.
UNESCO (Figure 1.), however, has published data showing a sizable
discrepancy between funds to Cambodian higher education and primary and
secondary education. In this figure, higher education receives a disproportionate
share of government funds, which may appear contradictory to Duggan’s assertions.
Yet, lack of human resources in Cambodia is real; and excessive, poorly coordinated
donor language programs in higher education, along with poor teacher quality are
problems of training and curriculum, i.e., wastage.
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27
Figure 1. Cambodia’s Educational Resource Allocation
2, Inadequate resource allocution
and wastage
GovTs expendfosre per s&idert Cohort of 1,000 pupils
1000
Source: UNESCO: Cambodia’s Efforts in “Education for All”
Part II
Language in Development
Most people when asked about development will orient their
thinking towards economic and social issues... not fully realizing the
crucial nature o f language and communication in the resolution of
these issues. Language and communication are taken for granted
until progress in economic and social development runs into
constraints, rooted in language education problems. (Dr. Wardiman
Djononegoro, in Crooks and Crewes, 1995)
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28
Since the publication of Amove’s essay much has changed in the world. The
collapse of the Soviet Union has certainly contributed to the change in the
perceptions of recipient countries regarding their own educational needs and ideas for
national development (Denham, 1992, 1997; Kramsch, 1993; Coulmas, 1994; Crush,
1995; Do, 1996; Shaw, 1997; 0 ‘Reilly, 1998). However, substantiation o f Amove’s
view is prevalent in the current critical analyses o f language theorists. A number of
critics see the dominance of English and U.S. development concepts as a threat to
non-Westem or non-European cultures (e.g. Kachru, 1986b; Lim, 1991; Heiman,
1994; Bloor, 1995; Crush, 1995; Schnitzer, 1995) or as big business (Griffin, 1991;
Hancock, 1992; Abbott, 1992; Pennycook, 1994; Hall, 1997). While some studies
like Kampe (1997) point out the urgency of maintaining indigenous knowledge that
is presently being threatened by development in parts of Southeast Asia, others tend
to be excessively one-sided in their assertions that the spread of English is a form of
cultural and linguistic imperialism (e.g., Phillipson and Skuttnab-Kangas, 1986;
Phillipson, 1993; and Pennycook, 1994). The view that English language teaching
practices and spread are a form of “linguicism” originating in colonialism serving the
interests of center countries does not give enough credence to the desire of many in
developing countries to become a part of the world as it is today—for better or worse.
Nevertheless, linguistic and cultural capital do contribute to unequal power
and the concerns of Phillipson and others need to be expressed. Yet, when Phillipson
(1992, p. 319) asks “Can ELT (English Language Teaching) contribute
constructively to greater linguistic and social equality, and if so how could a critical
ELT be committed to combating linguicism?” he does not have to look very far for
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an answer. The current research in the field of language and development has
contributed a body o f literature that reveals a transformation in development
assistance. Albeit imperfect, this transformation specifically corresponds to the
integrative and intermediary role of language training in development (see Cannon,
1991; Crooks and Crewes, 1995; Brown, 1995; Kramsch and Sullivan, 1996; Kenny
and Savage, 1997; IALF, 1997). A shift in the culture o f development aid has
witnessed a desire on the part of many donors to consult more closely with recipients
in the planning implementation and evaluation stages o f aid projects, and reveals a
departure from “recipe-like, general survey-oriented, often replicatory research”
(Sweeting, 1996, p. 388). The current research of language in development favors
“action research” (see Lomax, 1991) that emphasizes the unique, personal and
practical, and offers “multiple perspectives of the political and cultural context, and
o f the reciprocal nature o f theory and practice” (in Sweeting, 1996, p. 388).
Finally, the diffusion of English is occurring within a change-oriented
development context. Until a short time ago, language in foreign aid had been
associated almost entirely with English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and English for
Specific Purposes (ESP) (see Robinson, 1980). Its central role in the management of
“positive change” is much more recent (INTAN, 1998, p. vii; Omar, 1998). For many
that work with development aid projects, language in development is “more than just
another name for English teaching.” Economic and sociological concerns have in
many cases overshadowed language education theory and applied linguistics. A
variety of studies describing innovations, concerns and advances germane to this
study are cited below. Most of the studies are conveyed through the personal
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experiences o f aid practitioners and are rich in matters that cover a broad rage of
social, cultural, political and economic issues.
The Language Training Project as a Theoretical Model
In Changing Paradigms: The Project Approach, McGovern, (1995) notes
that the spread of information communications and technology has created a demand
for English across diverse sectors that surpass all predictions (see also McCallen,
1989; Pennycook, 1994; Frances and Ryan, 1998).
McGovern argues that in the 1960s, before donor funding for language
training became a component of aid projects, the function o f language programs was
primarily associated with placing lecturers in foreign universities. The need for a new
model that favored aid projects rather than universities became apparent in the 1970s.
The project approach was not formulated specifically for English teaching. It
has been used by aid agencies to organize the funding of investment capital schemes
for money that would need to be committed sometimes five to 10 years in advance.
Nor, says McGovern has the project approach to language training ever been a model
for diffusing classroom innovations. Rather its close relationship to economic models
in development is one reason why in 1992 the World Bank, for the first time in its
history, lent 18.5 million dollars in support o f more than 50 foreign language
education projects in Hungary (p. 5).
In discussing the advantages to the project approach in language training,
McGovern cites the attributes that allow funding agencies to control expenditures.
They include accountability, value for money, sustainability, and a system for
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evaluation (see also Weir, 1995). It has, therefore, become common for aid agencies
to send economists or sociologists to evaluate their ELT projects. In order to adapt
the project approach ELT more effectively, McGovern recommends several
strategies: e.g. project goals that focus on measuring the impact of the project on the
people involved, “ ...all the stakeholders should be considered” (p.II). (For more
discussion on stakeholders see Coleman, 1995). Also, an effort to “transfer power
and responsibility to insiders”(p.l 1) should be made as quickly and fully as possible.
Finally, projects should be launched only after a baseline study has investigated the
context fully, making the project “context-sensitive” (p. 11).
For researchers o f language in development, aid projects are small universes
that survive and thrive only with an open, interactive line o f communication between
foreign donor agency professionals, expatriate aid workers and local counterparts.
This further illustrates the role o f language in development and the importance of
(usually) English language proficiency'.
Donor-Recipient Relationships
Smith (1997) focuses on the problems that arise when the needs o f recipients
conflict with the objectives of donors. Smith states,
To say that the interests of givers and receivers are different is to
state the obvious. But this has not always been explicit in the case of
aid projects, where euphemisms such as technical cooperation and
bilateral programs may give the impression that the interests of the
giver and the receiver coincide. Aid, as is well known, is a political
game as well as an economic and technical one... (p.208)
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32
According to Smith, two factors influence a donor’s behavior. The first is
that for a donor, projects are management tasks, “turning inputs into outputs” as a
way of achieving agreed objectives. Second, the donor requires a high profile and is
pressured by the demands o f public accountability. The recipient, (ministry or other
institution) has more urgent survival needs, and is more concerned with short-term
results and personal benefits. While the overall objectives of a typical language
teaching project may be straightforward, how these objectives are achieved is almost
always at variance for donor and recipient.
Smith delineates three major areas of concern for the donor (usually a
governmental funding agency, in this case, Britain’s ODA, and an implementing
agency, in this case, the Centre for British Teachers). They include: effectiveness, or
the extent to which a projects objective’s have been achieved; efficiency, whether
those objectives were achieved at a reasonable cost in relation to the benefits; and
impact, the project’s broader socio-economic and political implications (p.211).
On the recipient side concerns such as earning a living (many civil servants
in Cambodia earn $40 a month—hardly enough to support a family) obliges most of
them to have second and third jobs. Their involvement in an aid project usually
means they must forego other sources of income. As a result, they do not have the
same tolerance for the long term, uncertain there will even be any future benefits.
Smith asserts that the different perceptions need to be made explicit. This would
require the recipient to have “a considerably greater role in the design o f the project
than has often been the case in the past” (p. 209).
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33
Smith takes the same factors delineated for the donor and articulates them in
terms of the recipient’s needs:
Effectiveness is the extent to which a project provides solutions to the
everyday problems o f the host institution, as they arise, as well as assisting with any
long-term tasks; efficiency is whether the outcomes have been achieved with
minimum cost and disruption to the host institution’s main tasks and concerns; and
impact is the wider effect on personal incomes and on the influence of the people
associated with the project (p. 213). The problems illustrated by this case surface in
many aid projects since divergence, in real economic terms, for donor and recipient,
is consistent in all aid contexts.
Unequal Power and Social Hierarchies
Despite the intentions of donors and foreign experts to consult, confer and
plan in equal partnership with recipients, the decision-making abilities of many
individuals in the host country' are often convoluted and constrained by the culture in
which they live. Most organizational hierarchies in recipient countries share (in
varying degrees) deference to status and rank, and in some situations may impede
development efforts. In a second study by Smith (1995), unequal power and social
hierarchy are variables affecting sustainability. Smith assumes transference, not only
of skills and structures, but also of power. He contends “establishing skills and
structures may not result in sustainability if the staff do not have—or refuse to
accept—the power to exploit whatever skills and structures the project has provided”
(p. 67). The inefficiency created when matters are always being passed up to the
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34
highest level for a decision can impede any progress a project may hope to make.
According to Smith, the host institution must provide the staff with the power to use
the management and technical skills that have been part of the project’s training. The
transference o f power is as much, or more, the responsibility of the host institution as
it is of project aid workers.
Additionally, sustainability is often curtailed by the unequal status o f foreign
aid workers in relation to counterparts. Foreign aid workers enjoy perks—from
access to high officials, invitations to meetings and activities, travel at will and so
on—that are not available to local staff. Aid workers, particularly from developed
countries in the West, are able to assume privilege with ease, a propensity that often
magnifies differences in status and the constrained cultural mobility experienced by
host counterparts. Leach (1993) notes that the bulk o f the literature on the role o f the
counterpart neglects the need for a thorough understanding of the host culture by the
outsider. This is especially pertinent if the status and privileges given to foreign
experts causes them to turn a blind eye to problems. Knowing the subtleties and
customs of the cultural and political context o f the country, or the institutions where a
project is underway is a step toward knowing what to offer and how to influence
existing hierarchies.
Development Discourse
Hiranpruk (1995), questions the meaning and interpretation of a variety o f
terms that have evolved within the changing milieu o f development. She asks to
whom should industrializing countries listen when “translating” the sociological and
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35
economic language o f development; and is it really a case of learning new concepts,
i.e. “sustainable development”, or just a re-phrasing of old ones, i.e. “dependency”?
The pollution, urban anarchy and institutional corruption found in many developing
countries is, according to Hiranpruk, an indication of the acceptance of foreign values
that encourage the pursuit of economic gain at the expense of social values.
“Speaking one’s own cultural language more clearly,” concludes Hiranpruk is a way
to balance Western ideas in an industrializing country’s appropriation of
development.
In a study that brings this section to a close, Copley (1998) describes how the
discourse of development, or the “talk”, reflects the dynamics o f ownership
negotiation between donor and recipient in the aid project design process. The
reasons, she states, “why some countries give aid are many... and reasons why both
recipient and donor countries should continue to cultivate a dependency are similarly
multifarious” (p. 79). The link Copley makes between development and discourse
analysis draws on the data derived from the “text and talk” of an actual aid process
design. Her assertions that a recipient of aid is always in a weaker position, is
supported by what Fairclough (1989) refers to as the absence “of surface markers of
authority and power”. This can be found in the unstated conditions which have a
direct impact “on persons to be controlled” where the recipient country must prove
itself worthy of the donor’s assistance. Her argument is that a pervading “subliminal
ideological stance” in development discourse can undermine the “conscious choices
favoring partnership, collaboration, and empowerment” (p. 93).
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Certainly many reports and country studies on Cambodia make strong
references to the devastating effects of the Cambodian civil war (1970-75) and the
subsequent Khmer Rouge regime that have been used by donors and recipients alike
to justify the need for aid (e.g., UNESCO, 1991, 1992, 1994; UNICEF, 1990; UNDP,
1994; World Bank, 1992, 1994a & b, 1995). It would seem a callous omission had
they not. By the same token, foreign aid workers have been critical o f Cambodia’s
inability—to use a cliche—to let go of the past; and that Cambodians do not give
enough credit to Vietnam and Russia, whose efforts between 1979 and 1990 to
rehabilitate Cambodia’s educational system largely go unacknowledged.
Summary
The literature reflects that development aid and language in development
have undergone many changes in the last 50 years. We have arrived at a time when
dependency no longer serves the interests of developed or developing nations the
way it once did. The need for foreign aid and the consequences o f that aid indicate
there is still a way to go before the economic and philosophical goals o f recipients
and donor institutions are achieved.
The spread of English in developing countries will continue to represent
economic mobility and connectedness to the larger world, particularly as the culture
of foreign aid and capital permeate society promoting modernization and industry.
The unprecedented expansion of English as the language o f the world will persist as
people from all levels o f society seek a place within their own internationalized
economies. However, critical awareness of development is essential in a process that
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bestows a not-so-subtle power disproportionately to donors. Moreover, language in
aid, no matter how much it is dominated by the use of English can benefit from
donors acquiring a greater understanding of the experiences, patterns o f behavior and
needs that people from different cultures and societies bring to the development
context.
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Chapter Three
Retrospective of Cambodian History and Educational Development
I f our people were capable o f building Angkor, we can do anything.
Pol Pot, 1977
Introduction
The above quote, or folie de grandeur, from one o f the world’s most
infamous figures may have helped bring about the antithesis of Angkor, a richly
mysterious city characterized by Cambodia’s embrace of India’s art, culture, politics
and religion. In Chandler’s (1993) authoritative work, A History o f Cambodia, the
Angkorean era (802 -1431) in Cambodia was initially the absorption of India. It did
not come about as a result of colonization, cruelty or invading Indian armies. The
foreign presence of India in Cambodia began long before India itself was
“Sanskritized” (p. 11). Without India, Angkor would never have been built. Yet,
“Angkor was never an Indian city, any more than medieval Paris was a Roman one”
(p. 12).
Angkor is vivid in the yearnings of present-day Khmers who see this epoch
as Cambodia’s last true self. And it was the legacy of Angkor evoked by nationalists
in the 1920s and 30s that helped strengthen the opposition to French colonialism. Pol
Pot’s evocation, while perverse, played explicitly on these sentiments as well. Today,
however, it is almost impossible for anyone cognizant of more recent political events
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39
not to associate Cambodia with one of the darkest episodes in recorded history. Civil
war and the Khmer Rouge regime (1975-1979) have left enduring scars on Cambodia
despite the efforts o f many to move beyond this period.
In this retrospective of Cambodia’s political history, I include major events
that overwhelmed the country, the evolving role of education in national
development, and the role of language in foreign aid. Although this chapter focuses
in large part on educational development since Cambodia’s independence from
France in 1954, it also recounts how the French presence influenced language and
education since the establishment of a protectorate in 1863. In reviewing the
contributions for this section, it was necessary to arrange the literature into three
distinct themes. The first is a bibliographic essay or compilation summary of some o f
the better-known published works on Cambodian history and political events,
including academic citations from educational literature.
The second is an historical background with specific references to
Cambodian education covering a period from Cambodia’s signing o f a protectionism
agreement with the French until the end of the Pol Pot era in 1979. This section has
been further subdivided into themes as they emerge from the narrative. Each is
introduced by a separate heading.
The third theme deals with political events and educational development
since 1979, concentrating first on the role of Vietnam and Russia in the rehabilitation
of Cambodia’s educational system from 1979 to 1990, and second, on development
and educational aid from the international community following Vietnam’s departure
in 1989. Finally, although there are accounts of Cambodia written by Khmer
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40
historians, and many more by French scholars, my (very) limited French and Khmer
make it necessary for me to stick with what has been published in English.
Part I
A Bibliographic Essay
A Cambodian origin myth tells of the marriage between a foreigner and a
dragon princess, or nagi, whose father was the king of a waterlogged country.
According to one version, the king, as a wedding gift, “’enlarged the possessions of
his son-in-law by drinking up the water that covered the country. He later built them
a capital and changed the name of the country to Kambuja”' (Chandler, 1993, p. 13).
According to Chandler, the myth is Indian in origin and may have had more
to do with an “obscure confrontation that had occurred in the Aryanization of
southern India rather than any event in Southeast Asia” (p. 13). In the myth, however,
the local people honor the prospective bridegroom by giving the kingdom an Indian
name.
In A History o f Cambodia (Chandler, 1993), India, the foreigner, was to
provide Cambodia with “a writing system, ... a vocabulary of social hierarchies (not
a caste system), Buddhism, ...and new ways of looking at politics, sociology,
architecture, iconography, astronomy and aesthetics” (p.l 1). While Indian influence
in Cambodia was strong, Cambodia never relied on India or looked to her for new
ideas. India was absorbed into Cambodian life quite naturally without alarm or self-
sacrifice and its influence has never produced the kind of identity crises that China’s
enduring influence engendered in Vietnam (pp. 12-13).
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41
While Chandler devotes more than half his book to Cambodia before the 19th
century, other authors have been more preoccupied with Cambodia since French
colonialism.7 Osbome (1969) for example, has contributed a pioneering study of the
French presence in Cambodia between 1859 and 1905. In two later books, Osbome
(1984) provides an insightful picture of Cambodian life in the 1960s; the second
(1994)—which was banned in Cambodia—is a comprehensive, critical view of
Prince Sihanouk, one of Asia’s most flamboyant and enduring political figures.
Shawcross (1991) chronicles Cambodian history beginning with the French
protectorate in 1863 and leading up to a disturbing description of U.S. involvement in
Cambodia between 1970-1975. In another work, The Quality o f Mercy (1985),
Shawcross describes the failure o f the massive aid program that was mounted by the
UN and private organizations after the Khmer Rouge regime ended. Kieman (1982,
1985), also a leading authority on Cambodia, has written about the radicalization of
Cambodia before 1975, the rise o f Pol Pot, and the subsequent genocide by the
Khmer Rouge.
Cambodia 1975-1982 (Vickery, 1985) is an analytical study that ends with
the early stages o f Vietnam’s occupation of Cambodia. There are several
interpretations o f Vietnamese efforts to rebuild Cambodia’s educational system. Most
are remembered in a positive light. However, others are unsympathetic accounts of
this period as in Vietnam’ s Vietnam (Morris, 1985) and Vietnamised Cambodia: A
Silent Ethnocide (Martin, 1986). Finally, two general works worth noting are
7 The earliest account of Cambodia by Chou Ta Kuan, a Chinese envoy, chronicles his stay in
Cambodia from 1296-1297 and offers a detailed description of everyday life in Angkor.
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Marston’s 1987 compilation, An Annotated Bibliography o f Cambodia and
Cambodian Refugees, and Ross (1990) Cambodia: A Country Study.
Historical portrayals o f education and language in Cambodia are not as
plentiful in English, or exist as incidental accounts within some o f the larger works
mentioned above (e.g., Vickery, Chandler, Shawcross, and Kieman). However there
are several sources worth citing.
Noss’ (1967) contribution to the series, Higher Education and Development
in South-east Asia, (Vol. HI, Part 2) includes an analysis of language policy and
education in Cambodia during the 1960s when formal higher education flourished
under the rule o f Prince Sihanouk (pp. 90-107). Noss discusses the importance of
French as the language of wider communication and English as the language of
technical and scientific education. A somewhat poorly timed study. The Role o f
Universities in Development Planning: The Khmer Republic Case by Tan Kim Huon
(1974), examines higher education just before it was completely dismantled by the
Khmer Rouge. Galasso (1990) is a more detailed historical review that follows
Cambodian education through the occupation of the Vietnamese. Duggan (1994,
1996, 1997) outlines various historical periods in Cambodian education with an
emphasis on foreign aid. Finally, Denham (1997) focuses on the current state of
higher education from the perspective of an Australian aid project.
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Part II
Historical Background of Cambodia
43
The French Protectorate: 1863-1954
Throughout Cambodia’s long history and before the arrival o f the French,
Thailand and Vietnam repeatedly invaded the country, exerting their power by turns
over a kingdom that was overwhelmingly rural and would remain a blank shape on
European maps well into the 20th century.8 As France fought to establish its colonies
in “the Far East”, Cambodia was seen as a backwater, attractively “quaint and
unique”, a seemingly complacent country that would serve to strengthen France’s
hold on Vietnam. Cambodia on the other hand, worn down by Thai and Vietnamese
invasions and by rebellions within the country, signed the protectorate treaty France
had imposed without resistance, and with the hope that it would bring peace and
stability (Shawcross, 1991; Chandler, 1993).
In discussing education in Cambodia the legacy of the French protectorate
established in 1863 figures significantly in the events leading up to the present if for
no other reason than its scant provision of formal education. For France, a country
with a reputably high admiration for academe, education was not part of the plan for
Cambodia, and with the little they did, the bias towards French overwhelmingly took
over. After the first three years of primary education in Khmer, French was the
language o f instruction. The French administration had set the same policy for all of
8 Vietnam is bitterly remembered for having occupied Cambodia during many different periods in
the 19th century, and imposing a “Vietnamization” of Cambodia from 1835-1840. (Chandler,
pp.117-136.)
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44
Indochina (comprised of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia) and conducted all official
business in French except for exceedingly local administration in the more remote
rural provinces.
France’s protection policy for Cambodia was in actuality an elaborate,
burdensome system o f taxes on rice and other crops, and extensive fees on
government services that financed the salaries and activities of French officials. Of
Cambodians too poor to pay their way out, the French required labor in exchange.
This servitude for debts lasted in some cases throughout a person’s lifetime
(Chandler, 1993, pp. 147, 153).
In 1916, following a series of small confrontations, forty thousand peasants
mobilized and arrived at Phnom Penh to petition King Sisowath with their
grievances. This, however, came as a surprise to the French who never imagined that
the “lazy” and “individualistic” Cambodians were capable o f such a show (Chandler,
1993 p. 154). The French soon tightened their control over Cambodia and “extended
their supervisory role to cover local justice” (p.155).
According to Chandler, a fear o f “modernity” runs through a good deal of the
French colonial writing about Cambodia.9 As in pre-colonial Cambodia, primary
education was mainly the responsibility of rural Buddhist sanghas, or temple schools.
Only a small number of students entered the rare French secondary school1 0 and from
^ h e French’s lack of knowledge of the country and its people was characterized by a critic of
French colonialism who at the time remarked that “competence among Frenchmen in the Khmer
language declined steadily as the 20th century wore on.” In Chandler, p. 156.
1 0 According to Duggan (1996) in 1953 there were only nine secondary schools in the entire
country.
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45
there, an even fewer number of Cambodian elite went on to study at the lycee in
Saigon (Galasso, 1990; Duggan, 1996).
Literacy had been linked since Angkorean times with the study of religious
texts, and the French spent nearly nothing on education until 1936, when Cambodia
finally got its first college or lycee. However, French inactivity in education has been
partly attributed to the Cambodians themselves. Unlike their neighbor Vietnam,
whose 1000-year-old educational system was a source o f pride and national identity,
education in Cambodia was never a priority (Duggan, 1996, p. 363).
The first Khmer newspaper appeared as late as 1927 and the first novel,
Tonle Sap was published in 1938. This contrasts sharply with the amount of printed
materials produced in Vietnam. Chandler (1993) surmises “(the) reading of French
novels, official reports and newspapers allows us to reconstruct Cambodian history
with much of the population left out or merely acted upon by events” (p. 159).
Throughout the period preceding World War II, while the Vietnamese were
staging massive uprisings against the French, the French were congratulating
Cambodian peasants for their “stoicism”. Nevertheless, events taking place in
Indochina contributed to a growing Cambodian nationalism. In the awakening that
was to take place both gradually and suddenly, two events are worth noting. The first
was the April, 1941 coronation of Norodom Sihanouk, then a shy 19 year-old student
in a French lycee in Saigon. Sihanouk’s enduring role in Cambodia is well known
and has been well documented in Osborne’s work. The second event, however, the
attempted romanization of the Cambodian writing system, is less known and merits
some discussion.
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In 1943, as a step towards ‘modernization’, the new French resident, Georges
Gautier, announced that he would replace the 47-letter Cambodian alphabet derived
from medieval Indian models with the roman one. He compared the Cambodian
alphabet to “a badly tailored suit” and explained the reform as an attempt to change
the outdated “Cambodian attitude toward the world”. The addition of a ‘rational’
French vocabulary would help improve the “primitiveness” of the Cambodian mind,
and Gautier cited the example of the romanization o f Turkish while keeping
diplomatically silent about the romanization of Vietnamese (Chandler, 1993, pp. 167-
170). What is intriguing about this ultimately failed reform is that Cambodians at that
time saw it as an attack on traditional learning, while a similar reform is being sought
in Cambodian academic circles today."
After a brief departure during the Japanese occupation during WW n, the
French returned to Cambodia in 1945 with a renewed determination to rule
Indochina. However, conciliatory efforts actually undermined their hold on the
region. French Cambodian lycees had now grown in number, and, with the
development of political parties that served to open deep divisions among
Cambodians, the emergence of a politically polarized educated elite forced King
Sihanouk to make dramatic gestures towards gaining independence. By 1954, a new
kind of politics had overtaken Cambodia.
"Cambodians today are dealing with the need to appropriate western vocabulary in
order to fill the void in Khmer lexicography of scientific, technological and development
discourse. I return to this point again in my case study of RUA.
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After Independence
Although Cambodia celebrated its independence in 1953, it was not until the
Geneva Conference o f 1954 that it gained military autonomy. However,
independence did not have unanimous appeal. For most Cambodians it meant very
little. They continued to pay taxes to a government whose ‘royal work’ made most
officials self-indulgent in regards to their own status. The Cambodian elite and
comparatively small intellectual class, taking over where the French left off were
now “free to govern others without seeking their consent” (Chandler, 1993, p. 187).
The radical left, however, took refuge in North Vietnam.
In 1955 King Sihanouk abdicated the throne and entered politics as a private
citizen. Prince Sihanouk, as he was known thereafter, became Cambodia’s self-
proclaimed father of independence, and as Cambodia emerged rapidly onto the
international stage, Sihanouk maintained a monopoly on political power. While
Sihanouk’s authority was marked by nearly irrational inconsistencies—forging
unpredictable alliances with one political group one moment, another the next, and
none knowing when they would be subjected to his denunciations—Cambodia under
Sihanook did prosper for the next several years (Kieman, 1985; Shawcross, 1991).
Chandler, however, contends that as formidable as Sihanook’s political skills may
have been, they were not strong enough to prevent the apocalypse that overtook
Cambodia in the 1970s (p. 190).
According to Chandler (1993), Sihanouk treated Cambodia “as a personal
fief, his subjects as children and his opponents as traitors” (p. 190). For the rest o f the
world as well, Cambodia was synonymous with Sihanouk. In his drive to establish
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48
“Buddhist socialism”, Sihanouk spent large sums for education, amounting in some
years to over 20 percent of the national budget. Secondary education became
widespread and for the first time in Cambodia’s history, a higher education system
was flourishing.
The first university, however, is not the University of Phnom Penh,
established in 1960 as is commonly reported. The Buddhist University was
established in 1954 and several other tertiary institutions were already in place
between 1953 and 1960 (Sum Chhum, 1973, p. 100). Nonetheless, in the 1960s, a
feverish rush to establish universities took place. Teacher colleges were set up in the
capitals of all the major provinces, and the University of Phnom Penh opened its
doors with a Khmer national as vice-rector for the very first time. Seven more
universities were built within the next seven years (p. 101), and the rapid expansion
o f education soon revealed other problems with unforeseen repercussions.
According to Noss (1967), the first of these problems was the lack of
preparation of students in French. French was ingrained into Cambodian education as
the language of instruction in higher education; and while Khmer children began
studying French after the first three years of primary school, it was not a guarantee of
proficiency. The scarcity of qualified advanced students proficient enough in French
to succeed in their studies posed problems for newly constructed Cambodian
universities. In addition, the widespread use of professors from France diminished
employment opportunities for Khmer educators.
Despite the difficulties with maintaining French as the language of
instruction and wider communication, most educators insisted it was “ideally suited
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49
to Cambodia” because o f Cambodia’s “cultural orientation towards France” (Noss,
1967, p.91). English took second place as the foremost foreign language, primarily in
its utilization of technological research materials (p. 99). However, this language
policy did nothing to make getting an education for most Khmer any easier.
Likewise, throughout the 1960s tens of thousands of students graduated high schools,
colleges and universities and found themselves with too few prospects for
employment. According to Vickery (1985)
The attitude o f Cambodians seemed to be that the maximum
amount of modem education in any field at all for the maximum
number o f children was an absolute good in itself, without ever
taking into account the absorptive capacities of the society, (p. 18)
Opposition to Sihanouk grew as many disaffected students blamed him for
their plight and drifted into the Communist movement led by Saloth Sar. Sar, who
had been educated in Paris and later became Pol Pot, never openly criticized
Sihanouk. He and his wife, both schoolteachers, were popular with intellectuals,
monks, and students. According to Chandler,
To these people, Communist teachers like Saloth Sar and his wife,
who never spoke o f party affiliations, offered an inspiring contrast in
terms of their firm ideology and correct behavior to the lackadaisical and
corrupt Cambodian elite. As teachers they were dedicated and strict, but
it was their moral fervor, expressed primarily as a hatred o f privilege,
corruption, and injustice that endeared them to their students and to many
in the Buddhist monastic order. (P. 198)
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The Vietnam W ar and Cambodia
In 1963, in the midst of turmoil and the escalation of the war in Vietnam,
Sihanouk broke off relations with the U.S. whose military aid comprised 15 percent
of Cambodia’s national budget. Between 1963 and 1966 Cambodia’s “leading
Communists were camped along the Vietnamese border under Vietnamese
protection” (Chandler, 1993, p. 202) and by 1967, the once healthy Cambodian
economy was “faltering.”
As volatile events escalated, Sihanouk’s eccentricities eroded his ability to
govern. In 1969, he was spending months in Cambodian jungles making feature
length films where he acted as writer, producer, director and star—even going so far
as to award one of his movies with a “solid gold statue made from ingots donated by
Cambodia’s national bank.” Also at that time, thousands of Cambodians lost millions
of dollars at a casino Sihanouk had opened in Phnom Penh in a disastrous effort to
raise revenues, and many whose lives were ruined, committed suicide (pp.201-205).
Throughout this period Sihanouk publicly maintained a stance of neutrality
in regards to the war in Vietnam (Kieman, 1985; Shawcross, 1991; Chandler, 1993).
In reality, this was not the case.
In 1970, a conservative deputy prime minister and cousin of Prince
Sihanouk, Sisowath Sirik Matak, traveled to Hanoi to try to convince the North
Vietnamese to remove their troops from Cambodian soil. However, to his
astonishment, he was shown documents signed by Sihanouk himself agreeing to the
Vietnamese bases. While Sihanouk vacationed in Paris, Moscow and Beijing, a coup
led by Sisowath, removed him from power.
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While the coup was popular within the army and among educated people,
Sihanouk understood that “rural Cambodians were unprepared for it” (Chandler,
1993, p. 205). From China he instigated destabilizing pro-Sihanouk riots, which
broke out throughout Cambodia. Concurrently, the Cambodian army attacked and
killed thousands o f unarmed Vietnamese in Phnom Penh, and Prime Minister Lon
Nol gave North Vietnamese troops 48 hours to leave Cambodian territory. The North
Vietnamese, however, ignored Lon Nol’s demand and subsequently thousands of
Khmer soldiers were decimated by the North Vietnamese military expertise when
they stormed Vietnamese bases in Cambodia. Two months later, a joint U.S.-South
Vietnamese invasion o f Eastern Cambodia drove thousands o f North Vietnamese
even further into Cambodia, and by 1973, the U.S. bombing o f Cambodia was as
intense as any conducted during World W ar H.
After the withdrawal of North Vietnamese troops in 1974-5 most o f the
Cambodians living in North Vietnam were sent back to Cambodia. The Cambodian
Communist response, under Saloth Sar, was to massacre the Cambodian nationals
loyal to Hanoi as they came across the border. The killings occurred in secret and
without any explanation (Chandler, 1993, p. 208). The end came in 1975 when the
Cambodian Communists cut off all approaches to Phnom Penh preventing food and
ammunition from reaching the city; and on April 17, Saloth Sar, aka Pol Pot, took
Phnom Penh.
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Education under Pol Pot
Killing you by mistake is better than keeping you by mistake
Khmer Rouge adage (Vann Nath, 1998, p. 43)
Democratic Kampuchea (DK) as the Pol Pot regime was known, victoriously
declared that, “over 2000 years of Cambodian history had ended.” While the
wholesale destruction o f Cambodian society and the demise o f formal education is
widely known, a encapsulation o f the tenor of the times will help put in perspective
the work that awaited the international community after the Khmer Rouge regime
formally ended. In a description by Chandler (1993), it began like this:
The Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) concealed its
existence from outsiders, did not reveal its socialist agenda or the
names of its leaders, and said nothing of its alliances with Vietnam.
For several months, the CPK’s leaders even allowed foreigners to
think that Sihanouk, who still served as a figurehead leader for the
anti-Lon Nol resistance, was still Cambodia’s chief o f state. By
concealing its alliances and agendas, the new government gave the
impression that the country was truly independent. In 1978 Pol Pot
boasted that Cambodia was ‘building socialism without a model’.
(p. 210)
Phnom Penh and every other Cambodian city were evacuated and the two
million people who were driven out were now known as the “new people.” The CPK
saw cities as breeding grounds for subversives and their economic priorities were
based on the transformation o f Cambodian agriculture. By increasing the national
production of rice and exporting the surplus, the Khmer Rouge hoped they would
eventually be able to finance the industrialization of Cambodia (Kieman, 1985;
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Shawcross, 1991). They also issued invitations to Cambodian students abroad to
return quickly to help build the new Kampuchea. These invitations, unbeknown to
the young people studying abroad, were in fact, death sentences, “names on a list
slated for murder” (Livingston, 1996, p.217). In January 1976, Prince Sihanouk,
father of independence, was also invited back from China only to be retired as chief
of state. Promised a pension and a monument (neither o f which he ever received)
Sihanouk lived in fear o f his life under guard in the royal palace in Phnom Penh.
It would be the young, uneducated rural Cambodians, similar to the “poor
and blank” of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution, on whom the teachings of the
revolution would be emblazoned. They would be the ones to lead the people of
Cambodia towards “independence, mastery and self-reliance.” To the horror and
bafflement of many, “these young Cambodians became the revolution’s cutting edge”
(Chandler, 1993, p. 211), and more often, its murderers.
Though formal education was abandoned, according to Vickery (1985, pp.
171-174), there was an effort to eradicate illiteracy. Schooling at the most basic level
was carried out in “factories and cooperatives” where young people could study and
gain experience in manual labor at the same time. Schools and ministries, however,
to which Sihanouk for over 30 years had dedicated much of his national policies,
were either demolished completely or shut down. All educational books, equipment
and facilities were destroyed. Schoolteachers who may have opposed the
Communists prior to 1975 were seen as ‘class enemies’ and were systematically
tortured and killed. During this period, it is estimated that between 75 and 80 percent
of Cambodia’s teachers and higher education students were either killed or fled the
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country (UNICEF, 1990, p. 78; UNESCO, 1991, p. 10); and that 67 percent of
primary and secondary students suffered the same fete (UNESCO, 1991, p .10). The
educational infrastructure, its institutions, buildings and personnel, was the Khmer
Rouge’s prime target. To survive, if there was to be a chance, Cambodians had to
“tread a very fine line between ignorance and reluctant admission o f a very small
amount of skill... (Vickery, 1985, p. 173).
The Khmer Rouge firestorm that overtook Cambodia rapidly turned against
itself. Among the crises that were to culminate in the Vietnamese invasion of
Cambodia was the rampant paranoia within the CPK. Pol Pot, in a 1976 speech
warned of a “sickness in the party.”
Those who defend us must be truly adept. They should have
practice in observing. They must observe everything, but not so that
those being observed are aware of it. (Chandler, Kiernan and Boua
1988, p. 183)
Thousands o f prominent party members were arrested and accused of
treason. Only their written confessions have survived and are part of the
documentation housed at Tuol Sleng Museum, the former high school in Phnom Penh
that had become the DK’s main interrogation center—“the place o f entering and no
leaving.” Nearly 20,000 men and women were detained, interrogated, tortured and
killed at Tuol Sleng; and most confessions ended with an admission of membership
in the CIA or the KGB (Vann Nath, 1998). A second crisis involved the failures of
the Khmer Rouge’s utopian agrarian vision. Many thousands were dying from
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malaria, malnutrition, starvation and overwork. The final crisis and turning point
encompassed Democratic Kampuchea’s soured relationship with Vietnam.
DK’s Communist People’s Party had been blaming their difficulties with
counterrevolutionaries on Vietnam for some time and confrontations with the
Vietnamese were escalating. China, in turn, considered Vietnam’s alliance with the
Soviet Union a threat and an affront and was more than willing to extend military aid
to Democratic Kampuchea.
It was Sihanouk’s friendly alliance with China, and China’s military support
o f the DK against Vietnam that fueled Vietnamese determination in Cambodia. On
Christmas Day 1978, Vietnam mounted a major offensive and by the end o f the year
had occupied the capital of Phnom Penh. The new government called itself the
People’s Republic o f Kampuchea (PRK) and most Cambodians, whatever their
private feelings, rejoiced at the disappearance o f a-pot (“the contemptible Pot”), as
they now called the deposed prime minister (Chandler, 1993, pp. 223-225). In a
personal conversation I had with Pahd Mony, the vice rector o f RUA, he recalled his
own experience.
If you come in 1979, you could see lot of things that had been
disaster that had been making us very weak. We have only bodies,
nothing else, no materials—just the arm—because the thing about
the Pol Pot (regime) was that we never think we could be free. I
absolutely nearly die from Pol Pot because of care. If I eat, I get ill.
No medicine, and we only work very hard day and night.
We just got only five spoonfuls of porridge—mostly water, no
rice. We have maybe just ten grains of rice, and the cooker (the
cook) got everything from the wild for preparing the soup for us. We
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work hard, you see. We start at four in the morning and work until
noon and then eat the soup and continue the work. Then we take a
break to eat the riceless water again and work until 10 or 11 at night.
Otherwise we get killed.
Rehabilitation of Cambodian Education and the PRK
...A population of refugees is returning home along pitted roads
and highways or assembling in the suburbs o f empty and dilapidated
cities... In Phnom Penh itself, there are three Vietnamese advisors
for every one Cambodian official, ten Vietnamese soldiers for every
Cambodian one. (Agence France Presse, 25 March 1979, in Duggan
1996, p. 366)
The Vietnamese-backed government of Heng Samrin in Phnom Penh would
not be able to reverse the devastation of previous years. Despite the resolute efforts of
the Vietnamese to restore education, the cultural and social dislocation, and genocidal
trauma Cambodians had undergone had lasting psychological effects that would be
difficult to overcome. The Khmer Rouge period was not merely genocide but a
“deliberate state-sponsored destruction of economic, social, and human capital”
(Chan, Godfrey, Kato, Long, Orlova, Ronnas and Savora, 1999, p. 31). The extent of
the destruction was so great that the survival of the nation was at stake. Today, in the
population group 40-44, there are only 66 males per 100 females. Internally displaced
people exceed 100,000; 30 persons per 1,000 have been disabled because of armed
conflict and land mines; and 25.3 percent of all Cambodian households are headed by
women (Chan, Godfrey, Kato et al., 1999, p. 31).
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A 1994 USAID report reviewing the conditions that would impact future
program assistance noted that
...M ost of the population aged 18 to 36 lack critical education
and basic skills because of genocide, starvation, and massive
emigration during the reign of the Khmer Rouge, continued
starvation and emigration under the subsequent Vietnamese
sponsored regime... (USAID, p. 7, in Duggan 1996, p.367-368)
In a 1992 report by the United Nations Transitional Army in Cambodia
(UNTAC, p. 19), it was assessed that in 1979, only about 300 qualified people from
all disciplines remained in the country, and all universities, except the University of
Phnom Penh and Ins ti tut Technologie d ’ Cambodge (ITC) were destroyed. Out of the
1000 academics, teachers and students who had been at the University o f Phnom
Penh, only 87 survived. Yet, Vietnamese attempts to revive the education sector were
persistent. Within 12 months of liberation (or occupation, depending on one’s
viewpoint) over 5000 primary schools were reopened with 21,000 teachers and more
than one million eligible children were back in the classroom (ICORC/UNICEF Joint
Mission, December, 1980).
According to Duggan (1996), “ 1979 saw a massive expansion in the
provision o f basic education.” Many post-secondary graduates and ministry officials
were sent to Vietnam for higher education, and teacher-training colleges were
established in each of the provinces. However, Duggan contends that recovery was
slower, and that the reportedly high enrollments must be balanced against “poor
teaching standards, unqualified teachers and low quality in the provision o f a
standardized curriculum, texts and facilities” (p. 367).
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58
Between 1979 and 1981, during the ‘emergency’ phase of Cambodian
rehabilitation, teachers were recruited from among farmers, artisans and menial
workers. According to Kieman (1985) the new recruits were “virtually picked up
from the city streets and village pathways” (P. 47) most were provided with only
short-term teacher-training crash courses and sent out to do their jobs. While new
teachers provided instruction ranging from primary to university levels, the training
they underwent focused on “upgrading general knowledge rather than teaching skills
or pedagogical methodology” (UNICEF, 1989, p. 10).
The push to restore education was focused at the primary and secondary
levels while higher education remained neglected. There was negligible movement in
terms o f building new universities, retraining teachers or developing curriculum
(Duggan, 1997 p. 5), and many Cambodians, particularly the children of the
privileged PRK cadres were favored for overseas scholarships. By 1988, some 5,000
Cambodians had undergone technical or academic training abroad in the Soviet
Union, Eastern Europe as well as Vietnam (Chandler, 1993 p. 235).
In addition, foreign Soviet academics were being recruited into existing
Cambodian universities, which created another problem: the need to institute new
languages. Russian became the language of instruction and students entering the
university studied Russian intensively for one semester before beginning their other
studies. Furthermore, not only was Khmer conspicuously absent from the
instructional setting, but communication between Russian teachers and the Khmer
administrative staff was conducted in French (National Action Plan, 1998, Vol.2, p.
65).
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Likewise, due to Cambodia’s Soviet alliance, the West and ASEAN nations
isolated Cambodia through an economic embargo; and in a remarkable reaction to
Vietnamese occupation, deposed Khmer Rouge leaders allied with Sihanouk and
China were honored with a seat at the UN. The Khmer Rouge leadership claimed
they had changed completely and were no longer the CPK. Cambodia, according to
some former CPK leaders, would never again be subjected to socialism since they
had restored religious beliefs, were fashionably dressed and had converted to
capitalist ideas (Chandler, p. 234). Shawcross’ 1984 characterization is worth noting.
While the Khmer Rouge were in power they could be reached
only circuitously and tediously through Peking. Now the Khmer
Rouge had well informed representatives in Bangkok, Geneva and
New York. They always returned telephone calls. In Bangkok a
journalist simply had to telephone the United Nations and ask for...
the spokesman for Democratic Kampuchea... (p. 333)
In Cambodia, hunger and hostile reactions to the Vietnamese were
escalating, and the PRK’s conspicuous exclusionary favoritism not only within
education, but in all sectors, inspired several factions to oppose the PRK government.
Factions included those loyal to Sihanouk, those loyal to a former prime minister,
Son Sann, and those loyal to the DK (Khmer Rouge). In 1982, a reluctant Coalition
Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK) claiming capitalism as its ideology
was formed. As the fighting continued, the PRK conscripted thousands o f workers to
lay millions of mines along the western Cambodian border where coalition forces
were entrenched, and for the rest of the 1980s a military stalemate prevailed.
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6 0
Partni
International Aid in Cambodia Since 1990
Russian educational aid was so short lived, that in most tertiary institutions
only the classes of 1985 were able to complete an entire four-year program. When
Soviet aid to Cambodia came to an abrupt end in 1990, the Russians gave Cambodian
students and administrators one month’s notice before withdrawing completely. The
administration, in a mad scramble to locate a new teaching staff, recruited new
graduates and ministry staff whose first act was to translate Russian curricula into
Khmer. In most tertiary institutions, 1990 became the first year that Khmer was used
as the language of instruction (National Action Plan, 1998, Vol. 2, p. 65).
In 1990 as well, Cambodia would discover that the world outside its borders
had an interest in seeing it recover and hopefully prosper in non-Marxist terms. The
collapse o f the Soviet Union precipitated the Paris Accords and a negotiated
settlement o f the war. Vietnam, without financial and military support from the
Eastern European Bloc, was compelled to withdraw its forces, thus satisfying the
demands o f ASEAN. In 1991, UNTAC (the United Nations Transitional
Administration in Cambodia) was charged with the “task of enforcing an
extraordinarily complex, time-phased scenario” of conciliation and compromise
among the Khmer parties (Brown and Timberman, 1998, p. 17). In assessing the
conditions in Cambodia, UNTAC Senior Programme Officer, Grant Curtis noted
... Cambodia requires more than just economic rejuvenation. The
challenge which faces Cambodians today is nothing less than the
redefinition and construction of their society. (Curtis, 1993, p. 185)
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6 1
UNTAC was ordered to “exercise direct supervision over all ‘existing
administrative structures’ acting in the fields of information, foreign affairs, national
defense, and public security” (SPF, 1993, p. 18) until national elections could be held
that would establish a government legitimate in the eyes o f the international
community.
While Cambodia continued—though less fiercely—in its political chaotic
style, the presence o f23,000 UNTAC peacekeepers injected a modest dose of
prosperity into the stagnant economy o f Phnom Penh, along with an indication,
however skewed, of what the outside world might be like now that Cambodia had
moved from a planned to a market economy. In addition, hundreds of thousands o f
refugees were being repatriated. Most, however, were unable to return to their homes
in regions rife with mines, and coming to terms with the economic and cultural
effects of displacement was posing an even greater psychological difficulty.
Though many refugees embraced returning to Cambodia, others resisted it.
Moreover, two questions remained—whether Cambodia would be able to keep its
promise of peace, and whether there would be enough skill and competence among
the returnees to meet the needs of reconstruction? One o f the first significant needs
assessment studies was a 1991 mission by UNESCO. Among its principal objectives
were the following:
...to gather and examine the available information from national
and international and bilateral agencies involved in Cambodia’s
effort for national reconstruction...
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...to examine and assess existing and emerging policies and
priorities in relation to present and future national reconstruction and
rehabilitation programmes...
...to identify possible areas of international cooperation with a
view to strengthening existing programmes and to prepare the
ground for the reintroduction of displaced persons and refugees on
return to Cambodia in the spirit o f national reconciliation.
(UNESCO, 1991, p. 1)
The UNESCO report reconfirmed the disorder and inadequacy of education
at all levels and the grave lack of qualified personnel. Moreover, some 500 tons of
equipment and materials donated by the Soviets to tertiary education remained
unopened and unused “because the accompanying technicians and training
programmes to be provided by the USSR” had also been withdrawn (p. 68). The need
for international aid was clear. In April 1992, UN Secretary General Boutros
Boutros-Ghali appealed for $595 million in donor assistance for:
...the UNCHR repatriation operation; for the resettlement o f war
affected populations; for the maintenance of essential services,
including food security and agricultural programmes; health, water
and sanitation; education and training; for the rehabilitation of public
utilities and major infrastructure; and for improved public
administration, including local cost and public sector financing.
(Curtis, 1993, p. 186)
Pledges came in at $880 million. However, unless peace could be maintained
in Cambodia, the chances o f a full-fledged aid effort being realized were slim. The
DK’s legitimate integration into Cambodia’s coalition government that had garnered
the Khmer Rouge a seat at the UN was believed to be responsible for a rash o f violent
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attacks against the remaining Vietnamese who were living in various parts o f
Cambodia; and the incidents were widespread enough to keep all Cambodians in a
state of apprehension.
Whether or not the instability in Cambodia did influence the donor shortfalls
that followed is not certain. Commitments nonetheless never became disbursements.
In addition, Curtis remarked that donors were showing “a preference for large-scale
rehabilitation projects, for reasons of profile as well as the feet that most (donors)
lack the mechanisms and operational capacity to respond to small scale or multi
sectoral needs.” He added that what was needed were “thousands of projects, each
costing several hundred dollars, rather than dozens of projects needing hundreds of
thousands of dollars” (p. 189).
Just as there could be no rehabilitation without peace, UNTAC’s three-year
presence helped to convey to the international aid community the profound degree o f
disintegration that existed in Cambodia, especially in its lack of human resources.
“Clearly increased attention needs to be given to education and training, including the
creative use of expatriate Khmer to transfer knowledge and skills back to Cambodia”
(Curtis, 1993, p. 193).
The lack of human resources in Cambodia constituted the single-most
important constraint to rehabilitation. Furthermore, the reluctance o f bilateral
agencies to invest sufficiently in higher education would further stall the needed
training and rehabilitation of Cambodia’s human resource potential. The bilateral and
international aid that was, in any case, being allocated to higher education was
inadequate, and by most accounts so poorly coordinated it contributed more to
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64
inefficiency and ineffectiveness than to its intended goals (Duggan, 1997). The
Nuffic Report, a fact-finding mission from the Netherlands (Blom and De Nooijer,
1992), provided a comprehensive analysis of Cambodian higher education and
vocational training that attested to the lack of coordinated efforts in international
assistance and a fragmentation in policy and programming.
When elections were held in 1993 and UNTAC’s mission was fulfilled, the
International Committee on the Reconstruction of Cambodia (ICORC) was charged
with following the rehabilitation activities initiated during the transitional period. The
dramatic increase in aid both in terms of money and the number and range o f donors
that followed the elections intensified the fragmentation in educational aid that had
been reported earlier in the Nuffic Report.1 2
Increased Demands for Higher Education
By the early 1990s, the demand for higher education was exceeding the
supply. Retention rates at post secondary institutions had stabilized for the first time
in decades as more parents and students realized that entry into Cambodia’s market
economy required higher levels of education. The SOC (State o f Cambodia), as it
was now called, carefully monitored entry into higher education within and outside of
1 Summaries of broad-based external assistance can be found in several international agency
documents, including External Assistance to the Royal Government of Cambodia: Issues and
Actions for Progress, prepared for the July 1996 Consultative Group Meeting in Tokyo, Japan
(UNDP, Phnom Penh, April, 1996); McAndrew, John P., Aid Infusions: Bilateral and Multilateral
Emergency and Development Assistance in Cambodia 1992-1995, CDRI Working Paper No. 2
(CDRI, Phnom Penh, January, 1996); Royal Government of Cambodia, Development and
Cooperation Report C l 996-1997): Main Report. July 1997. CDC (prepared with the support of the
UNDP), (CDC, Phnom Penh, May, 1997) (Source: CDRI, 1998).
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65
Cambodia despite the growing pressure on the education system to accommodate
more students.
In 1994, over 40 per cent of international aid to education was absorbed by
higher education. As a result, aid was restricted mainly to Phnom Penh where the
institutions for higher education are located, and moreover, it focused on the male
children of the wealthy elite who could afford university education for their
children.1 3
Additionally, as market forces increasingly drove the education system,
ministers and faculty based selection criteria more on illegal payment than on student
achievement. In 1994, in an effort to curtail corruption, then Minister o f Education,
Ung Huot, took an unprecedented step.
On the occasion of the Year 11 final examinations, those that
determined who received access to university and teacher training,
Ung Huot effectively changed the jury. Staff from all the major
secondary colleges were shifted so that on the examination day each
school was re-staffed to supervise the examination process. Students
were unable to bribe the examiners. Moreover, to stop cheating, each
school was surrounded by a contingent of soldiers preventing
movement in or out of the school. The pass rate of 84% in 1993, was
reduced to 7% in 1994. Clearly, there was a problem. Not only were
,3Education is priced beyond the means of many farmers who comprise 85 percent of the
population. The government spends about $8 per primary student each year, while parents pay an
average of $64 in illegal fees. Only 400 of every 1,000 students ever complete all five years of
primary school. An ADB study (Asian Development Bank, 1994a) concluded that since teachers
are not paid a living wage by the state, they must supplement their meager salaries by charging
students additional fees. Additionally, while over half the Cambodian population is female, in
1993-94 only 15 per cent of the student body at Phnom Penh University were women; at RUA it
was 4.6; 5.5 at the law school and so on (pp. 16-18).
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students paying a private fee for their final examinations they were
also paying fees to pass their degrees. (Duggan, 1997, p. 14)
Foreign assistance did not appear to be helping matters either. Aid to
education was “piecemeal and haphazard, and largely determined by donors’
priorities” (World Bank, 1994b, p. 125). By 1994 “some 50 international
organizations were financing and staffing education programs throughout
Cambodia.” The French government had committed $18 million to ITC (Institut
Technologie d ’ Cambodge) contingent upon all programs being delivered in French (a
conditionality that could undermine coherent efforts towards a language policy based
on the realities of present day development aid); and the Faculty of Foreign
Languages at Phnom Penh University was fully restored by the Australian
government with a four-year Bachelor of Education in TEFL. The British also funded
a post-graduate TEFL program at the Institute of Modem Languages. In an Asian
Development Bank (ADB) education sector review (1994b), it turned out that
internationally financed programs for higher education consisted entirely of foreign
language training. According to Duggan (1997), “investments in curriculum and staff
development, university management and planning, student administration and so on,
were negligible” (p. 11). A 1996 Asian Development Bank study noted that the
absence o f a “definitive language policy” had resulted in “an ad hoc approach with
French and English predominant in different faculties. ...failure to affirm Khmer...
as the language of instruction in universities has a potential backwash effect on the
language policy in upper secondary schools” (in Duggan, p. 11).
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67
Language as a condition for bilateral support became conspicuously
problematic. Many university programs were being driven by the language policy of
donors rather than the State of Cambodia, and British and Australian donors even
went so far as to disagree publicly when King Sihanouk announced from Beijing that
French should be the nation’s favored foreign language since the French spent more
on Cambodia than Anglophone countries (Phnom Penh Post, March 1994, in
Duggan, 1997). It was also apparent that an infusion of language training would not
solve the problems in Cambodian education. A UNESCO/UNICEF education sector
review noted:
The recovery and development of the economy and the expansion
of upper secondary education has put more pressure on higher
education for not only quality improvement but further quantitative
expansion... There is however, a gap between demand and the real
capacity o f higher education institutions... (1994, p. 7)
An expansion of private foreign financed colleges was able to partially meet
the demand for post-secondary education. The private institutions, including the
Maharishi Vedic University, an agricultural institution, Regent College and
Kingsfield College, and the Cambodia Resource Development Institute (CDRI)1 4
rapidly achieved full enrollments from full fee paying students.
Politics, however, continued to play a more dynamic role in the state of
education than the presence of private colleges or foreign languages. Aid to education
1 4 CDRI is a nongovernmental organization that provides training and research to assist Cambodia
with development needs. CDRI’s English Language Training Center (ELTC) is sponsored by the
State University of New York at Buffalo, which also supports language aid for staff and faculty at
the University of Phnom Penh and the Institute of Economics. Maharishi Vedic University, Regent
and Kingsfield Colleges have a Khmer-English bilingual curriculum.
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and to the economy in general, was seriously compromised during a period that many
had hoped would resolve political enmity.
Donors in Disarray1 5
In an essay on the failure of conflict resolution, Ashley (1998) states, “the
Cambodian conflict, it must be remembered, should have been a relatively simple
one to resolve. It was a dispute left over from the cold war, not a reaction to its end”
(p. 49). However, this was a power struggle among Cambodian factions supplied and
funded by various foreign clienteles. As has been evidenced thus far, the disparate
interests o f donors who should have been united in their aid efforts may have been
contributing to the turmoil. UNTAC’s supervision o f competitive elections also had
its limitations; after all, the factions vying for power were deadly enemies.
Two groups had splintered off from the earlier CGDK coalition government:
the Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) led by Hun Sen; and the royalist party,
FUNCINPEC (the French acronym for the National United Front for an Independent,
Neutral, Peaceful and Cooperative Cambodia) loyal to Prince Ranariddh. Though
FUNCINPEC was victorious, it was not willing to risk a coup. Another coalition
emerged involving both CPP and FUNCINPEC. Power sharing, however, became
“two separate and competing party states operating within every ministry, province,
military command, and police commissariat” subsuming the formal state structure
(Ashley, 1998, p. 55). According to Ashley, Hun Sen, suspicious of his CPP
colleagues, set out to expand an independent power base. This included:
1 5 This heading is borrowed from a 1998 report, Donors in Disarray, published by CDRI.
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69
...building up power networks in the government, the bureaucracy,
the RCAP (the armed forces), police, and gendarmerie as well as
creating his own powerful media machine (several radio and
television stations and over 20 newspapers), a large and powerful
team of advisers (which increasingly acted as a shadow government)
and a 1,500 man army. (p. 56)
On July 5-6, 1997, Hun Sen successfully staged a coup that many believed
erased most of the political gains made by UNTAC (Doyle, 1998). Reports o f donors
withdrawing aid were rampant. However, according to a study by CDRI (Grube,
1998), very few ongoing projects were cancelled. While there were some bilateral
cancellations, multilateral donors such as the EU, the ADB, the World Bank and the
UN agencies “continued ongoing assistance and started previously approved projects
and activities” (Grube, 1998 p. 1). Table 3 is a summary o f assistance cancellations.
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70
Table 2. Summary of Assistance Cancellations and Suspensions
Country Cancellations/Suspensions Other Actions
Australia Cancelled non-Ietlial military
cooperation assistance
Continued other projects
Germany Suspended selected projects and
activities for one year.
Continued humanitarian
projects
Japan Suspended all activities for one
month
Continued assistance
programs
Norway Officially cancelled projects
which strengthened the
government or in which the
assistance was being received by
the intended beneficiaries
Continued humanitarian
projects and activities
(Most activities, in fact,
continued)
United
States
Cancelled existing projects:
Management of environmental
resources project; Training of the
business school faculty; Legal
training program in democracy and
human rights for the military;
Narcotics control program. Cancelled
existing projects: Rural infrastructure
project; Road construction;
Suspended: Cambodian Assistance to
Primary Education (CAPE)
Continued humanitarian,
democracy and human
rights projects;
(Assistance to Cambodia
through regional projects
continued)
Source: Grube, 1998. Special Report, Cambodia Resource Development Institute
(CDRI) Phnom Penh
O f the 29 bilateral donors listed in the Development Cooperation Report,
only five cancelled or suspended their assistance as a direct result of the July 1997
events. However, according to Grube (1998) the immediate reaction by donors to the
July events was the suspension of approvals for new assistance. With the exception
o f the French government, multilateral and bilateral donors including the ones stated
above indicated that they would not approve new projects in the foreseeable future
(pp. 2-3). The July 1998 elections would be pivotal in decisions regarding aid and
most believed that Hun Sen would be voted out of power.
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Cambodia 1999
The July 1998 elections kept Hun Sen in power for reasons that are now
apparent. Hun Sen’s successful negotiation with FUNCINPEC prompted a new
awareness of political stability. However, Hun Sen’s reluctance to agree to an
international tribunal o f Khmer Rouge leaders generated international criticism. With
so many former Khmer Rouge living in Cambodia, an international tribunal, Hun Sen
argued, would be destabilizing. Criminal defense lawyer and international observer,
Michael Kamavas also argues against an international trial and convincingly for a
South African-style truth commission (Kamavas, Phnom Penh Post, April 2-12,
1999).
In many respects, this makes more sense. Many Cambodians need to tell of
their suffering at the hands of the Khmer Rouge to each other and to their
persecutors, who are living day to day in Cambodian society. The Khmer Rouge who
inflicted the worst kind o f cruelty on their fellow Khmers must tell each other and
their victims what they did. Justice cannot be served by the arrest o f two or three or
ten Khmer Rouge leaders. Nor can 10 million Cambodians carry' the shame and
burden of this horrendous epoch in silence.
In a poignant account by artist Vann Nath (1998), who was among only
seven men to escape execution at Tuol Sleng prison where thousands are known to
have been murdered, Vann Nath tells the following story of a chance encounter with
Huy, chief of security at Tuol Sleng:
I was told by a friend that Huy, the former butcher o f Tuol Sleng
had defected to government authorities... in Kandal province, where
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he admitted to killing more than 2,000 people... the 2,000 people he
said he had killed must have been just a fraction o f the total number.
But no matter what he said, nobody would dare touch him because
he had defected according to the political guidelines o f the
government... it was incredible that (he) now had the right to live
happily with his wife and children.
In 1996, at a meeting with several French Khmers who were preparing a
documentary at Tuol Sleng (now a museum), Vann Nath saw Huy standing nearby.
Vann Nath’s terrified but determined confrontation was met with a denial of Huy’s
original confession.
“How many people did you kill,” I asked with emphasis.
“I was forced then... I killed about four or five people, because I
could not avoid doing that,” he said.
I laughed and thought... his heart and mind had not changed...
“First I told them the truth—just three or four—but they didn’t
believe me and they kept asking. I thought that if I told a small
number, they wouldn’t believe me. So I told them a big number...
and they believed me.”
I shook my head feeling confused.
“Huy, I don’t have any ill intention against you. If I did, you
wouldn’t be able to stand in front of me now. The reason why I keep
asking is because I just want to know...”
At this point, my mind was getting clearer. I saw him looking
down at the ground. He appeared like an old sheep, very different
than a decade ago... To avoid spoiling the atmosphere... I asked if
he had seen the paintings I had hung in the museum. He said he had.
“ ...Are they too exaggerated?” I asked.
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“No, they are not exaggerated,” he said. “There were scenes more
brutal than that...”
“Did you see the picture o f the prison guards pulling a baby away
from his mother while the other guy hit the mother with a stick?
What did you and your men do with the babies? Where did you take
them?”
“Uh... we took them out to kill them.”
“What!” I shouted in shock...
My words dried up. His last statement was not a lie. All these
years, in the back of my mind, I had always thought they had spared
the children. When visitors saw that particular painting, they used to
ask me where the children were taken. I told them I didn’t know but
that they might have been taken to an orphanage outside the prison...
On this day in 1996 everything became clear to me... With
unsteady steps I walked very slowly away from Huy... The impact
on my heart could hardly be coped with... (1998, pp. 109-115).
Summary
Disruption and chaos have marked Cambodian society throughout its history.
The political sphere since independence has been further stained by internecine
bloodshed, and bringing peace to Cambodia has been an arduous, sensitive process.
International assistance from the West to all sectors including education was resumed
in 1990 after a 22-year hiatus, and that, too, has been threatened periodically by
instability and violent political disagreement within the country. However, the desire
of Cambodians to provide their nation with an educational system that supports the
peaceful reconstruction of the country has never been stronger. The people
themselves are well aware of the role education plays in their lives and their desire to
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be actively engaged in their own society and the world has responded to this
awareness.
In February 1999, the World Bank-sponsored Consultative Group (CG),
which in 1996 replaced ICORC’s donor coordinating functions, announced that
donors had pledged a total of $470 million and that aid would continue in the future.
On April 30, 1999, Cambodia joined ASEAN. The country is far from prosperous,
but less stricken by animosity and far more hopeful.
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75
Chapter Four
Methods and Procedures
Introduction
This chapter describes the theoretical assumptions from which I approached
this study, my rationale for employing case study methods, my role as the researcher,
how I reframed my research questions to reflect the Cambodian context, the sites
relevant to data collection, the procedures used to collect data, my strategy for
analysis, and how validity and reliability were achieved.
Theoretical Assumptions
The starting point o f this research is the assumptions I drew from
dependency and globalization frameworks, research on language in development, and
my own epistemological beliefs.
First, I assume that the process of development is dynamic and changes to
suit the needs of recipients. The economic and political conditions that are often
reflected through the lens of dependency theory and globalization are better
understood in context since the conditions and individuals encountered are invariably
unique. A multiplicity of interests found in educational development—such as
conditionalities, economic reforms that cause hardships for recipient countries,
unequal donor-recipient relationships, inadequate understanding of cultural
differences, and at times, misplaced priorities—are often a source o f conflict that is
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best addressed in the environment where aid activities are undertaken. This view is
supported throughout the literature as I have presented it in Chapter Two.
Second, I assume that the culture of development aid is a microcosmic
language learning environment, and that aid agencies from the international
community play a crucial role in the diffusion o f English, whether or not they provide
formal language instruction. This assumption is based on what I maintain are
observable interactions between donors and recipients in the larger development
context.
Third, I assume both observable and unobservable reality is a manifestation
of interaction, beliefs, and agreement subject to interpretation and never perfectly
deducible. Petzold’s (1994) sociolinguistic study has been helpful to this research as
a means o f understanding how English language learning is shaped by the culture in
which it is used. While Petzold’s study focuses largely on pedagogy, I include the
broader social and economic interactions that occur in a development culture. As
stated previously in my analogy of the Wild West, Cambodia is a country that has
been isolated from capitalist democratic freedoms for nearly 30 years. Cambodia’s
renewed contact with the international community has generated a desire on the part
of Cambodians to access the “outside world” and for the outside world to seek out
opportunities in Cambodia. For Cambodians, access may be symbolically represented
by the ability to communicate in English. This assumption is in keeping with
globalization theory and with Kachru (e.g. 1983, 1985, 1986a,b, 1992). Furthermore,
through contact with a diverse number of international aid agencies and individuals
who make their way into a country undergoing rapid social and economic change, a
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degree of English language learning invariably occurs outside the confines o f the
classroom—which refers back to my second assumption that the development aid
context is a microcosmic language learning environment.
Fourth, I assume that language in development, or the aid and vitality that
supports and assures good communication between donors and recipients, is the
foundation on which the success or failure of aid activities rests. Therefore, language
aid is the bridge between donors— language experts and science experts (those who
provide language education and curriculum and those who provide technical
assistance, respectively—see Clayton, 1997)—and the recipients, who not only have
technological knowledge of their own, but who have specific social and cultural
values already in place.
Fifth, I assume that language aid reflects dynamic contexualized
circumstances found in the needs of the host country and individual recipients. This
assumption, however, is not limited to short-term training or language courses that
feature ESP (English for Special Purposes) curricula. It includes the educational
goals recipients hope to pursue within the scope of human resource development, and
which may entail more English medium educational opportunities. This, I maintain,
is the educational aid process as determined by all stakeholders. For host country
educators (the subjects in my study, for example) this may involve opportunities to
study abroad in such areas as policy and administration, curriculum design, and
research methodology in addition to science and technology.
My last assumption relates to capacity building, sustainability and the nature
o f purposeful, positive change. For educational development aid to succeed, the role
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o f language is not so much about proficiency and diffusion per se as it is about
content and development discourse. In assuming that outside influences play a strong
role in shaping a country that is supported almost entirely by economic assistance, I
m aintain that cultural differences need to be explicitly understood and two-way
communication needs to be encouraged and respectfully engaged in. Additionally,
the question o f project scale cannot be overlooked, as noted in Berman (1995) in
Chapter Two. Where there is widespread poverty and a dearth of human resources
unrealistic expectations can be a problem. I maintain that many small-scale
development projects over time, such as the one highlighted in this study, help build
the capacity of individuals and institutions and enable recipients to assume ownership
at the broadest possible level. It is also my belief that the scaling down of
development aid projects enables donors—be they educators, scientists, engineers or
administrators—to leam and grow as well.
Rationale for Using Case Study Methods
A case study, according to Stake (1995), is expected to capture the
particularity and complexity of a single case, and attempts “to understand its activity
within important circumstances” (p. xi). Its methodology draws from naturalistic,
holistic, ethnographic, phenomenological and biographical research methods (Denzin
and Lincoln, 1994).
According to Yin (1994), the case study strategy works best in studies that
require no control of human behavior. Moreover, it is done to shed light on a
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phenomenon in its natural context—in this instance, educational development aid and
the role of language.
Where Yin is pragmatic in his approach to case study design, Stake
approaches a case along looser naturalistic lines and psychological interpretations. I
found it helpful to use the perspectives o f both theorists in the course of data
collection and analysis. However, the characteristics o f a qualitative case as identified
by Stake are closer to what I intended in the process o f my own case construction.
These characteristics include in part:
1. Inquiry that seeks to understand rather than explain (experiential,
empathic understanding);
2. Particularization rather than generalization in light of situational and
political contexts;
3. The use of interpretation as method (differentiating as well between
ethnographic emic/etic issues discerned in the thick description);
4. Noninterventionist research that searches for patterns and
consistencies; and
5. Validation of data through routine triangulation as a way to ‘purge
misinterpretations’ (Stake pp. 37-46).
The theoretical framework found in Chapter Two lends itself to the case
study model since it employs methods o f data collection and analysis that explain
reality, as the participants understand it. In this respect, I permitted the data to come
into view without manipulation and did not test preconceived hypotheses. Much o f
my data is subjective in that it attempts to reconstruct participants’ views of their
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8 0
context, their problems, and their feelings about development and the role English
plays in their lives. In addition, the conceptual structure of the case study design, with
what Yin calls “its preferences for ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions” allows us to focus on
contemporary phenomena within a real-life context.
I found the Cambodian development context suited to a case study design in
that Cambodia represents one o f many countries that has made a major shift in its
social, political and economic systems since the fell o f the USSR. Furthermore, the
unique conditions found in the educational context at RUA speak eloquently about
the problems in Cambodia in general.
The Role of the Researcher
Before coming to Southeast Asia, I knew little about Cambodia beyond its
role during the Vietnam War, Pol Pot, the Killing Fields, and that today, the country
was considered by many to be dangerous and unsafe for extended travel. I have for
many years, however, been a student of Eastern philosophy and Buddhism, and have
always maintained an interest in Asia. I had also spent time in Japan and Korea, yet
this was to be my first trip to Southeast Asia.
As stated in Chapter One, Cambodia was not my first choice for my research,
and, in a sense, I like to think that Cambodia selected me. When I arrived in
Southeast Asia I had intended to go to Vietnam. It was my understanding that the
country was now friendly to Americans and was allegedly bustling with demands for
English. However, as mentioned earlier, my study was transposed to Cambodia and
engaged the Faculty of Fisheries at RUA, Danida and AIT.
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8 1
My interest in the expanding role of English was heightened by the collapse
of Communism and by the diminished role o f Russia as an agent o f economic aid.
Through my research, I had hoped to examine the essentiality, manner and effects of
English language spread by an infusion of non-native English language aid donors.
My arrival in Bangkok and AIT in January 1999 gave me the opportunity to
live and work in the midst o f the development aid community. At ATT, in addition to
my language teaching responsibilities, I assumed the role of participant-observer and
research colleague. As a visiting CLET faculty member I was able to participate in
meetings and discussions and got to know how AIT functioned as an aid partner in
the region. The assistance I received from CLET was beyond anything I could have
ever imagined.
To Mads Kom, the Danida representative based at AIT and in charge of the
RUA project I was now studying, I was known (affectionately, I hope) as “our
graduate student”, and as such, I assumed that role as well. Mads was always
gracious and helpful and available to answer my questions despite his hectic
schedule, which included frequent trips to Danida-funded project sites not only in
Cambodia, but also in Vietnam and Northern Thailand.
The role I assumed as researcher in Cambodia was that o f an investigator-
observer, and to the participants of my study at RUA, my affiliation with a
prestigious American university and with AIT was not only appreciated in that it
might help them at some future date, but was a source of pedagogical interest. I
quickly came to consider the Cambodian participants in my study as my friends, and
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they in turn were always welcoming of my visits and supportive of the work I was
doing.
From my perspective, my role as researcher was more complex. My
ignorance of Khmer and the setting in which I found myself limited my ability to
become an insider. Likewise, I was influenced by the preconceived ideas I brought
with me from the West and my own experiences. At times I was an advocate who
hoped to secure educational opportunities for some of the Cambodian participants
who would benefit enormously in their capacity as administrators from postgraduate
studies abroad. At other times, I assumed the role o f evaluator searching for the
merits and shortcomings o f the project I was researching. However, my role as
interpreter overtook any other potential manifestation. In this capacity, I intentionally
sought to minimize my impact and serve as a filter through which the findings and
implications passed. Over the seven months I spent in the region gathering and
interpreting data, I did so by talking with and interviewing as many people as seemed
beneficial. I sought to interpret the meaning I drew from my data in such a way that it
represented the reality as experienced by the participants. Finally, my aim was to
construct a reality that substantiated new meanings in my findings that would be
beneficial to all involved in my research.
Reframing the Research Questions
The purpose o f this study was to explore the role of English in a development
context as well as the role o f international aid agencies from non-English speaking
countries in the diffusion of English. The following is an attempt to show how my
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83
research questions have been refrained to reflect the Cambodian educational and
development context:
1. How does language function as a variable within educational aid and
development?
Cambodian language policy specifies Khmer as the language o f instruction.
This came about after a variety of languages from French, to English, Vietnamese,
and Russian were at different periods in Cambodia’s recent past used as the language
o f instruction. However, despite the policy that Khmer is the primary language of
instruction, the language issue has not been sufficiently settled. Languages other than
Khmer, specifically English and French, maintain themselves in their own way. For
example, French must be the language of instruction in projects that involve French
aid. Or, English, which is the primary language of development aid, generates
expectations of Cambodians that they are not qualified to meet. Finally, many of the
Cambodian participants believed that their lack of English prevented them from
accessing English medium journals and therefore impeded the capacity building of
their professional and technological expertise.
2. How well does language policy in educational development aid meet the
needs o f recipients?
The economy of Cambodia is virtually an aid economy centered largely in
the capital of Phnom Penh, compounded by a serious shortage o f skilled individuals
needed to carry out the demands o f educational development at all levels within the
sector. In addition, personal economic hardships, institutional corruption endemic in
the society, and political insecurity persist. How aid provides or does not provide
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84
recipients with a basis for changing these fundamental problems needs to be
explored. Policy regarding language should reflect an approach to language as a
resource that assists development. Educational policy regarding a foreign language
that assists development may need to distinguish itself from foreign languages in
general, however, not to the detriment of any other language.
3. How does the social context influence the delivery, content and quality of
language education in educational development aid?
The capital city o f Phnom Penh is unique in Cambodia. Upon leaving Phnom
Penh one is faced with a very different reality. Electricity, safe drinking water and
sanitation are luxuries. Furthermore, the subsistence level of rural life and the violent
political skirmishes that have plagued the countryside have devolved into banditry.
What distinguishes question three from the first two are the reactions of donors to the
shortages of resources and national security problems within Cambodia. Many
withdraw funding when conflict appears to escalate. Nevertheless, the overwhelming
limitations faced by aid agencies in a country with a fragile infrastructure, scarcity of
food, fertile rice growing regions rife with landmines, and a subculture of warlords in
the western provinces cannot be overcome without the resolve of the Khmer people
at the national level. In addition, contradictory Western and Cambodian cultural
values and societal hierarchies can impact the aid process.
4. Given the crucial role of language in development, how can donor and
recipient language policies and language planning be better integrated into the aid
process?
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85
In a globalized economy where international communication networks link
all facets of human interaction, decisions regarding language policy must be realistic
and approached according to need. Certainly the need for English in higher education
is apparent in the areas of science and technology. However, without coherent
language planning and English language education at the secondary level, donors and
recipients may not be able to meet the linguistic demands o f development especially
in higher education.
Sites Relevant to Data Collection
Five principal locations relevant to this study are described below.
Phnom Penh
When I arrived in Phnom Penh I had no idea the city itself would become a
central figure in my case study. Initially, my observations o f the city were idle and
unintentional. They were ordinary reactions to a new environment, albeit enthusiastic
reactions. However, Phnom Penh became progressively more relevant to my research
in that it mirrored all the hopes and hindrances that challenged educational
development efforts.
The Royal University of Agriculture and the Faculty of Fisheries
RUA became the logical location for data collection and the focus o f my
research since Danida has had an outreach program in progress there since 1995.
RUA, established in 1965 as the Universite Royale d'Agriculture, was closed
between 1975 and 1979 when the Khmer Rouge used it as an ammunitions factory.
Formal agricultural higher education did not resume there until 1985.
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I made regular visits to the rural RUA campus during my trips to Cambodia
over a seven-month period. This began with a trip in February 1999 when I visited
the campus to meet the Faculty of Fisheries and observe a faculty feedback workshop
led by the Danida representative regarding Danida’s upcoming funding phase.
The Department of Fisheries
Located in the former U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh, the Department o f
Fisheries (DOF) is a bustling office under the auspices o f the Ministry o f Agriculture,
Forests and Fisheries (MAFF). I visited DOF three times as an extension o f my
research since Danida and AIT coordinate their aquaculture outreach programs
through this office. My visits to DOF were mostly observational. However, one visit
was particularly fruitful in that I had the opportunity to meet and interview a former
RUA student who had done his graduate work in Australia and who was now the
Chief of Aquaculture Coordination and Planning.
Danida
Over the past 30 years Danida, the Danish national aid organization has been
engaged in bilateral and multilateral development assistance programs. While Danida
does not qualify as a data collection site per se, its institutional presence as a
development partner at ATT and in Southeast Asia is substantial.
Asian Institute of Technology
Founded in 1959 under the auspices of the Southeast Asian Treaty
Organization (SEATO), ATT is the product o f development assistance. As a regional
institution, it is responsible for transmitting knowledge and expertise throughout
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87
South and Southeast Asia. The 400-acre campus and ethnically diverse academic
faculties and staff serve nearly 2,000 students from all over the globe.
ATT was the catalyst in my research in Southeast Asia. My home base was an
office at the Center for Language and Development (CLET) on the AIT campus
where I worked part-time. The accessibility to Danida donor aid professionals, to
language education colleagues who devote much of their time and energy assisting in
aid development projects, and finally, to aquaculture outreach faculty at the School of
Environment, Resources and Development (SERD) gave me an enormous advantage.
Furthermore, I conducted data collection there in the form of interviews, observations
and discussions as it related to Danida and to RUA’s Faculty of Fisheries.
Data Collection Procedures
Data collection in Cambodia and in Bangkok at AIT consisted o f formal and
informal interviews, frequent conversations, observations, document review and the
recording of field notes. One of my initial contacts at ATT, Bill Savage, introduced
me to Danida representatives and accompanied me on my first visit to Cambodia
where I was introduced to administrators and the Faculty of Fisheries at RUA. Bill
was generous in every respect, leading me to pertinent sources, regularly answering
my questions and always available for discussions.
A description of the data collection procedures I employed is as follows:
Interviews
I conducted formal and informal interviews with participants shortly after my
arrival in Southeast Asia. While most of the participants were English speakers, I
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relied on a translator when interviewing the faculty lecturers, most o f whom spoke
very little English. I conducted interviews at the time and location opportune to the
interviewees, and according to Patton’s (1980) ‘general interview guide’, which
incorporates a conversational style approach. I selected appropriate questions from a
protocol revised as needed and recorded on a notepad. I frequently rephrased
questions I felt had not been adequately answered, possibly because they had not
been understood, or in an attempt to probe a particular question more deeply. Follow-
up informal interviews and casual conversations were often more fruitful and relaxed.
Tables 3 and 4 display the formal and informal interviews I had with the various
participants, the number of times we met, and the approximate time our discussions
lasted.
Table 3. DANIDA-AIT Interviews
Persons
Interviewed
Number of Meetings Approximate
Time
Danida
Representative I
Danida
Representative II
3 Formal interviews
Informal conversations
Via email
1.5 hrs. each
Extensive
AIT-AARM
Outreach Faculty
DOF
Coordinator
(in Phnom Penh)
2 Informal discussions
1 Formal interview
Follow- up interview
1 hr. each
1 hr.
'A hr.
CLET Faculty
Language Specialist
1 formal interview
Frequent informal
conversations
1.15 hrs.
Extensive
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89
Table 4. RUA Interviews
Persons
Interviewed
Number of Meetings Approximate
Time
Faculty Lecturers
(8)
2 Formal interviews
Informal meetings and
conversations
2 hrs. each
Dean 3 Formal interviews
2 Follow-up interviews
1.5 hrs. each
Frequent informal
conversations
Extensive
Administrator/
Lecturer
2 Formal interviews 1.5 hrs. each
Frequent informal
conversations
Extensive
Vice Rector 1 Formal interview
1 Follow-up interview
1 hr. each
Rector Submitted written
questions
Observations
Two types of observations were part of this research. The first consisted of
general observations in the field with participants usually under relaxed, casual
circumstances. The second type was more formal and took place during workshops,
feedback sessions and classes at the School of Fisheries. For example in addition to
observing classes at RUA, I observed a Danida-RUA faculty feedback session o the
RUA campus, and a strategic planning workshop at AIT for AARM (Aquaculture
and Aquatic Resources Management), the umbrella outreach program for Danida-
funded activities. My observations were recorded in a notebook in two stages: First,
brief, sketchy notes were made on the site, and second, more detailed observations
were recorded in depth at the end of the day.
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90
Document Review
During this research I reviewed all reports and documents available at AIT-
CLET and Danida that specifically reported on the RUA educational project
sponsored since 1993 by AIT, and since 1995 by Danida and AIT. These documents
included project history, memoranda, schedules, analyses of workshops, samples o f
RUA faculty work and assessments, evaluations of projects and so on. In addition,
the assistant to the vice rector at RUA had given me a copy o f the Sectoral National
Action Plan for Higher Agricultural Education in Cambodia sponsored by the World
Bank. In this document I was able to see frequencies and contingencies that related
directly to teacher issues, language, and educational development that had already
emerged in my interviews that helped support construct validity. I also collected and
reviewed news sources when they pertained to aid activities and/or political and
economic developments within Cambodia.
Most secondary data sources were included in the study not for the purpose
of analysis per se, but as material that could help illustrate events or assertions.
Similarly, the historical and more recent chronicle of events referenced in Chapter
Three, were not drawn upon for analysis but to enlarge my understanding of the
context I was exploring through my interviews and observations.
The Use of Field Notes in Focusing the Data
Field notes were my attempt “to get it right” (Lofland and Lofland, 1995 p.
69). To triangulate interview data, I kept a journal and logged as best I could the
description o f events as they happened. My notes also included such details as the
number o f people at an event I observed or while conducting an interview, and
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91
descriptions of the environment where different activities took place. In addition, I
transcribed audiotapes from interviews and incorporated these as notes into my field
journal. This was helpful in organizing follow up interviews. I also included
assertions I made as I went along and was, at any stage, prepared to disconfirm. I
read and reread my notes, adding to what Geertz (1973) called emic interpretations
that comprise thick description. I frequently coded my notes according to research
sub-questions that were emerging as themes and categories.
Data Analysis
My aim in devising an analytic strategy was to accomplish two main goals:
to recombine the evidence to address my initial assumptions without biasing the
results, and to employ a strategy that would facilitate a narrative presentation o f the
findings. I did not expect to statistically quantify, either through typologies or
displays, the general foci o f analysis in the case, which consisted o f the RUA Faculty
o f Fisheries, the educational project funded by AIT-Danida, my theoretical
framework and research questions.
Analysis in its earliest stage began almost immediately when I arrived in
Cambodia. My initial encounters with the city of Phnom Penh and the participants of
my study revealed that I would need to reformulate my plan and revise my questions.
My arrival had ushered in a new level o f experience that focused my first attempts to
compare, contrast and order what I was learning. By my second visit, I had begun
analyzing formal and informal interviews by transcribing them, identifying new
questions and testing my theories and views. I kept a to-do list to guide my
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92
procedures, and it was at this stage that the process o f coding and categorizing the
data began in earnest.
Analysis o f the interviews was carried out in three steps.
First, interview transcriptions were coded according to my research sub
questions such as: what is the role of English in the educational system? What is the
role of English in development aid? And, what is the role o f English at the grass
roots level of development? The portions of the interviews that informed ‘the role of
English’ in language and development were then collected and classified into
emergent categories. Related language and development categories, provided by my
theoretical assumptions, were brought up to date by the data coded in this stage of
analysis as well. My interviews were the key procedure whereby I developed and
modified my sub-questions, reframed my initial research questions, and confirmed
my theories and ideas.
Second, in organizing the data that described the development, social,
cultural and educational contexts, my method was straightforward. I approached
these contexts as variables and categorized the data, aware that many emergent issues
would overlap.
1. The Development context encompassed present-day Western influences in
Cambodia, the impact of globalization, the work o f aid agencies, and non-
academic language diffusion. Economic issues, e.g., a lack of human and
structural resources, inconsistent disbursement o f already low, inadequate
salaries, and project constraints, such as time and funding limitations were
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93
integrated into this context as well, and specifically reflected the conditions at
RUA.
2. The lingering effects o f the Khmer Rouge regime, and political pressures or
disturbances that influence international relations categorized the Social context.
Political variables, e.g., the impact of political instability on the educational
sector and reports o f corruption at administrative and ministerial levels that could
adversely affect educational equity, were also integrated into this context. My
aim, once again, was to see how each of these conditions manifested themselves
at RUA.
3. The Cultural context was categorized by explicitly expressed donor-recipient
expectations, unequal donor-recipient status and divergences in customs and
behaviors. Institutional issues: e.g., hierarchies that discourage efficiency and
open communication; poor coordination between the Ministry o f Education and
line ministries and/or weak decision-making powers within tertiary institutions,
specifically at RUA.
4. The Educational context was focused entirely on RUA and was categorized by
politically determined pedagogic language use (i.e. the use of Vietnamese during
the Vietnamese occupation following the Khmer Rouge, or the period o f Russian
aid) and according to institutional capacity building strategies that included
teacher training, curriculum development and language aid. Other problems, such
as the absence of an internationally transferable credit system in the grading
policy, lack of management and academic skills and pedagogic issues: e.g., lack
o f teacher experience, inadequate teaching materials in Khmer, low English
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language proficiency to the degree it is needed by faculty, overlapping or a
redundancy of courses within the curriculum, and economic barriers to pedagogic
and professional aspirations of educators were analyzed within this context as
well.
Third, triangulation of the interview data consisted o f member checks, the
reading and rereading my field notes and consulting project documents produced
by Danida and AIT. Other secondary sources, as I have already stated, served to
contextualize the study in a more general sense. Finally, the coding and notations
made throughout the collection process gave the data its structure. These were
then integrated into the development, social, cultural and educational context
categories. Integrating the data that had been generated permitted me—through
an inductive process—to develop assertions about development aid and the role
o f language in Cambodia, the beliefs and attitudes Cambodians have towards
educational aid and towards English, and the diffusion of English in the
Cambodian development context.
Validity and Reliability
It was my goal to reveal the different feces of experiential reality and to
overcome assumptions that, qualitative methods, and particularly case study methods
are a poor basis for generalization. While my methods were inductive, empirical and
subjective, I established construct validity by triangulating multiple data sources and
by establishing a chain of events that are contained in my field notes (Yin, 1994;
Patton, 1990). Member checks and soliciting feedback from participants about my
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findings and interpretations also helped ascertain data validity. Furthermore, living
and working in an educational aid environment for seven months helped assure that
the data would be dependable and credible (Lincoln and Guba, 1985). This time
period made it possible for me to identify characteristics and elements that were most
relevant to the study and focus on them in depth.
Internal validity was met in the coding and categorizing of my data that later
enabled me interpret and construct my findings. The use o f a theoretical framework
allowed me to generalize to theory and to the findings in other language in
development cases cited in the literature. Finally, reliability is confirmed by the use
of a plan or protocol that guided my interviews and research activities, and by
keeping field notes, reports, and memos from the very beginning of my arrival to the
site to record how my thinking developed from a baseline (Wolcott, 1990).
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Chapter Five
Educational Development Aid and The Role of Language:
The Case of AIT-Danida and the
Royal University of Agriculture in Cambodia
Introduction
While Chapter Three deals with the history of Cambodia, Cambodian
education and the emergence of present-day foreign development assistance, this
chapter focuses on educational development aid and the role of language at the Royal
University of Agriculture (RUA) since 1993. The goal o f this chapter is to show how
the experiences of the individuals who participated in this research address the
questions guiding this study. Additionally, the variables and issues discussed in
Chapter Four are illumined in the narrative that follows. My approach is to
reconstruct this case chronologically by referring to the time frame of the
Aquaculture Outreach aid project as it was initiated by ATT (the Asian Institute of
Technology) and later supported by Danida.
The various contexts—development, educational, social and cultural
discussed in Chapter Four are embedded in the narrative and each is explored through
the lens of AIT-Danida and RUA’s Faculty of Fisheries. The narrative is constructed
primarily around my interviews with three key people: Bill Savage, faculty member
at AIT-CLET (Center for Language, Education and Technology), Chhouk Borin,
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Dean of RUA’s Faculty of Fisheries, and Mads Kom, Danida Educational Specialist.
To a lesser degree, RUA’s vice-rector, Pahd Mony and FoF member, Chan Rotha,
also play a part in the narrative. Syntactical peculiarities and any errors quoted in the
narrative are intentional and are the actual words o f the participants, where only Bill
Savage is a native English speaker. Finally, throughout the chapter, certain
documents in the form of appendices have been selected to augment the reader’s
understanding of the AIT-Danida educational aid process as it unfolded at RUA.
The Royal University of Agriculture (RUA)
RUA, also known as the Chamcar Daung Agricultural Institute (CDAI), in
Phnom Penh, was founded in 1965 with support from the French government. Since
that time it has been subjected to a number of name changes with language as a key
issue in nearly all instances.
Between 1965 and 1975, when CDAI was known as the Royal University of
Agronomic Science, there were six faculties—Agronomy, Animal Health and
Production, Fisheries, Forestry, Socio-economics, and Civil Engineering. More than
200 students were graduated and instruction was conducted in French. However,
between 1975 and 1979, the Khmer Rouge period, most CDAI facilities were
destroyed and the campus was used as an ammunitions factory. As discussed in
previous chapters, this was a dark period for the educated class throughout society.
Many RUA administrators, faculty and students fled, feigned ignorance or lost their
lives.
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98
In 1980, with the support and presence o f Vietnam, the Ministry of
Agriculture reopened the institute and renamed it the Agricultural Educational
Institute. From 1980 to 1984 only short course diploma study was offered and
instruction was conducted in Vietnamese. In 1984, with financial and technical
assistance from the Soviet Union, the institute was again renamed—the Institute o f
Agricultural Technology—and formal agricultural higher education resumed.
Facilities were renovated, and students were provided with study grants and on-
campus living accommodations. All students were required to study Russian
intensively for the first year before beginning any other courses.
By 1985 the Soviets had installed two faculties—Agriculture Machinery, and
Forestry. A third, the Faculty o f Fisheries, was installed in 1986. Soviet teachers
prepared new curricula and supplied teachers and materials. All classroom instruction
was conducted in Russian while all administrative communication between Soviet
and Cambodian staff was conducted in French.
According to several RUA faculty who had been students in the Russian
program, practicum and lab activities were well organized, student discipline was
strict, and students who did not perform well in exams and assessments failed. By
1990, with a total number of 56 Soviet teachers, 290 Khmer students had graduated.
However, the class of 1985 was the only one to complete the Russian program in its
entirety. Soviet aid stopped abruptly in 1990, and RUA was given a one-month notice
before the Soviets left Cambodia.
When Russian teachers withdrew in July 1990, Chamcar Daung had to
continue without outside assistance. To make up for the shortage of teaching staff,
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99
the institute recruited new graduates, and staff from MAFF (the Ministry o f
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries), many of whom were former RUA graduates.
The new teachers continued to use the Russian curriculum but the lessons were
translated into Khmer; and 1990 became the first year in the history of modern
Cambodian higher education in which Khmer was used as the language o f
instruction. However, during this period (1990-91) teaching activities were almost
entirely theoretical due to shortages of research facilities and laboratory equipment
and/or lack of experience with any equipment the Soviets had left behind.
In a discussion about language use at RUA, Vice Rector, Pahd Mony
reflected on the Soviet era as a well the present situation.
Now the language of instruction is in Khmer so it is not so
difficult for teachers or students. The background o f some teachers—
some graduate from Vietnam, some from Russia, some from
Bulgaria. So they prepare their course depending on their
understanding, and if there is a lack of material in Khmer, they can
translate from Vietnamese or Russian. If something (a term) in
Khmer (does) not exist, we use the term in foreign language. Some
use French some use English. But we talk together and say that we
should leave this term in French or English— not in Russian or
Vietnamese or Bulgarian—but only in two languages. Up to now the
government makes an effort to set up an academic committee, an
institution of linguistics composed of resource persons from different
fields so they can modify and create new terms in Khmer. Before
1970 we had this committee under the responsibility o f monks who
were well known for their preparing the Khmer dictionary. That
committee was composed of different persons from different fields
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1 0 0
like agriculture, law, politics, sociology, medicine, psychology and
philosophy. Russian support however was Russian language.
During that time, Russia supported not only education, but also
infrastructure. Infrastructure, we can say, has been sustainable.
Regarding education, Russian government provided capacity to our
staffs. You see, the graduates who had been educated during
Russia’s support, they got a lot of experience from the Russian
teachers and are very strong. But after the collapse of the Soviet
Union, the student that has been educated by Khmer people is not so
strong as the student educated by Russian experts at that time. The
government officials that were supported by Russian experts are
strong, too. So that has lasted in terms of sustainability.
Chhouk Borin, Dean of the Faculty o f Fisheries who was a student during the
Russian period, spoke more personally about the Soviet Union’s decade long
economic support o f Cambodia.
You know how much Russia tried to help Cambodia... they spent
a lot of money and by the end, they have economic crises in Russia,
and the Soviet Union end up with nothing. There is no
acknowledgement o f Russian support. (Today) it seems not to have
happened (because) there is no acknowledgement of support from
(the) former Soviet Union.
Chhouk Borin’s appreciation of Russian aid within Cambodia, and the near
absence o f international acknowledgment, comes from his own awakening during his
university education, which took place at RUA during this period.
At RUA I learned from Russian teacher about reform, because
when I had free time, I discuss with the Russians about how faculty
is created. And you know, I told my Russian teacher, when I
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1 0 1
graduated, I was going to stay at the university. He asked me to go to
his house and he gave me two bags of books in Russian about fishery
because they had confidence in me that I would stay at the university
after they were going to stop helping RUA. Now Russian books are
in the library, but I don’t believe many others can read them. Even
though others graduated in the same batch as me, I know how limited
they are in the Russian language.
...When I was studying, and the Russian teacher gave a lecture
and dictation, many students come up to me during break time and
see my notebook. I can note down (Russia words) very quickly by
using abbreviation method because Russian is much more
complicated than French. Dictation was word by word. If you lose a
word you lose the meaning because it was a content course.
At that time in the term, the examination was very hard to pass
and it meant that student not qualified to study in their field of
specialization. If they lose one word they become confused and they
incorrectly translate it into our native language. They lose the
meaning when they sit for exam, both oral and written.
... I completed three and a half years of coursework in Russian
language and graduated after Russians had left, in 1991... The new
teachers were Khmer, and most of them had studied in Vietnam.
...Just only one day after graduation, I approached the former rector
of RUA—at that time there were two rectors— I mean co-rectors, one
Russian and one Khmer. The foreigner is not really rector but only in
charge of academic affairs, like curriculum. But the Khmer rector
responsible for administration and less extent with academic affairs,
I approach him, and told him what I want for the Faculty of
Fisheries. .. .The graduates in the first batch and the graduates in the
second batch were very proud of their degree and they prefer to work
in the provinces where they can make money, especially in the
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1 0 2
provinces for fishery inspection. The first batch o f fisheries
graduates from RUA (went to) Takeo province near the Thai border
where fishery official can earn much money. Eight graduates went to
work there. Just after one year, they return our age (meaning
“young”) working in the Ministry of Agriculture, working in the
Department of Fisheries, and in new ministry, Ministry of
Environment... But I wanted to work in the Faculty of Fisheries. So I
worked at RUA for two years after graduation, and then went to ATT
for Master’s degree.
Chhouk Borin participated in the early ATT aquaculture outreach workshops,
first, as a RUA faculty member, and later as acting dean o f the Faculty of Fisheries.
Along with AIT-Danida, he has helped the FoF grow and develop, and in many
respects, surpass in sophistication RUA’s other departmental faculties.
It was during ATT’s early aquaculture outreach program that RUA went
through its most recent transformation. In July 1994, Chamcar Daung officially
became the Royal University of Agriculture with five faculties: Fisheries, Forestry,
Agricultural Science, Animal Health and Production and Agricultural Engineering. In
1998 the total number o f students was 434, of whom, however, only 48 were female
(see Appendices I-IO).1 6 Today, academic programs involve a three-semester general
program, which covers basic sciences, mathematics, statistics, and a foreign
lsAppendices 1-10, taken from The Sectoral National Action Plan for Agricultural Higher
Education ( 1999) include a chart depicting the Organizational Structure of RUA and statistical
data including: Donors at RUA staff assigned to the different faculties, students enrolled in the
five programs of study, occupations targeted for future training, predicted student enrollment for
years 1998-2007, a statement of institutional management and maintenance with policy
recommendations proposed by NAPHE (the National Action Plan for Higher Education), a
statement regarding institutional income generation, non-salary incentives for staff, and a
statement regarding language training .
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103
language—French. A special 10-hour per week French speaking program (Filliere
Francophone) was started in 1998 for students who might want to continue their
studies in France. Chhouk Borin talked about the FoF’s involvement with the French
program and his own experiences with French.
The decision to send teachers to study French, in my view, is
wrong. French (has) become second Russian in Cambodia. I compare
now the French how they spend money for the per diem for the
teachers to attend the French classes. It’s not useful to encourage
teachers to study French. In the constitution, government wrote (that)
education is (to be) conducted in Khmer language, and as a foreign
language, English first and then French. Government did not say “no,
I do not need French,” or “I need only English,” but actually
government can see very clearly they need English. But the French
provide a lot of contributions of financial aid, so government not
dare say only English.
For those who can speak fluently French, they understand it
will be as the Russian language in Cambodia. Although French
contribute a lot of money on development project or human
resources or agriculture—they spend a lot of money at RUA, too.
They pay not only tuition fee for student but they pay for French
study and they give incentives for those who study French well. It’s
not so bad the amount of money... But I only want to make sure our
teachers are sure they really need to study French, and not to have
conflict over which additional language (to Ieam). I also know the
French are now spending aid money and offering English language
training, but only for those who are fluent in French and who have a
basic knowledge of English. ...I studied French for almost ten years
but I did not have time to use this language. The environment did not
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104
offer opportunities to speak French, but many chances to speak
English in the region.
Planning AIT’s Involvement in Cambodia
AIT’s initial involvement in Cambodia began as early as 1991 with six fact
finding missions that eventually led to the February 1993 National Workshop on
Small-Scale Aquaculture Development. In each instance, participating NGOs,
Cambodian ministries and educational institutions and other agencies from the
Cooperation Committee for Cambodia (CCC) worked with AIT representatives to
examine future aquaculture activities, the effects of a deteriorating environment on
fish production, water supplies, and to set concrete objectives for ATT initiatives in
educational development, particularly in agricultural education. By December 1992,
the eight-member AIT team (which included key Aquaculture faculty members Peter
Edwards and Harvey Demaine, and CLET faculty member and language education
specialist, Bill Savage) had a basic understanding of the Cambodian situation and
began setting up AIT’s aquaculture outreach involvement. It was proposed that a
workshop bringing together various “players” consisting of AIT faculty, NGOs,
Cambodian ministries and educational institutions be arranged by AIT, and that it
serve as a forum for exchanging ideas and experiences (Appendices 11-13).1 7 Bill
Savage recalls how this workshop got underway.
1 7 Appendix 11 is a summary of a planning meeting held in January 1993 outlining the
workshop’s objectives, AIT’s expectations of AIT and the projected expectations of other
participants including NGOs, Cambodian ministries, agencies and agricultural institutions, as well
as the intended outputs. Appendix 12 is the workshop framework, which explicitly states the
workshop’s rationale, language issues, and proceedings. Appendix 13 is the workshop findings
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105
...In mid-1992 I got a memo from Peter Edwards, which said,
“we think curriculum development is going to be playing a large part
in our future activities, and we’re no doubt going to need some
educational expertise from CLET.” So my first role was to facilitate
the February 1993 workshop on aquaculture in Cambodia. They
brought me in to design it, think through the rationale, the
approach—the whole thing. ... So that was at the national level,
which included not only technical aquaculture stuff like seed
production and extension and research. But there was also a whole
section on educational development, although we didn’t use that
term then. It was curriculum development and institution building.
I’m not even sure if we used the term, capacity building then—but it
was certainly institutional building of some kind...
... In addition to facilitating and thinking through the framework
o f the workshop, it was about developing techniques to actually
address the issue of language. At that time, everything that happened
in the workshop happened in Khmer, and what that meant was, that
we had to find a way of working between both languages. We did it
mainly through transcription... and so, as the participants were
working in small groups, there was always somebody who could
work between the languages and get the main points that were in
Khmer, also into English.
Two educational institutes participated in the national workshop— Prek Leap
Agricultural College and the Chamcar Daung Agricultural Institute, which today is
The Royal University of Agriculture. It was at RUA’s Faculty of Fisheries (FoF) that
that includes a comparative overview between Cambodia and Asia and includes knowledge gaps,
resource and input use and socio-economic factors.
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106
two subsequent workshops focusing on curriculum development—one in October
1993 and a second in August 1994— would be arranged by ATT.
At that time, the FoF had been literally given a very complex curriculum,
known as the Shetty Curriculum, which proposed an inordinate number of classes far
exceeding the capabilities o f available faculty and resources.
“Shetty,” recalls Bill Savage, was “an Indian consultant who was paid a lot
of money by NGOs to write a curriculum and send it to Cambodia” with almost no
participation from the faculty. He quotes Chhouk Borin, Dean o f the Fisheries
Faculty, “Now we’ve had a curriculum given to us by an international consultant but
we don’t know how to use it and it’s difficult to teach... ”
The AIT team was determined to approach their workshops on curriculum
development in an entirely different way. AIT wanted and needed Cambodian
participation if building teacher capacity at the institute was to succeed. There was,
however, no focused English language training on the agenda in the first two
curriculum workshops. The proceedings, which involved everyone’s participation
during the initial presentation of the program (conducted in English with translators),
were then directed at the fisheries faculty who broke into in small groups to discuss
each point and present the outcomes of their discussions to all participants in report-
back sessions. The report-backs were done entirely in Khmer.
... At these first workshops, you had people like Peter (Edwards)
who was not always comfortable when English was not being used—
sort of being able to follow what they’re talking about—but we were
all getting in there and looking at the English, and asking for points
o f clarification until we had a full understanding o f what they talked
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107
about... And an interesting thing happened in that (October 1993)
workshop. ...W hen we first went in, they (the FoF) had 10
departments and there were 12 teachers (five full-time, seven part-
time) working with the curriculum that had been recommended by
the first consultant (Shetty). At one point, Peter was making a
proposal for a radical change in the way they organized the faculty.
W hat Peter had recommended was moving organizationally from
what they had to something that was more workable. And, there was
also the issue o f too many courses for the number o f teachers they
had... And so we said, let’s look at these courses and see what can
be combined and what can be deleted. And at that time, the teachers
were getting paid by the number of hours it said next to each
course—which were not credit hours—they were 80 or 90 hours a
semester. And so, when you say reduce the number of courses,
you’re also saying this is going to reduce the number o f hours, and
therefore, (change) the way you get paid. OK, so we get to this point
and it’s obviously uncomfortable for some of the teachers who
wanted to know, ‘"what does this mean in terms o f my salary?” And
even though everything was happening in Khmer, they actually
asked us to leave the room and wait outside while they discussed
this. I assume, and it can only be an assumption, that they didn’t
want to discuss this, even if it was in Khmer, in front o f Peter who
was recommending it. So we left the room and Peter paced and
worried that it was a disaster. After a time, they called us back in—
they had somehow negotiated this, and I don’t know how or what,
but said, “OK, we’ll go with the recommendation.”
The issues o f language use, and even English language training, as evidenced
in Bill Savage’s account, were embedded in the workshop proceedings. Focused
English language training was brought in much later, in July 1996, more than a year
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after the Danida proposal on aquaculture development in Cambodia was first
introduced, in January 1995. However, the ATT team did seek out participant-stated
needs during this time, and while many needs were about equipment and facilities,
they did consider the value of learning English or improving their English abilities.
Nonetheless,
... It was fairly predictable based on other experiences, I mean, the
kinds of needs they would express... “1 need to improve my
writing... I need to improve my listening...” So really, unexamined
sort of packaged responses that you get anywhere you ask that
question. That’s the first level that people get into (when)
considering language needs... and you have to actually set up a
situation where you can get under that and find out what they had to
write, what they thought they needed to improve in terms of
speaking, in terms of reading, and simply, people’s ability to express
needs change; like in the workshops we did last August (1998),
which was a very sophisticated level even among the teachers whose
levels of speaking weren’t that sophisticated... such as talking about
being able to express a research problem more clearly, or to
understand the subtle differences between two words or differences
in meaning with one word based on who’s talking and who’s
listening. So the first sort o f awareness was really quite predictable
and insufficient, and that’s often the level people stop at... OK, so
they need a writing course, so they need a reading course, instead of
getting in there and understanding what people actually had to do
with language.
After the second curriculum development workshop of August 1994, a
curriculum guide was drawn up finalizing the work AIT and RUA had done up until
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109
then. Relations between AIT and RUA were formalized in a June 1995 MoU
(Memorandum of Understanding), an agreement supported by Danida funding that
included MAFF’s approval, and was slated to remain in force for a four-year
period.1 8 The work up to that point intended to address the problem o f low
educational standards at RUA, the main institution responsible for producing skilled
manpower for Cambodia’s fisheries sector.1 9 FoF member Hean Vuthana was
appointed RUA-AIT liaison and was in charge of submitting three-month progress
reports to the then AIT Program Manager, Rick Gregory2 0 . In a report dated October-
December 1995, Hean Vuthana states:
The situation of cooperation was terrible at the beginning of the
period. Faculty Fisheries persons did not cooperate well with AIT
persons because they confused the roles of RUA Fisheries
Curriculum Development Coordinator. At present Fisheries Faculty
persons have limited capacity so they cannot manage their work
well. The problem is if the work was not given, the activities were
not done, we have to guide them all the time and activities (sic).
However, Fisheries Faculty persons have started to understand and
cooperate well with AIT persons at the end of the period because of
our performances.
,8The June 1995 MoU was originally drafted in June. However, the actual signing was in July.
1 9 Sce AIT Aquaculture Outreach in Cambodia 1995 Annual Report
2 0 As Program Manager, Rick Gregory was in charge of aquaculture activities in Cambodia
However, his base of operation was on the AIT Campus. Presently, an AIT-Danida Country
Manager, an American expatriate, most of his time in Cambodia and works out of the offices of
the Department of Fisheries. This arrangement is much more effective in expedifing aquaculture
activities and training of both teachers and farmers.
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1 1 0
Danida Joins AIT’s Aquaculture Outreach Program
Denmark prides itself as the country that, per capita, contributes the most
assistance to developing countries.2 1 While there are particular strategies for SE
Asia, Danida’s general focus is poverty alleviation and has been part o f wider
outreach programs currently supported by other international aid agencies (i.e. SIDA
[Swedish International Development Agency] and DFID [Department for
International Development]). One basic assumption of Danida’s developmental work
is that, “aquaculture and small-scale fisheries remains an attractive economic option
for rural households. Furthermore it is assumed that the political and social
environment will remain stable enough for successful project implementation.”2 2
Since January 1995, Danida assistance to the Support to AIT Aqua Outreach
Activities in Indochina and Northeast Thailand has taken place partly through
seconded faculty at the AIT campus in Bangkok and partly through regional outreach
activities. Danida considers itself “well consolidated in HRD (Human Resources
Development) and capacity building at a dozen tertiary institutions within the
fisheries and aquaculture sector in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam,”2 3
where all of its programs have been designed to ultimately serve the needs of
farmers, and, “to improve the livelihood of the poorest groups through sustainable
aquatic resources.”
2 1 Denmark’s Development Assistance, published 1994 by the Danish Ministry of Foreign
Affairs.
^ Danida Support to the AIT Aaua Outreach Programme in Indochina and Northeast Thailand.
Phase n. Draft Project Document, Nordic Consulting Group, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Denmark, July 1998.
^Draft Report Management Consultancy to the Roval University of Agriculture fRUAV
Cambodia. Nordic Consultancy Group, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark, January 1999.
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Ill
In Cambodia, “what Danida is doing,” says Mads Korn, the Danida
education specialist based at AIT, “fits quite well with the sector philosophy. In
Denmark, fisheries are an area where we have a lot of resources and expertise.”2 4
The Danida proposal for AIT, which was implemented in January 1995,
provided additional funding for curriculum development at RUA.2 5 Among the
organizational objectives outlined in the report many resources focused on the FoF’s
academic environment, including teacher training, short course training, study tours,
teacher scholarships, language training workshops and courses, and supplementary
salaries for teachers.
A biologist by training, Mads Kom’s work with Danida is that of an
educational curriculum specialist in fisheries and aquaculture. He was to oversee all
future curriculum development and institutional capacity building activities at RUA’s
fisheries faculty (and aquaculture outreach activities elsewhere in parts o f Southeast
Asia). But, Mads Kom did not arrive until April 1995. A second Danida specialist,
Henrik Nielson arrived shortly after.2 6 Also, Mads Kom’s arrival was not without
difficulties, especially since he came on board to essentially take over a project that
had been in the works tor over two years. Bill Savage describes that experience,
2 4 See Project Document: Support to the Outreach Programme of AIT Aquaculture in Indochina
and N.E. Thailand. Phase I. Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Danida. Ref. No. 104.ThaiIand.4,
July, 1994.
2 5 This was a continuation of the project reflected the July 1995 MoU on the institutional
strengthening of RUA, which came to be known as Phase One. Phase Two was getting underway
when I arrived in Phnom Penh. Mads Kom’s first job was to assess and implement activities
relating to the July 1995 MoU which resulted in several trip reports, including the ATT-Danida
Aquaculture Outreach Trip Report. February 1996. which is included in part as Appendix 14.
2 6 NieIson, however, did not stay. He had returned to Denmark and was not at AIT while I was
there.
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112
particularly as someone who has been an AIT- CLET faculty member for over 10
years and was initially responsible for many aspects o f the project.
...When Mads came into a job that I had a large part in writing
the description for—and this is an issue Mads, Borin and I are
writing about in a paper—I had been there working with the group
for over two years. He was coming in new, and this goes to the
overall issue of ownership of the work. It’s the same issue we have
here (at CLET). It’s the same issue they have in any organization
when new people come in. What is the process by which people
begin to gain ownership over the work, and conversely by which
they begin to share ownership? And so there was a period of time
when I was talking a lot with Mads. I obviously had very strong,
very well-thought out views about how this work would happen in
terms of approach, and he obviously came in with his own
background and experiences and ways of working. So I think that
over a long period of time there was a lot o f dialogue and trying to
understand where each of the other was coming from and why we
had been doing things in certain ways. I, at times felt there wasn’t
enough of the participatory, the experiential, the task-based—and
there was too much “Well, this is how we learned to do curriculum
development in such and such training course before we came...”
So, there was a period of time where we were trying to come to a
common understanding of what was happening and what needed to
happen. I think that coalesced during the January 1996 workshop in
which I was asked by Mads to fxame and facilitate, and where I was
asking Mads and Henrik to work in ways that I’m very comfortable
with and most people here (at CLET) are very comfortable with, but
actually was their first experience in working this way. It came down
to not predetermining what was going to happen...and building the
workshop as we went along, as needs came up, (and) being as
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113
responsive as possible to the immediate situation. And it wasn’t the
way they had been working, I don’t think, but it went really well. It
was exciting, there was a lot done, and there was the exact same kind
of excitement and spontaneity that comes out of working this way.
And because it went so well, Mads recognized that it worked. From
that point on we really began to converge on what was happening
and what needed to be done. So there was this kind of transition for
me... and since then, it’s been very much a complete team effort on
all the work. It’s been a very satisfying professional and collegial
relationship— very much a dialogue, talking through what we’re
going to do. I guess I should add that... my role has gone from
facilitator of the national workshop to curriculum development work,
and now when I go in and do workshops, it’s primarily only for
language. So I’ve gone from a really broad kind o f role into what
most people would think I’m supposed to be doing here.
In a related question to Mads Kom regarding his role, he replied,
It was a new challenge for me. I didn’t know much about
Southeast Asia and one o f the exciting parts about being here—and I
knew this in my childhood—is that the basis of people’s
personalities, ambitions, values, and when you get right down to
working with people, is you discover that we are very close. .. .The
differences that are in the culture... and that also indicates a lot of
different values in the society... but, when you get to real personal
things that matter, it’s the same things. The physical and economic
situations are different but it’s still the same values that count
between professional colleagues. They’re friends. You discover that
some cultures look very different when you start, and I’m using the
word culture in the conventional sense... but when you work with
people and solve problems, for instance, at the institutional level
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114
about farming or deciding which tasks are split between people, then
you find that many cultures solve things the same way, and have
approaches that resemble each other, so much so that you can’t
believe it.
Thailand is the country I have the most difficulty understanding.
Cambodia is second, but that’s at the institutional context—the way
the society works, the way things are organized, the way things
happen, the way people manage things... I understand a lot about
Chamcar Daung (RUA), but I don’t understand much when I look at
the national level and the ministerial level. I should, but anyway...
In Thailand and Cambodia— and this a simplification— but, if
you have a problem, you would never solve the problem with the
person with whom you have the problem. You would ask somebody
else to tell that person what is wrong. But in my experience, at least
in Vietnam on two very separate occasions, they do as we do in
Europe. If there is a problem then you address it. Sometimes it
depends on the context o f course, and the persons involved, but in a
well functioning group or professional team you would address this
directly with the person involved, and then the persons involved
would solve the problem.
... I get very impressed by the Vietnamese solving things this
way, partly because it’s how we solve things in Europe, and partly
because in Thailand I see strange solutions found after half a year
because nobody really dares to do anything about it. I would say the
problems in Cambodia are solved more indirectly as well. It’s an
oversimplification of reality... but the differences are small. I’ve
experienced the very wise way o f (Chhouk) Borin to handle
something. (At one point) there was some conflict with the former
vice-dean, and he (the former vice-dean) didn’t want to socialize,
and had difficulty in communicating with people... But the strategy
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115
Borin advocated was that we should try to strengthen his position if
he was to be capable o f handling it. Eventually he wasn’t able to
handle it.2 7 In this case, conflicts had been solved by not taking them
up. If they had been taken up they would never have been solved
because that would have been a confrontation and (the former vice
dean) would never have been able to compromise anything.
To clarify his expectations as they related specifically to the project at RUA,
Mads Kom added,
In some ways it has to do with language. Realizing that language
is the single most apparent constraint in what you do. ...Language,
and the different science words that have been involved, and the
difficulty in merely handling the translation... I mean some words
simply don’t exist in Khmer, particularly science words, and also in
the context of working. The approach we work with is one which I
call the dialoging process approach, which means that we leam or
plan as we go ahead—maybe in small steps so we could say that if
we wanted to put a time scale of maybe three months or half a year,
or something like that, the scope in which we leam adjusts all the
time. Then the use of translators has such a limited value...
We also work with the approach, which I call futuristic
workshops, or future workshops, which is a way of discussing with
people and identifying where you want to go, and agreeing on the set
up. ...What has worked well is to have the content and presentations
in Cambodian, but the presentations that are on the overhead
projector, in English. This allows us to follow what they are talking
about. The workshops are based on the participants (Cambodian
2 7 The vice-dean Mads Kom refers to eventually left RUA. Chhouk Borin was made acting dean
and his position remained uncertain for nearly a year. However, that changed in the spring of 1999
when he was officially appointed Dean of the Fisheries Faculty.
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partners) and not on us. The workshops are like seminars where you
work and try to solve problems.
I think what happens when you realize more and more, the
qualifications (of people you are working with), the sort of products
you are bringing in your portfolio are not as valuable as you thought
they were... You can keep them and they may be good back stoppers
(back-ups) but what’s more important is to draw on the resources o f
the people that you are working with. I feel that professionally, I lose
a little bit o f my identity, and sometimes I have to put across my own
qualifications and what I want to sell—what I’m bringing... then I’m
actually becoming a facilitator—I don’t know if that’s the right
word—but facilitator, meaning being part of a process and trying to
stimulate things in some sort of specific direction according to some
prior policy that’s already been developed or decided by an
institution.
When I arrived in Phnom Penh, the Aqua Outreach Project Phase Two had
just been approved by Denmark with a budget of 2.7 million dollars. The approved
proposal, which largely reflected past achievements, recommended a continuation of
the work that had been done at the 10 or 12 regional institutions, which includes
RUA. The money received for the continuation of aquaculture activities and
educational development would be spread among the different institutions. (Salaries
are not part of this budget and are paid separately).
“It’s a good budget,” says Kom, “when seen from the size of the units we are
working with.” In Cambodia, however, where instability is endemic, Danida handles
disbursements prudently, and independently of the ministries.
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We consider it important to have tight control o f the money, and
as soon as we’ve set up regulations and budgets, we have to have
very transparent financial reporting and be very close to the
operations. At AIT, we’re operating as the equivalent of a NGO,
which is established to have direct contact with the institution (RUA)
instead of going through all the ministerial levels. If we had to go
through the ministries, we’d have to pay all the overheads. That
would be the normal procedure.
I think our case is a special case because we’ve consolidated
ourselves, and our work with a confined group. And so we’re close
to controlling the money ourselves. ...I think in the system, being
poor and having access to donor money will cause some personal
privileges, overheads or just paying respects. ...I see that people we
work with have to pay respects to their leaders, and the leaders have
to find a way of paying respects higher up in the system all the time.
What Mads Kom is referring to is often classified in the West as
corruption. In the developing world, where economic reality is often harsh, it
is not unusual (and Cambodia is not a special case) for these kinds of
activities to be a problem that most aid agencies must continually deal with.
Most development agencies know that what they consider corruption, or
“doing favors,” is based on an interdependent network where somebody in a
family owes something to somebody else. It is often a decisive factor for a lot
of things, like how students enter a university, where they get jobs, and so
forth.
In rural economies like Cambodia, the most common way of talking
about it is that people pay respects to their superiors and their network, which
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can mean anything from hosting a dinner or giving a bottle of whiskey, or in
some cases, to paying sums of money under the table.
To a Dane that doesn’t know the region, he would say that it’s
extremely corrupt. Yet, donors tend to be naive and we forget a lot o f
the mechanisms that run through our own systems—like the
European Union, or with the overhead for an institution—nobody
would run a project that’s operated by somebody from the outside
without getting an overhead. Certainly AIT gets an overhead as a
condition for having Danida working there, and overheads, naturally,
are always weighed against direct benefits.
AIT-Danida and RUA: Phase One
The signing of the June 1995 MoU (Memorandum of Understanding)
between AIT and RUA constituted the beginning of what Danida refers to as Phase
One. In January 1996, Mads Kom and Bill Savage conducted a two-day training
needs and planning workshop (discussed earlier by Bill Savage) that would pave the
way for the language training workshop in July. There was, nonetheless, a lot more
that had been accomplished along the way.
In addition to short course training, limited scholarships and curriculum
development, w'hich entailed the development of course material by individual
instructors,2 8 many of AIT-Danida’s efforts at RUA were focused on renovation of
the FoF’s campus facilities, including electric generators, water pumps, electric fans
and curtains to lessen the heat from the intense sunlight which pours in through the
lab and classroom windows, and establishing security measures (bars on the
2 8 The teachers, who had been receiving modest salary supplements, were later told that their
supplementary salaries would now be contingent on the completion of their course materials.
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119
windows). There was also the creation of fish farms (fish breeding ponds on campus)
for practical training and eventually as income generating endeavors, and office
equipment and teaching aids, such as computers, video monitors and VCRs, overhead
projectors, copiers, supplies, books, etc., and finally the upgrading o f the FoF’s
library. Progress in all these areas, as mentioned earlier, was kept track of by fisheries
faculty member Hean Vuthana. However, he was eventually promoted to Head o f the
Aquaculture Section at RUA. Danida feared that without a liaison, there would be a
slow down in improvements unless there was someone at RUA to oversee project
activity progress—even though Mads Kom had been making regular visits at two-
month intervals.
In May 1996, a Project Steering Committee met in Phnom Penh at RUA to
evaluate the progress of the Fisheries Faculty, to appoint a new liaison, and determine
a course o f action for the next six months in terms of upgrading the FoF’s academic
capacity and management efficiency. Among the plans was the July 1996, one-week
Intensive Faculty Development Workshop. Listed in the objectives were the short
term objectives to focus on individual English learning activities and to set up an in-
service training program. The long-term goal of the workshop was, “to achieve that
all faculty can speak and communicate in English”. The language objectives were to
be part of the next curriculum update, which was basically the revamping of the
fisheries curriculum based on the achievements and contributions made by the
fisheries faculty during the previous semester. In the table found in Appendix 15,
Contribution o f Teachers in RUA Fisheries Curriculum Development, there are
several references to the lack of Khmer documents (teaching materials), the
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1 2 0
preponderance of foreign language documents (many in English), and the need for
translating these materials to Khmer. Among the outcomes of the May Steering
Committee Workshop were plans for short-course trainings (Appendix 16)2 9 and
conditions for supplementary salaries for fisheries faculty and staff (Appendix 17).
During this phase, the efforts being made at RUA did not appear to be
succeeding was hoped; and while AIT Aquaculture Outreach was willing to
participate in RUA Fisheries faculty staff development with short course technical
training, some language training, and a limited number of Masters degree
scholarships, AIT expected that RUA staff development would be looking better than
it was at this stage. Additionally, Danida’s focus on the FoF’s participation in
curriculum development was met with resistance from AIT colleagues, as Bill
Savage recalls.
... One of the big arguments we had during the first phase of the
project—and when I say we, I was party to that discussion, although
it was Mads putting forward the argument to Harvey (Demaine)3 0
that, “sorry, but this is not a three year project. It may be a three-year
project with a capital ‘T ’—in other words that’s what you’re
funding—but in terms o f capacity building, with that faculty—it’s
long term.” And there was one point in which, because of institute
politics (at AIT) and because of external factors, people at
Aquaculture were saying, “let’s stop wasting our resources on that
2 9 Appendix 16 is a sample of a short-course ToT (Training of Teachers) course description. This
was one of three new technical aquaculture courses that were to be conducted over the next six
months. Among the preconditions to participating in the training, which would take place on
location outside of Cambodia, were three explicitly stated conditions, two of which referred to
English language ability: 1) “Basic English ability is required by participants...”2) “Paralleled and
continuous English will be provided by current capacity building package,” and 3) “Small
scholarships are provided referring to the MoU between AIT and RUA provided by Danida.”
3 0 Dr. Harvey Demaine is the Aquaculture Outreach Coordinator at AIT.
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121
faculty,” and that’s when I stuck my head up again and went to Mads
and Harvey and Flick Gregory and other people who were
questioning the effectiveness o f the support, and said “if you quit
now, you’ve failed.” And that has proven true, and I’m so happy that
it has come to pass because all the issues about power and control
and ownership were working themselves through. If we hadn’t kept
with it, then certainly we wouldn’t have arrived at a point when the
real work could surface and be seen.
The curriculum guide is a good example of that—where the
curriculum guide started in mid-1994, sat on the shelf and nothing
happened. And why was it on the shelf for two years? Because it had
been contributed to by all the teachers and was some kind of threat to
those that held curriculum close to their chest. It was only after we
had done lots o f other things that it wasn’t a threat, and that the
curriculum guide came back.
AIT-Danida’s First Language-focused Workshop
The July 1996 two-week Intensive Faculty Workshop on English.
Computers. Library and Laboratory (Appendix 18) was held at the FoF at RUA. It
brought Bill Savage back to Cambodia to work with Mads Kom and Henrik Neilson.
This was the first workshop supporting the career development of the Faculty of
Fisheries that included focused language training. Twenty RUA teachers and three
administrative staff participated; however, not all teachers came from the Fisheries
Faculty. Teachers from Agricultural Engineering, Veterinary, Basic Sciences,
Agronomy, and Forestry were also present. On the first day, the following
introductory advice was given:
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Since one of the objectives is English improvement, participants
should try to use as much English as possible during the two weeks.
The purpose of many of the workshop tasks is to provide
opportunities for communication in English. Participants should ask
questions if they do not understand what is said by others or what is
going on. Participants can begin writing in their dialogue journals
immediately. These will be collected periodically and read by BS
(Bill Savage).
Probably the most significant departure from most other language training
workshops in other contexts was Bill’s focus on “field”. In other words, teachers
were instructed to work in small groups to brainstorm and discuss how they might
talk about their major fields of interest, or specialization. This was followed by a
report-back session in which each participant spoke in English about his or her field.
Their next assignment was to write an introduction to their field to be collected the
next day.3 1 The following day, a session on teaching methods was introduced
according to the educational objectives found in the RUA FoF Curriculum Guide,
with an emphasis placed on “practical skills” and “ability to solve problems”.3 2
Throughout the workshop, “tasks” was the main construct for discussions
and activities.3 3 For example, one task given to RUA participants was to arrive at an
understanding and offer an explanation of teaching methods, learning activities, and
how the development of teaching methods can be part of faculty development. They
3lThere were frequent feedback sessions on participant writing. See Appendix 19.
3 2 Report, Intensive Faculty Workshop on English. Computers. Library and Laboratory'. 8-19 July
1996. Faculty of Fisheries, Royal University of Agriculture, Phnom Penh, Cambodia and AIT-
Danida Aquaculture Outreach, Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand.
3 3 A sample “task” handout can be seen in Appendix 20.
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123
were also asked to consider and investigate how other faculties developed teaching
methods. This approach not only intensified efforts to use English, but also produced
a greater understanding of pedagogy. Tasks included report-back sessions where
groups identified more specific course development needs in terms of methodology
and evaluation. The following definition of a lesson or lecture plan was collectively
arrived at by the fourth day:
A lecture plan is a kind of budget, an estimate o f how the
relationship between the teacher and the students—within a given
time frame—can be (sic) develop and proceed, based on the content
of the lesson.
The second week of the workshop progressed along similar lines with
different groups focusing on different tasks. On the last day participants evaluated the
workshop (Appendix 21). In one evaluation, a participant commented, “This is the
first time I’ve ever done any planning.” In other words, says Bill Savage,
... People had never been asked to do any planning before by their
own department heads, faculty heads or by collaborators. ...Also,
from my field notes, there’s an observation that the whole discourse
had changed from, ‘what we need to ‘what we need to do.’
For me, it’s all about methodology—all about how you do it. It’s
easy to say you have an experiential approach... but how do you do
it? So when we get criticisms from people like, ‘they’ve never done
curriculum development before, so they can’t.’ My response to that
is always, ‘you don’t leam how to do curriculum development and
then do it... ’ If the methodology is such that it’s set up so that your
doing curriculum development and being conscious of how you’re
doing it—then, that in fact, is the learning. ...The language analogy
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124
is—we’re not going to train you in doing small business
entrepreneurship until you have the language to receive my
knowledge. In other words, you have to leam knowledge before you
can communicate. And o f course, turning that around it’s, no, you
leam language by communicating.
The workshop culminated in a poster session produced and displayed by the
faculty participants (selected samples in Appendix 22); nearly fifty guests were in
attendance. After the workshop, an English Training Assessment was prepared with
each teacher subjectively rating his or her own English language ability, which was
recorded next to an assessment grade made by Bill Savage. As part o f this
assessment, plans for future language development were proposed that specified three
future phases for language training (Appendix 23).
In the first, a sLx-to-nine month plan, English courses for the FoF would
include: Basic English, conversation/listening, reading/writing, translation, technical
English, and TOEFL/IELTS preparation. For the first phase, the majority of teachers
felt that ACE (Australian Center for English) in Phnom Penh had the best quality
courses. The second phase focused on technical English for fisheries and it was
agreed that an agency such as ACE could develop and deliver the language course, or
the English department (sponsored by the French) at RUA would be able to do it with
advice from CLET. The third phase, after a year’s time, would entail an intensive
two-week English program for all teachers to be conducted by two CLET faculty
members. It was agreed that the first week of the program would be held at RUA, the
second week at AIT. Finally, in a formal closing session, Mads Kom made the
following remarks before presenting each participant with a certificate
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...I would like to use this opportunity to thank the many faculty
and staff that have shown their motivation by actively contributing to
the many important sessions o f this workshop— focus on faculty
capacity building on English, computer, library, (and) laboratory.
I feel that the Faculty o f Fisheries has made an important
step to a better Fisheries education for the new generation of
Cambodia. ...(Teachers) are better able to discuss educational issues,
(such as) teaching and course development (and they know) a lot
more English than when we first started.
I would like to emphasize the importance of professional
teambuilding in the development of the RUA, not only to Thailand
and Vietnam, but also between full-time teachers and part-time
teachers where it is important to link the university to outside society
and market development. We hope this teambuilding may continue
in the future for it is crucial for the continuous development and
upgrading of the faculty.
Around this time as well, an academic “Quality Committee” comprised o f
five faculty members that would review and have the final say-so over the teaching
materials submitted by the faculty was created. However, for a variety of reasons—
lack o f time, problems with translation o f materials into Khmer, changes in faculty,
and management snags—this committee has yet to establish itself in a manner
necessary for carrying out its objectives. Moreover, for the same reasons, teachers
have been finding it difficult to develop their teaching materials and have had to
forego salary supplements. Chan Rotha, FoF member, administrative assistant and
participant in the drafting of the Sectoral National Action Plan for Agricultural
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1 2 6
Higher Education has been part of the Quality Committee and explained its status as
o f April 1999:
In the committee, we have five members—three men and two
women... The committee conducted a meeting and all participants
agree to vote to appoint the member of the committee who will be
the chairman o f the committee. But it takes almost two weeks to get
it approved by the leaders o f the university (at the ministry), or else
the rector will not approve, so we write a letter to the leaders of the
university. But they have to find out the terms of reference (ToR) o f
the committee to make sure they know what is to be done as to the
quality and usefulness, preparing it for longer use.
After the July workshop many teachers enrolled at ACE and attended English
classes three evenings a week3 4 , Mads Kom resumed his regular bi-monthly visits,
and all full-time teachers worked on consolidating their teaching materials so that the
curriculum would be strengthened—and so that they could, perhaps, finally receive
the salary supplements contingent on this condition. Nonetheless, after five semesters
of language training at ACE, Danida stopped funding this part of the faculty’s
training. Mads Kom explains,
After two years we stopped. Partly because we felt that now they
had been given the basic English course and partly because we felt
that they had to expand their English by using English more than just
by attending classes. ...And they always complained that the
teachers were not good enough. We haven’t yet come up with a
(satisfactory) staff development strategy for language. There may be
3 4 The ACE classes were paid for by Danida but the teaches were not given a per diem for
attending as with French classes. According to Mads Kom, “If they wanted to leam English, then
they would have to prove that they wanted to leam it.”
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a need for some people to continue (classes) but it depends on their
motivation, and if we can find relevant and good ways o f providing
this— but, it is absolutely within our options.
...The main idea has been to use English with certain precautions
in our work with them, and thus integrating English learning and
advancement as something that happens in the course o f working on
curriculum development, (and) on information technology where we
are providing access to international networks where they would
have to access English in the context that it’s necessary to achieving
goals they want to achieve. The primary approach has been to
integrate English into curriculum development, into the workshops
and into the meetings we have with them. And the principles in
doing that are very elementary... and taking great caution in the way
we use English with them... simplifying the language, repeating
things differently, using words that carry the meaning... explaining
simple things. Personally, I use a lot of Pidgin English. I don’t stay
in the country long enough, and so it’s important that they
understand what I say rather than that I talk to them in (perfect?)
English. It’s a little bit contradictory'...
Capacity Building at RUA
In October 1996, AJT-Danida had decided to try to boost the level o f
activities at the FoF through an “experiment” that extended teacher responsibilities to
meet project deadlines in the four areas or sections they had been working on since
January 1996: Section of the Library, Section of Administration and Education
(which included a major effort to produce a modular Teacher Guide Book with
revised course outlines), Section o f the Laboratory, and Section o f On-Farm
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128
Research. This experiment—“demanding specific outputs”—was now officially tied
to supplementary teacher-staff salaries.
“This ‘experiment’ tries to give impetus to weaker teachers, besides
introducing some simple managerial and planning techniques.”3 5 Additionally,
Chhouk Borin, who was the newly appointed AIT-RUA Liason Officer (ARLO),
filling the six month void left by Hean Vuthana, was now responsible for making
monthly status reports regarding the four sections, and trying to help the faculty meet
their goals and deadlines.
In November 1996, the Project Steering Committee met for a second time
(the first meeting was in May) to decide on the second six-month action plan, and a
joint Danida-Sida-ODA Review Mission visited the university. In a February 1997
Trip Report prepared by Mads Kom, he stated that considerable progress had been
achieved in faculty administration, teacher training programs, and facilities
improvement during the prior six months. “However, on the dark side, government
salaries were withheld for the university and there was no regular power and water
supply by February.”
In an April 1997 Trip Report, activities were summarized in the following:
A sturdy and persistent development of resources at the Faculty o f
Fisheries (FoF) follows the 2n d six-month activity plan, approved in
3 S In Appendix 24, “Time Bound Activities and ToR (Terms of Reference) for the Faculty of
Fisheries, ” responsibilities of faculty and staff are clearly delineated. In almost all of the sub
sections, teachers were required to translate various written tasks, including course descriptions
from Khmer into English. This appendix contains several sub-section samples. Appendix 25 is a
table of activities from the Section of AdministraUon with two key references to English language
training. Institutional Capacity Building. Faculty of Fisheries. Roval University of Agriculture
Chatncar Paung. Phnom Penh. Cambodia: Trip Report AIT-Danida Aquaculture Outreach 3-7
February 1997.
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129
January. Since then notable progress has been achieved in a
management plan for the experimental fish farm, the completion o f a
farm building, teacher/staff participation in the English language
training programme and faculty improvements. A first draft o f the
revised course outlines is ready for circulation. Critical delays in
implementation are being addressed. ...In consideration o f a possible
2n d phase of the current Danida support to higher education in
agriculture in Cambodia, further progress in the above may influence
the final approval by Danish authorities.3 6
As the possibility' of a second phase of Danida funding was getting closer,
success with the FoF would not be the only deciding factor. A new wave o f political
instability was threatening the relationship between Danida and the administration at
RUA, which was under direct authority o f the ministries, and which had taken so
much time to cultivate. Would the overthrow of the current powers in Cambodia
undermine or help the progress that had been made at the administrative levels?3 7
In a September, 1997 Trip Report, Mads Kom writes:
Since the fighting between the Co-Prime Ministers in July, winds
of change are blowing in Cambodia. In Phnom Penh the military
action lasted for only 3-5 days after which order was restored. Some
fighting is still going on in the Northwestern provinces where Khmer
Rouge is in alliance with Funcinpec. Depending on which side is
quoted, good and bad achievements are highlighted, but essentially
the situation at the moment seems more stable in Phnom Penh.
3 6 AIT-Danida Aquaculture Outreach. Capacity Building of Educational Institutions. Faculty of
Fisheries. Roval University of Agriculture Chamcar Daung. Phnom Penh. Cambodia: Trip Report.
22-29 April, 1997.
3 7 It was during the July 1997 conflict in Cambodia when many donors pulled out (see pp. 64-65).
Danida, however, did not.
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130
Several ministers and high-ranking officers have been replaced,
among them the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Mr.
Tao Seng Huor. Recently, the director of the Department of Forestry,
Mr. Chan Sarun, has been succeeded by former Deputy Director, Mr.
Or Soeun. The former Undersecretary of State HE May Sam Oeun
has been replaced by HE Chan Saphan (the formal Rector of RUA
till 1992).
By mid-September, rumors will know that major changes are
expected also at RUA within the next couple o f months. ...Mr. Chan
Sarun has been mentioned as a possible new candidate for the post as
Rector. ...H e is publicly respected for his strict ways of
management.3 8
...Here it is concluded that if a new strong leadership at RUA and
a Ministerial Action Plan3 9 may be consolidated by the end of the
year, this would enforce overall chances for a continuous and strong
institutional development at RUA. It is believed that the Faculty o f
Fisheries (FoF) may well serve as a model and that experiences may
be replicated to other faculties.4 0
At this time, AIT-Danida began refining its management strategy based on
the outcomes and experiences of the past two years. In November 1997, Mads Kom
conducted a project evaluation survey with all the teachers at the FoF, which was to
become the basis o f a December project evaluation workshop. Chhouk Borin
3 8 ln 1997, there was no official rector at RUA. However, Chan Sarun never became rector at
RUA. Since 1999, the official rector has been Mr. Chan Narath.
3 9 Cambodia’s National Task Force on Higher Education (NHETF) had already released the
second draft of the National Action Plan for Higher Education developed with support from the
World Bank. RUA had been working on a Master Plan for Agricultural Higher Education and a
draft on Trends and Needs in Manpower Planning for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural
Development had also been released.
4 0 AIT-Danida Aquaculture Outreach. Capacity Building of Educational Institutions. Faculty of
Fisheries. Roval University of Agriculture Chamcar Daung. Phnom Penh. Cambodia: Trip Report.
15-20 September, 1997.
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131
submitted a six-month summary report on curriculum development activities
(Appendix 26) and compiled the results of the survey which focused on:
1) the management roles at ATT, RUA and the FoF; 2) capacity building; 3) facilities
upgrading; and 4) personal development.
Central to the issues were a revision in the regulations of supplementary
salaries (Appendix 27) and the continuation of English training activities. In
reviewing the documentation for this period, what is especially interesting is how this
period reveals a significant rise in the level of sophistication and independence in
RUA’s approach to capacity building and the development o f their faculty.4 1
Coordination between faculty and administration appears significantly improved, and
a conscious movement towards faculty autonomy appears to have become part o f the
process.
AIT-CLET and the RUA Faculty of Fisheries
Intensive Language Workshop
The two-part, two-week July-August 1998 Intensive Language Workshop
that had been promised in 1996 took place at RUA for the first week with Bill Savage
and CLET colleague, Terry Clayton; and in Bangkok at AIT-CLET, for the second
week with Bill and CLET faculty members Mynt Mynt Thein and Pierre Walter. The
4 1 Workshop and Trip Report: AIT-Danida Aquaculture Outreach Capacity Building of
Educational Institutions. Faculty of Fisheries. Roval University of Agriculture. Chamcar Daung.
Phnom Penh 8-10 December 1997.
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workshop aimed to “improve the capability of RUA-FoF teachers to use English in
their work, specifically for research, writing and producing course materials.”4 2
At the first workshop, the 17 participants were asked to state their individual
learning goals, which included items such as “watch Discovery Channel on TV”,
“read some textbooks” “develop my course” “speak with brother’s friends”, “listen to
FM99 English radio programs”, “speak with foreign businessmen from Singapore,
Malaysia, Taiwan, France Germany”, “letter writing” and so on. Towards the end of
the workshop, participant goals were revised somewhat more soberly (and with
capitals): “Study appropriate English books” “Speak bravely”, “Participate in short-
course training at A IT ’ , “Study at private school”, “Practice writing”, “Translate
English fisheries books to Khmer”, “Speak with colleagues in English”,
“TOEFL/IELTS preparation”, “Watch CNN and BBC”.
Activities— or tasks—focused on research methods, research interests, text
analysis of academic journal article introductions, developing course materials,
setting criteria for evaluation o f course materials and course materials development
goals4 3 and presentations of group work. Participants worked on writing an
introductory page to a research project they wanted to pursue, revising through four
drafts; and each participant wrote the story of the workshop as their final writing task.
4 2 Report: Intensive Language Workshop. Faculty of Fisheries (FoF), Royal University of
Agriculture (RUA) and the Center for Language and Educational Technology (CLET), Asian
Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand (1998).
4 3 The emphasis on course material and evaluation was in part related to the newly
established, though, inconclusive, academic “Quality Committee” comprised of FoF
teachers and departmental academic administrators. Their job was/is to evaluate the
course materials submitted by teachers as part of the AIT-Danida “experiment” tying
teacher salary supplements to “outputs”.
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The second week of the workshop took place at AIT where six participants
were flown to Bangkok. Here they had access to language, video, computer and
library resources not available at RUA. They also had access to AIT Aquaculture
faculty who were able to help participants with drafts five and six of their research
introductions by offering feedback, and by helping them make such distinctions as,
“is this a research problem or a management problem?”
While language development and writing on research activities continued,
participants also made site visits to shrimp and fish farms, and other aqua outreach
related projects, as well as a field trip to a large Bangkok bookstore where they
selected English language learning materials that would be helpful to them when they
returned to Phnom Penh. Evaluations of the workshop included statements such as
“know some words I never understood”, “know how to translate words and write
Khmer to English”, “listen and understand when Dr. Amara (AIT Aquaculture
faculty) talks about research”, “can use the video camera (zoom in, zoom out)”,
“write and read better than before”, and “When Bill came to Cambodia, I could not
talk English with him so I would not stay near him. I was worried. And now I can
talk with him and sit near him.”
AIT-Danida and RUA Phase Two:
Autonomy, Sustainability and Ownership
“The big difference,” says Mads Kom, “or what characterizes the situation in
Cambodia is that there are so many levels of decision-making and such a big
bureaucracy.” Regarding institutional management, Mads Kom sees the problem as
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134
one of “people having titles and responsibilities, but not being able to carry out the
related functions.” Danida’s role at RUA has been to assist faculty and staff in
defining their roles “in terms o f their duties within the system.”
(In) Vietnam or Laos, which are communist, there is a hierarchy
in which there will be someone who decides and someone who
implements things. In Cambodia, there’ll be several people who
decide, but not necessarily anyone who implements things. ...Now
they have two secretaries o f state within MAFF (Ministry of
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) and six deputy secretaries of
state and they get papers that need to pass through several ministries.
Like in the case of Chamcar Daung, they get budgets from the
Ministry of Finance and they have to get approvals from MAFF for
any moves they make; and MAFF is responsible for entry exams and
in that regard, is seen as guaranteeing the quality o f education. When
it comes down to the bottom line, they just do things mechanically
and are not really involved—and this complicates things a lot. When
you work with an institution like RUA, which is endowed in line
with its ministry (MAFF), it doesn’t have autonomy. It has an annual
budget, but the annual budget is not transferred or released to the
university as cash in any way. It is kept with the ministry, and in
certain cases, as with salaries for example, which are normally paid
on a monthly basis, they may be postponed for several months before
they are paid to the teachers.4 4 They are paid from the Ministry of
Finance, somehow passing though the other ministry (MAFF) before
they end up with the rector.
Mr. Chan Narath (acting rector at the time) blames each ministry
for taking their percentage of the budget before it ever comes as cash
4 4 Late salary disbursements are especially difficult for teachers in Cambodia who earn about $30
to $40 per month, hardly enough to support themselves or their families. In fact, most teachers
hold second and sometimes third jobs.
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135
into their hands. For example, he said, “If I need to run a workshop
and I need, say, $400, then I will probably get 60 percent o f what I
ask for and the rest will be taken as overhead in the handling of this
component—and I’ll still be up against the budget with this
problem.”
I think this illustrates how limited he is in his freedom to make
any financial decisions and run things. This kind of thing goes
through the whole system in all sorts of decisions that are required,
and he feels incompetent because whatever decision he makes, there
will be somebody who can easily overrule what he says and what he
does.
The general attitude in the university is that there’s no real
strategy and no real strength in decision-making because you can
always be overruled. And this influences heavily the daily
management and operations. With the MoU (for Phase Two),
everything was agreed at the university level but we didn’t have the
final version translated into Khmer yet, so the (acting) rector said
they wanted to postpone it, and that was a good decision. But then
after another date was set, the different levels o f the ministry still
hadn’t given it their endorsements—they didn’t have to do anything
in writing—just pass it on, but the rector didn’t feel confident that
everybody had nodded their head, so he didn’t want to sign it. He
wanted a consensus and approval by everybody. I think it’s the
attitude o f being overruled by the ministry and not having any true
power... and I wouldn’t blame him under those conditions.
But there are... efforts to improve this and the most recent has
been an endorsement by the government to appoint the rector
officially and to establish the university as a public institution, which
means they will get more autonomy. Then whether they are capable
o f lifting their style and tradition of managing the university... well,
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that’s a big question. But there’s support for that in our project and
from other donor projects because I don’t think they’ll get much
support from the government or ministry. So that’s exciting... to be
part o f the process of building autonomy and also trying to
strengthen the central management at the university. But it’s going to
be step by step and that will take half a year to a year to move this.
Danida officially approved Phase Two on December 12, 1998. In January
1999, Mads Korn made the first of three visits to RUA to discuss with the Faculty of
Fisheries what they wanted to do. The faculty arrived at a course of action through a
series of “evaluation seminars” where they evaluated the achievements o f the past
four years (“what went well and what went wrong”) and determined what they
thought was important for Phase Two—given Danida’s mandate, and what Danida
could support. There were five allocated areas: 1) institutional management, 2)
research and the linkages between research and curriculum development— usually in
the form of small grants, 3) improving education and training in curriculum
development “in the widest context”, 4) enhancing the capacity to handle and retrieve
information, accessing the internet and setting up web pages— which naturally
involves English language ability, and 5) developing human resources through
because we’re not expanding—not very much at least. We’re changing our
scholarships, fellowships and study tours. Mads Kom:
The second phase allows us to be more participatory focus with
essentially the same partners. ...The work we’ve done so far has
called for a logical continuation of Phase One, and Danida has
fortunately recognized this and approved it because human
development resources takes more than three to four years. It takes a
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137
minimum five years and you get the return on your investment when
you have this time.
To Mads’ surprise, the faculty came up with “process things” as opposed to
“a shopping list.” The FoF wanted Danida to enable them to use what they already
had, realizing that “a big container of equipment,” they did not have a budget to
sustain, would only burden them with security and maintenance headaches.
Regarding institutional management, Mads Kom sees the problem as one o f
“people having titles and responsibilities, but not being able to carry out the related
functions.” Danida’s role at RUA has been to assist faculty and staff in defining their
roles “in terms o f their duties within the system.”
Prior to the funding of Phase Two, Danida hired a management consultant
who conducted workshops at the ministry level and with other groups, and had come
to RUA. Inviting the management consultant to RUA was something the vice-rector,
Pahd Mony had requested for the FoF. Mads Kom explains,
...W hat is the responsibility of a dean or a vice-dean, (and
administrators) at all levels? What is the responsibility of a teacher
except teaching... and if there are no clear descriptions or the
perception o f this, that there is no other duty... then the teacher just
comes in and teaches and then goes away, and maybe he or she
doesn’t have any communication or coordination with colleagues. So
how is coordination really done and how can things be improved
under such circumstances? Borin has a very clear idea about his role
as vice-dean (now as dean) and is a very responsible kind of
person— quite different from the former vice-dean. He really cares a
lot and is the kind of personality that may be the basis for a lot of
good changes in the system.
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Chhouk Borin also spoke about the management consultant:
Institutional management consultant, Sven Eriks, Mads hired him
to work and come to RUA. They had a workshop with teacher group
and leader group. They (RUA participants) gave the high priority to
English training and French training. In the National Action Plan (for
Higher Education) there is a list of actions that have to be taken in
the next ten years (Appendix 7). But the consultant observed that the
proposed plan is poor because the activities have not been prioritized
and so it cannot be done in the next ten years. In the workshop, they
asked the participants to prioritize the actions activity and language
was the first priority.
Whether or not language emerged as the first priority because o f perceived
long-term needs or because the management training workshops were conducted in
English may or may not be relevant. However, when Chhouk Borin talked about
Phase Two and how it came about, he was very specific.
Mads is good about remarks in his notebook. Everything I
request, he writes down in the notebook and then I see it in the
document. He includes my request in the document. Recently I
proposed a short-course training. I have in my mind the training is
for the (FoF) graduates. (Before) we could not provide technical
scholarship, equipment and facilities. But now we have (these), and
so I am proposing a kind o f retraining of the faculty. I prefer to use
the word retraining for the short-courses, especially in lab.
Retraining the government officials who work in the Department of
Fisheries (DOF), who work in the provincial fishery authority. Short-
course for them—retraining. But now Mads is modifying it to be a
refresher course, but it’s the same. I have this idea since I came back
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from AIT when we established a lab and fish farm. I also talk with
former students who work in the DOF, “would you like to be
retrained now that we have these new facilities?” Most of them say
yes.
...Here should be a farm university. We not only produce people,
but we can produce fish and generate income. We can produce fish
for sale through aquaculture. We have a big fish farm and it can
reduce the weight on the shoulder of the government. And the
government can share from the income we generate. I also hope our
lab can produce income. As we become more developed, if fish have
disease, the one to find the cause then maybe can do something. But
for the teacher to undertake this activity, the teacher has to invest
time and try to leam more through experience, by doing. ...Please do
not put money as first priority. Yes, you need money to survive, but
you have to put money just second or the project will suspend. And
if we take money from the student, the student must get something
more from us. So we have to have more experience.
Sustainability and Ownership: A Concluding Perspective
When I asked Bill Savage about what has been the impact o f Danida’s role at
RUA, his response was, “huge and significant”. In regards to sustainability and
ownership at RUA, he replied,
I think that professional sustainability is just where it should be at
this point. The faculty wall continue what has been started. I don’t
have any doubt about that. I think the same is true at the individual
level—that if we all left, individuals are going to continue in the
directions they’ve set for themselves. That’s the whole point o f the
goals sections that we have in the workshops. Getting people to state
what they want to do in the next interim period and of course, we
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always go back and modify them... And if there were no external
involvement? I don’t think that’s going to happen... We’re all
involved in external relationships and there’s no reason why this
should be any different. So-called donors are actually going to
metamorphose into partners... into collaborators, and into these other
kinds of relationships that other university departments have.
...I see what is happening as a four-part continuum of
sustainability, ownership, control and power, and I make the
argument that in order for sustainability to occur, something has to
happen with ownership. And in order for something to happen with
ownership, issues of control have to be addressed—and in order for
that to be addressed—you’ve got to look at the power relationships.
How power is enacted across the various relationships. ...I mean,
Danida... the only power Danida has is funding.
Bill’s comments capture the equitable relations that have been forged
between AIT-Danida and RUA over a five-year period—how they have moved from
the impersonal realm of donor-recipient to a genuine partnership. Mads and Borin
would no doubt, agree. The w'ork o f development, of helping others get on their feet
and join the rest of the world can only succeed with good communication and by
putting in the time and energy that is required. Language in development is, in
essence, how it happens.
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Chapter Six
Conclusions and Recommendations for Further Research
Introduction
In this last chapter, conclusions are drawn in light of the research questions.
Each question and sub-question is restated and answered from the vantage point of
the case study. In question three, however, all the sub-questions but one are
subsumed under the main question. The analyses in each instance are not intended to
be conclusive in any other context but for the one found at RUA. Finally,
recommendations for further research are made.
Conclusions in Light of the Research Questions
I. How does language function as a variable within educational
aid and development?
Despite the criticisms surrounding English language spread and the problems
that must be overcome, based on this Cambodia case, English language use is
inevitable for anyone or any country anticipating participation in the international
community. Danida’s internal language policy requires Danish-speaking nationals to
have highly proficient English language skills in order to accomplish their foreign
assistance goals in developing countries, but Danida has no policy for providing
English to recipient partners. Danida provides English on an as needed basis, but has
no explicitly stated policy on this issue.
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142
Additionally, as evidenced in Chapter Five, language has been one of the key
constraints in the process of development. At RUA, political and economic changes
introduced at least four languages (French, Vietnamese, Russian and English) in past
years that in a variety of ways impinged on the ability of Khmers to determine their
futures solely through their own language. In the case of English, the international
language o f development, access to information, scientific and technological
publications needed in educational development, and the presence o f aid
professionals in the region requires that some Khmers achieve varying degrees of
English language proficiency if they are to successfully integrate Cambodia into the
world economy. It has very little impact, however, on the day-to-day rural life of
most people living outside of Phnom Penh, even on those availing themselves o f the
latest aquaculture or any other technological methods.
a) What is the role of English in development aid?
The role of English in development aid is two-fold. First, interpersonal
communication between aid professionals and local counterparts depends on their
being able to understand each other. Translators have a limited (though essential) role
to play. Increasingly the workshops in curriculum development and/or management
training at RUA are conducted in English, and translators are not necessarily as
proficient or as efficient as they need to be given the demands placed on them. My
own experience with translators during my interviews with the FoF was less than
satisfactory. It was difficult to keep track of what was asked and what was answered
even though the interview sessions were amiable and informative. Second, Danida’s
development aid has helped introduce international communications technology and
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internet access but only a few people can take advantage of it. In addition,
educational and scientific materials in English are not as accessible to those who
would benefit most from them.
b) What is the role of English at the grass roots level of development
aid?
By the time technological advancements, particularly in aquaculture, reach
this group, the technology and transmission of methods for application have been
simplified and are introduced by Khmer counter-parts or partners who conduct
trainings in Khmer. It can be assumed that the role of English at this level is minimal.
c) What does English language proficiency mean to Cambodians at
RUA?
To members of the FoF, English is the greatest obstacle to what they
perceive as professional development in their fields. The completion o f their lecture
notes and course materials is a perfect example. Hours spent translating dense
technological and scientific material from French and English into Khmer often
prove fruitless. Supplementary teaching salaries that have been promised to
instructors pending on the completion of lecture notes that, so far, depend heavily on
the translation of teaching materials, seem unattainable; and graduate study abroad is
only feasible to those who have reasonable English language skills.
Chan Rotha describes the problem far more eloquently.
I want to tell you about my expectations when AIT-Danida was
coming here. Initially, after the workshop on curriculum
development I expect that Danida give us every year, one masters
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degree training. I expect that everyone would hold a masters degree
before the year 2000. At least the ten of us (teachers). It was not
realistic and it didn’t happen. At the time, I didn’t think about the
barrier. The very big barrier that we cannot overcome—the barrier is
the English language. I think at that time that everyone would
commit themselves to learning very hard in order to improve their
knowledge and their capacity as teachers working in the fisheries
faculty. But as you can see, only three of us have gotten scholarships,
and it is not very helpful because only three of us cannot do
everything.
...Because everything that happens here, is the problem of
quality and human resources. It was not as easy as I thought it would
be. So our university still needs to overcome this problem, because
we still depend mainly on English materials. Not only from the
English mother tongue, but the people in the region, they write in
English. They use technical book or textbook written in English; and
we are going to be a member of the Asian nations association
(ASEAN), so I don’t think we can avoid studying English, nor can
we ignore about learning English. So I still say that it’s very
important that the people working in the university know how to read
(English) and translate into Khmer, before anything else.
d) W hat is the role of English in the educational system?
With the exception of English classes offered to those who want them, the
role of English is very small. The language o f instruction in schools is Khmer, and
again, English would only be of consequence to ministers, administrators, faculty and
staff who were in direct communication with the international community. On the
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other hand, as seen with the FoF, developing teacher quality and curricula often
means having access to English language material.
Certainly, there is a greater emphasis placed on English language learning at
the university o f Phnom Penh, which has a broader based curriculum than RUA.
However, greater efforts through stronger national policies will have to be made
throughout the educational system to strengthen the role of English if Cambodia is to
be seriously engaged in the development process, and if Cambodia is going to
continue to expand its role internationally. It is not a question of imposing English,
but rather acknowledging that Cambodia cannot realistically get along without an
international language;4 5 and it must be integrated into the national curriculum if it is
to be effective in the long term. This of course poses the enormous problem o f who
will teach English in Cambodia where educational human resources are so weak.
2. How well does language policy in educational development aid meet the
needs of recipients?
Depending on whose policy we look at, donor agencies or the Cambodian
government, the foci for each is quite different. The national policy states that Khmer
is the language o f instruction and that English and French are the foremost second
languages important to Cambodian education and economic development. Beyond
4 S While in Phnom Penh, I had the opportunity to talk with visiting university faculty
from France who conducted lectures in French on law, economics and engineering at
Cambodia’s most prominent universities. Yet, French is only reluctantly incorporated
into Cambodia’s foreign language educational policy, second, to English which, today is
the favored language of wider communication. The French government continues to
generously fund Cambodian educational development based almost exclusively on
language conditionalities.
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that, how it happens is left up to others. Donor agencies, or at least Danida, do not
have a policy that addresses the language needs of aid partners. It is something that
happens directly through language training as needed, or indirectly as in the case o f
assuming that interpersonal communication will find its way regardless of
circumstances—by bridging the gap between two languages, using translators, and/or
modifying one’s speech.
a) How do Cambodians feel about learning English?
In Phnom Penh, the proliferation of hundreds of storefront language schools
attests to the demand for English. Most who pursue language learning do so
enthusiastically. However, with few exceptions, English language learning for most
people is more a wish than a will to learn. One of these exceptions was my driver, So
Van, whose English was quite good, and his keen ability to pick up new words and
expressions was impressive. He kept a dictionary in his taxi and studied all the time.
He had taken English for one year at one of the local storefront schools and continued
learning on his own.
Finally, there are economic considerations. Cambodia is one of the poorest
countries in the world. Most people cannot afford to study English unless they are
subsidized. Additionally, those who pay for English lessons can only do so for a
limited time before they have to quit. This happened with So Van and with several
FoF teachers who wanted to continue on their own after Danida ceased funding the
ACE classes.
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b) Which Cambodians learn English? and
c) For what purposes do they use English and how competent are they?
Most Cambodians who learn English do so for the following reasons—to
improve their socioeconomic circumstances and to communicate with the
international population in Phnom Penh who are there as tourists, as representatives
o f private sector industrial and commercial interests, or as aid agency employees.
Cambodians who leam English include those who work in the service sector, i.e.,
restaurants, hotels, taxi companies, those engaged in entrepreneurial endeavors, and
those working in higher educational institutions and/or the ministries.
As for competency, it is best judged in context. The degree to which a
Cambodian needs to know English, while not always a determinant of competency,
does influence it. At a roundtable discussion I had with the Faculty of Fisheries,
teachers were reticent to speak; however, this was not an indication of their
competency. Most were able to read and understand much better than they were able
to speak or write. Additionally, higher up the educational and professional strata,
many Khmer have lived, traveled or studied abroad and are usually more fluent in
English.
d) Are there inconsistencies between English language teaching practices
and the needs of learners?
The case of RCA’s FoF revealed that the faculty’s language needs could
successfully be met by the English language training conducted by CLET. CLET
training was focused on what the FoF needed as educators. The problem, however,
was that language training needed to be more consistent or frequent over the Iong-
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term especially since many faculty were disappointed with the interim ACE language
courses. While the FoF members who had taken the English program at ACE were
initially enthusiastic, many complained about the teachers there; exactly why, is not
certain. I can only assume that the classes were either irrelevant in terms o f content,
too demanding o f their time, particularly after a day’s teaching, or that they simply
preferred CLET’s approach. Additionally, once Danida stopped paying for the
classes, most FoF teachers were not able to attend. However, positive change was
evident in most, if not all, of the studies in the literature on Language in Development
in Chapter Two, which reveal a significant concern for who the learners are, the
context in which they are learning English, and what they need to know.
e) What effect does English diffusion have on the Khmer language?
Except in the sense that English language diffusion provides access to
information telecommunications and media, there is little impact on Khmer,
particularly at a time when Khmer is heavily protected within Cambodia’s
educational system. Additionally, local English language media are limited.4 6 The
only other area where diffusion may have some relevance might be in the transferal
of specialized terminology—as in the case of RUA faculty who were working to
compile a lexicon of foreign technical and scientific words that would assist them in
their teaching. The problems experienced at RUA in regard to such a lexicon were
mainly attributed to the absence of a database that could only come from their own
efforts as they went along teaching in their fields of specialization. Khmer-English
4 6 The Phnom Penh Post and the Cambodia Daily are the two most popular publications.
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glossaries do exist, but do not deal with many of the terms related to fisheries and
aquaculture.
f) How is the long-term national educational policy cum practice being
structured to address these questions?
As discussed in Chapter Three, the absence o f a “definitive language policy”
has resulted in “an ad hoc approach with French and English predominant in different
faculties. ...failure to affirm Khmer... as the language o f instruction in universities
has a potential backwash effect on the language policy in upper secondary schools”
(ADB, 1996). Since 1997, however, Cambodia’s National Action Plan for Education,
a broad based cross-sectoral plan advanced with the help of the World Bank and
other partners including the FAO, is attempting to deal with this and other problems.
Key issues in the reform of education are being systematically reviewed and each
sector is responsible for its own institutions and for making recommendations to help
meet Cambodia’s human resource needs for poverty reduction and rural
development. The most recent draft (1998-9) of the sectoral National Action Plan for
Higher Education in Agriculture calls for the main educational ministry, MEYS
(Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports), “to improve the standard o f high school
education in all provincial schools”, which for all practical purposes will have to
include provisions for English language education (hopefully in a manner that assists
national development goals). Moreover, two statements that strengthen the argument
in favor of an international language curriculum are as follows:
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I) ... Following Cambodia's re-entry, in the nineties, to global
economic and international relations systems, the Royal
Government entered into an agreement with the IMF (1994)
providing for, among other things, the de-coupling o f tertiary
enrolments and Ministry employment. With the first tentative
steps taken by government in this direction, student leaders,
realizing how ill-prepared they were for success in a competitive
commercial world, commenced clamoring for a reversion to the
system of the eighties, where entry to a university signified the
commencement of a lifetime career as an employee o f the
Ministry managing that institution.
2) ... Competence in a foreign language is seen as an essential pre
requisite for access to international professional literature
pending the development o f the Khmer language and a
sufficiently large pool of national texts.
In light of the data collected for this research, “expanding foreign language
education pending the development of the Khmer language and a sufficiently large
pool of national texts,” implies that Khmer is not only being strengthened at the
institutional level after years of having been eclipsed by French, English, Vietnamese
and Russian, but as an attempt to slow down and finally manage the unplanned,
uncoordinated presence of English and French.
Especially since 1991, France has donated substantial amounts of money,
which have contributed significantly to Cambodia’s national educational
development and to the translation of technical and academic texts into Khmer. At
RUA, Caisse Francaise’s Projet d'Appul au Formation Agronomique et Agricole au
Royaume da Cambodge (PAFAARC) is an extensive, heavily financed program in
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agricultural higher education, yet it is tied to French language learning. Other
programs at other institutions financed by Caisse Francaise are also strong, and are
similarly tied to French language learning, French classroom instruction and French
culture. While the presence o f English language education, especially at the
university level, is equally dynamic and widespread, the French pay per diems to
Cambodians to learn French, which is not the case for English. While many English
language programs are donor funded, they do not usually come with a stipend for
learners. If, as evidenced by Chhouk Borin and others, this arrangement interferes
with Cambodians’ preferences for learning English, it has yet to be contested at the
higher levels o f government. Moreover, one way of addressing the problem o f a
proliferation of unfocused language aid is through donor coordination. However,
Cambodian ministries and institutions whose interests are at stake must oversee any
coordination regarding language.
Before language aid can be effectively and fully integrated into development,
contradictory goals must be sorted out. The first is Cambodia’s determination to
affirm Khmer as the language o f instruction. This is a judicious policy decision that
needs to be actively supported by donors whenever possible; second, criticisms that
language is too often a condition for bilateral support and that too many university
programs are being driven by the language policies of donors must be taken seriously
and addressed; third, attaching large or small sums of money to language learning
blurs policy lines and also needs to be addressed; and fourth, Cambodia must come to
terms with the fact that human resource development and international participation
makes English language proficiency a real prerequisite. The perspective on language
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must therefore include a clearly defined national policy that supports realistic
language planning, which recognizes the need for, and long-term nature o£ English
language learning without compromising Cambodia’s affirmation of Khmer as the
language o f instruction. However, perhaps the greatest obstacle that Cambodian
educational policymakers and planners must overcome is the status quo in respect to
implementation, which as Mads Kom described, is one of “people having titles and
responsibilities, but not being able to carry out the related functions.”
...(They) are limited in their ability to make financial decisions
and run things. ...This kind of thing goes through the whole system
in all sorts o f decisions that are required ...there’ll be several people
who decide, but not necessarily anyone who implements things.
...The general attitude in the university (RUA) is lack that there’s no
real strategy and no real strength in decision-making because you
can always be overruled.
3. How does the social context influence the delivery, content and quality of
language education in educational development aid?
This may be the most complex area to analyze and may be influenced by
everything from economics to inadequate facilities, social hierarchies, personal goals,
politics and the weather—which is very hot and often wet. However, it can best be
answered in two parts: The first is how AIT-Danida handled the social context in the
broadest terms. The second is related to FoF members and their expectations o f what
AJT-Danida might mean for them, and how their expectations were influenced by the
social context.
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In the case o f RUA, AIT-Danida’s support minimized considerably the
obstacles that could easily prevent an aid project’s success. When Cambodia was
politically unstable, Danida’s aqua outreach team stayed away for only a matter of
days, and certainly did not withdraw their funding as did other donors. When RUA’s
electricity and water were lost, Danida, along with USAID and SIDA repaired the
campus facilities and replaced generators and water pumps. When language was
problematic, creative solutions were found. The best way to answer this part o f the
question is by stating that in relation to severe limitations, whether they were found
in the inadequate infrastructure, lack of materials, the cultural differences in
communication and management styles, or in the scarcity of food and water, AIT-
Danida found ways to overcome these problems to assure that capacity building
would continue.
However, when AIT-Danida arrived at RUA, no one at the FoF was certain
how far and in what direction AIT-Danida’s assistance would take them. In a sense, it
opened a new world o f possibilities for them. Ideas and realities they never knew
existed strongly influenced their expectations. Many of the FoF teachers thought they
would be fluent in English by this time and be reaping some financial as well as
pedagogical benefits. Faculty o f Fisheries member Chan Rotha believed that in just in
four or five years all the faculty members would have master’s degrees from AIT or
other regional institutions. While Chan Rotha did receive a master’s from ATT, this
did not come to pass for many more teachers since their English was inadequate and
since Danida’s funding was limited. Additionally, Danida’s mandate was primarily
poverty alleviation through rural aquaculture and fisheries development.
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154
Many FoF teachers are frustrated by the limits their lack of English places on
the immediate task of developing their courses. Others at FoF, including the vice-
rector Pahd Mony, Chan Rotha and even Chhouk Borin want to expand their
knowledge in other areas outside o f aquaculture and fisheries, particularly in
educational research, administration and policy. Specifically, they have expressed a
desire to Mads Kom to participate in a program at ATT-CLET that offers a certificate
in educational development. However, this was not within Danida’s scope, and what
really prevents it from happening is not so much the lack o f money as the lack of
skilled individuals at RUA to replace the few truly good ones should they happen to
leave for opportunities elsewhere. Chhouk Borin, Pahd Mony and Chan Rotha, who
are hard working and dedicated, know this better than most, and would be hard
pressed to take off for studies abroad at this stage of RUA’s development. And yet...
a) How can sustainability of language and developmental progress best
be secured or facilitated?
Many FoF and administrators at RUA are determined to see RUA progress in
the best way possible. As a group, they are dedicated and their desire to improve their
lives and their institution is evident—despite the economic hardships they, along with
the rest o f Cambodia, endure. Moreover, sustainability at the Faculty of Fisheries at
RUA, as Bill Savage observed, is secure. However, facilitating its development
further can only come from developing its human resources to the fullest possible
extent. Mads Kom was certainly aware of this when he remarked that the FoF had
arrived at a course of action on their own for Phase Two.
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...The work we’ve done so far has called for a logical
continuation o f Phase One, and Danida has fortunately recognized
this and approved it (Phase Two) because human development
resources takes more than three to four years. It takes a minimum
five years and you get the return on your investment when you have
this time.
The high expectations of faculty and administrators should not be allowed to
dissipate. Enabling FoF teachers, administrators and staff to enlarge their
professional capacity beyond workshops and short course training is a worthwhile
and cost-efficient educational achievement. This is not to diminish, in any sense,
what AIT-Danida has already accomplished. But, it was evident to me that the most
qualified at RUA were capable of moving forward and will need to move forward in
their lives and careers at some point. Long before I arrived, many good teachers had
already left RUA to work at DOF, the ministry, or for NGOs. And during my
research in Cambodia other highly qualified teachers, like Chan Rotha, were already
being called away from the faculty either to work at newly created administrative
positions on campus, or to assist in the ministry.
Finally if, as Mads Kom indicated, language is “the single most apparent
constraint” in educational development aid, then it would appear to be in the interests
of international aid agencies as well as host countries to address this problem as
directly as possible through the educational policies of the host country, as well as
through the aid agency policy. Since we are past the point of asking whether to
develop or not to develop, the question now for all economic development aid
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partners is how to best manage development; and language is an indispensable
component o f that process.
4. Given the crucial role of language in development, how can donor and
recipient language policies and language planning be better integrated into
the aid process? A Conclusion:
The need for coherent language policies and planning has never been greater.
Technology and globalization are not going away and the demands for an
international language in developing countries are as great as they are in the
developed world. The powerful relationship between language and development
today is an indication o f how foreign assistance has evolved from dependency to
interdependency. Foreign aid cannot succeed without communication between donors
and recipients—communication between partners. It is no longer the development of
30 or 40 years ago, where a small elite from an undeveloped nation with a low-level
import economy studied abroad while the West built a dam or a road simply because
it thought that is what that country needed to be better equipped for receiving
Western made goods.
Development on today’s terms cannot succeed without communication
through an international language. Developing countries may differ in their cultures
and historic experiences but they share a common desire to take an active role on the
international stage—which today is an international economy.
Cambodia (where foreign languages were associated with colonialism or as
an excuse for Khmer Rouge to commit murder) has seen its indigenous language,
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Khmer, finally gain national educational stature only in the last eight or nine years.
And yet, Cambodians appear to be remarkably embracing o f the political and
economic reforms that have swept the country, and embracing of the fact that
English, above all other foreign languages, will play a crucial role. Cambodia, and
other countries in similar situations within the region and elsewhere must prepare for
an internationalized linguistic renovation which can only happen through their own
educational systems and through national and international policy efforts to
strengthen English language education at all educational levels and through
development aid. How it happens, how it is done—or the methodology—is up to
educators and each case may be unique. However, the work with content-based
language education that AIT-Danida/RUA has done could be used as a guide or
reference for policymakers and language planners.
Finally, learning a second or an international language is not an easy process
regardless of the resources. It is a difficult, time consuming and often frustrating
endeavor for anyone—and only more so if financial resources and qualified teachers
are scarce. However, language is communication, and it is an issue that is broad and
general only at the level of policy. On the individual level, it is fragile and specific.
What we see in Cambodia are unrealistic expectations as with Chan Rotha imagining
that in five years everyone at the Faculty of Fisheries would be skilled in English and
equipped with graduate degrees. Yet, we also see how confidence increases, as with
the faculty member who felt more comfortable and chose not to hide but to sit next to
Bill Savage now that he was better able to understand and communicate in English.
Furthermore, the subtle social manifestations are only one part o f the national,
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158
regional (ASEAN) and global ramifications, which are considerable. Yet, while
everyone knows that English, and not French or Russian or Japanese, is the language
o f development, donors and recipients continue to be vague about language policy or
seem unsure o f how to handle this challenge because the reality is that it is an
arduous, controversial, and long-term commitment.
Possibilities for New Research
There are several potential research areas that would benefit education and
pedagogy. The first is in response to Mads Korn's observation that Danida had not
yet come up with a satisfactory strategy for staff development language needs. Given
the breadth o f language projects in development, this initially may be hard to believe.
However, more direct research on aid projects that do not separate language training
from development training (similar to what AIT-Danida or CDRI [the Cambodia
Development Resource Institute] is doing, only more extensively perhaps) may prove
fruitful. Additionally, a latitudinal study of what is being offered today in schools in
terms o f policy and practice may help direct the quality, content and efficiency of
language aid. Also, given the time-consuming process o f language learning, a study
on how long-term commitments to English language education (beginning with
secondary education) could be realistically implemented. Perhaps the first step would
be to acknowledge the need for such reforms from the outset of economic assistance,
which would help short-term and long-term planning and implementation efforts.
Researchers might also examine the contrasting goals and expectations of
donors and recipients in educational development—specifically addressing the issue
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o f divergences in interests, which may not come about until well into the life o f an
aid project. This is related to the FoF members who had expected certain outcomes
but had, in feet, not voiced them until our interviews began. Such procedures would
strengthen bottom-up approaches to development.
Another practical question that should be addressed is how to best facilitate
human resource development at administrative and ministerial levels where language
is also an issue. Studying an organization like CDRI where there is a good deal o f
training at this level may help others understand this area. Finally, the popular
recognition in Phnom Penh of the worth o f English, as demonstrated by the number
of English language shops on the streets, might support a latitudinal study of foreign
aid culture” and tourism in the diffusion o f English, and could be helpful in
understanding new and diverse social phenomena occurring in the capital city. This
might prove helpful to educators in directing language and other training to groups
who have the greatest potential contact with the international community.
Most countries throughout the world recognize that they can no longer get by
without English. Cambodia is not an isolated case. A globalized economy,
widespread transnational migration, and the Internet and telecommunications have
posed the same question to every country in the world: How do we deal with this?
We may not like it for many good reasons; however, we cannot ignore it. Today, the
language question goes beyond who needs English, to what is the best way of
delivering it without causing political or cultural conflict; and perhaps strengthening
4 7 Foreign aid culture refers to the strong presence of international aid professionals in the country
and how their personal and professional lifestyles contribute to social change and economic
opportunity separate from their responsibilities to an aid project.
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the role of English throughout the educational system in a country like Cambodia
may help prevent English from becoming a weapon of the haves against the have-
nots. While much of this remains to be seen, continued research on the integration of
language and development could help clarify what the best methodological options
might be.
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161
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APPENDICES
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178
Appendix 1
The Organisational Structure o f RUA
RUA is under the control of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forest and Fisheries but
receives technical advice from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. The
Rector of RUA reports to the Under Secretary of State responsible for Agricultural
Higher Education. The school has five fields of specialization:
1. Agricultural Science,
2. Animal health and production
3. Forestry
4. Fisheries, and
5. Agricultural Engineering
The organizational structure within RUA is outlined by Figure 2.
S ci
PCO
Rector
Vice-Rector
Oinaa^
Admrmumiax
fq « « W y j
Adm. Council
MAFF
MEYS
Secretary
Development
Counci
Internal regulation
Council_________
AC & R E co.
Discipine
Council
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Appendix 2
Donors at RUA
Donors at RUA
During the period 1990 to 1994 RUA received a lot of technical and material,
assistance from international and non-government organizations such as CIDSE,
IRRI, WVI, GRET, VSF, ACR, QSA, AFSC, OXFAM, CRS, LWS, CARERE, SAO
and FAO. RUA also received bilateral aid from the French Government (PAFAARC)
from 1995 to 1997. It is hoped that French bilateral aid will resume in late 1998.
DANIDA has been helping to build the capacity of the teachers of the Faculty of
Fisheries since 1995 through the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) Aqua Outreach
program. This project is coordinated by the AIT Aqua Outreach project based at the
Department of Fisheries, Phnom Penh.
Recently, a memorandum of understanding has been signed between RUA and Saint
Mary's University, Halifax, Canada. This project is funded by CIDA and technically
assisted by Saint Mary's University and Marine Institute. This objective of this
project is to build the capacity of the teachers of the Faculty of Fisheries to manage
aquatic resources.
FAO has been assisting curriculum development for the Faculty of Forestry and has
provided office and teaching materials.
Scholarships and funds for short-course training has been provided by various
organizations such as: AusAid, French Government, SEARCA, AIT, AUPELF-UREF.
D o n o r Nome D u ra tio n P r o je c t T itle starr
L o c al I n t e r
B u d g et
uss
A IT 7 /9 5 - 6 /9 8 C apacity b u ild in g o f th e Fisheries Faculty t 0 250 .0 0 0
FAO 12/96 - 98 Support to H um an R esource Developm ent
for su stain ab le A g. and R ural Dev. for the
Faculty o f F o restry
0 0 174,000
CARERE 1995 Thesis support fo r research students 25 20 .3 3 2
PAFAARC I 3 /9 4 - 8/97 A ssistance to A g ricu ltu ral Education 0 5 15,20 m Franc
PAFARRC II 89-2000 A ssistance to A g ricu ltu ral Education I 2.43 m Franc
DIC li/9 4 - 6 /9 7 C am bodia P oultry Feed & Food processing
Project
0 5 993 .0 0 0
AU PELF-REF 1997-98 Francophone program s for A gronom y and
A nim al H ealth & Production
95 ,0 0 0 Franc
Table 1 Donors at RUA from 1989 to 1998
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180
Appendix 3
Staff Assigned to Different Faculties
RUA Staff
According to the Manpower Report RUA has a total staff of 181, 104 support staff
and 77 teachers. Of the 77 teachers 48 holds degrees, 16 M.Sc, 1 Ph.D., 5 hold
diplomas and 6 hold certificates. In addition to these full-time teachers RUA also uses
approximately S O part-time teachers who are employed by the various ministries.
Details of all staff are given in Annex 2 of this report.
F a cv K lci A c S c ie n c e A H A P Fish F o re s try A f . E n g . AC
E c o n o m ic s
B asic
C o u rses
L a a c u a f e
A C o m a a tc r
T F T F T F T F T F T F T F T F
H ead o f
Faculty
2 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 2 1 2 0 2 0
Full-tim e
T eachers
13 3 16 4 12 2 7 0 5 1 2 0 5 3 5 0
Part-tim e
teachers
14 0 16 1 11 1 IS 1 6 1 3 0 16 3 20 4
T o recru it 14 0 5 2 4 10 8 14
Table 2 Staff assigned to the faculties of RUA
At present all teachers of the agricultural institutions are employed as staff of MAFF.
Teachers receive a supplementary payment of 7,800 riels per hour if they hold a
degree and 9,300 riels per hour if they hold an MSc or Ph.D. for a maximum of 32
hours per month.
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181
Appendix 4
Students Enrolled in the Five Programs of Study at RUA
Numbers of Students at RUA
All courses at RUA are four and a half years in duration and students receive a
Bachelor of Science degree on completion of the courses. During the 1997-98
academic year there were 434 students attending RUA. The numbers of students
studying in each faculty by year are shown in Table 3.
Faculty Agronomy Animal
Prod./V eter
Forestry Fisheries Ag-
E ngineering
Total Percentag
e Female
Sex M F M F M F M F M F M F
Y ear I 38 5 25 5 23 1 18 1 18 I 122 13 10.6%
Y ear 2 25 5 25 3 20 0 18 0 20 0 108 8 7.4%
Y ear 3 41 5 19 10 21 1 17 2 98 18 18.4%
Y ear 4 21 3 15 4 12 0 10 2 58 9 15.5%
TOTAL 125 18 84 22 76 2 63 5 38 1 386 48 12.4%
P ercent
Fem ale
14.4 26.2 2.6 7.9 2.6
Table 3 Numbers of students at RUA during the 1997-98 academic year.
Of the 434 students studying at RUA during the 97 - 98 academic year, approximately
60% are from Phnom Penh. Female students make up 15.5% of the fourth year,
18.4% of the third year students, 7.4% of the second year students and 10.6% of the
first year students. Student numbers according to provinces are shown in Annex 4.
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Appendix 5
Occupations Targeted for Future Training
Occupations Targeted for Future Training
The Manpower Report summarized the manpower demand Figures for the agricultural
sector for the ten years 1997-2007. The figures relevant to RUA graduates are jobs
which require higher education. These figures are summarized in Table 4.
H igher Education 1997-2002 2002-2007
Public employees 180 140
Private employees and se lf employed 570 930
Private extension workers 25 25
Postgraduate students 20 1
Relieve professors on FT/PG upgr 50 2
Relieve MAFF staff on FT upgrade 90 0
Employment Ministries of Env/RD 50 2
Localization of Foreign Experts 25 5
T rainers of:
MAFF personnel redeployed -private 55 2
Train trainers of para professionals 1
Train teachers o f voung farm ers 1
MAFF personnel 3 vr upgrade prog 16 1
Private Services 50 2
TOTAL 1,131 1,132
Table 4 Manpower Demand Figures as summarized in the Manpower Report
According to the Manpower Report manpower supply figures RUA would supply 631
graduates from 1998-2002 and 975 graduates from 2002-07. ITC would provide 25
graduates from 1998-2002 and 25 from 2002-2007 and Maharishi Vedic University
would supply 200 during both the 5 year periods.
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183
Appendix 6
Predicted Student Enrollment for 1998-2007
The predicted student intake and output at RUA matches closely with these figures
but they do not consider the capacity of the faculties to produce competent graduates
to meet the manpower demand targets suggested nor do they account for students who
might fail exams or leave for personal reasons. The total predicted figures for intake
and output at RUA are given in Table 5.
Faculty A gronom y A nim al
H usb an d ry
F orestry F isheries A g ro -E n g A gro-
In d u stry
A gro-
Econom ics
T otal
Language Kh Fr Kh Fr Kh Kh Kh Kh Kh
1993-2007
93 98 31/04 2 9 /0 3 32/00 29/01 0 0 0 121
94 99 24/03 19/04 12/00 12/02 0 0 0 67
95 00 46/05 2 9/10 22/01 18/02 0 0 0 115
96 01 29/05 2 7/03 19/00 18/00 2 0 /0 0 0 0 113
97 02 32/05 2 4/05 21/01 18/01 13/01 0 0 108
T o tal 162 128 106 95 33 0 0 524
98 03 15 31 25 29 15 15 15 25 25 195
99 04 15 25 25 25 15 15 15 25 25 195
00 05 15 25 25 25 IS 15 15 25 25 195
01 06 IS 25 25 25 15 15 15 25 25 195
02 07 15 25 25 25 15 15 15 25 25 195
Total 2 0 0 3 /
200 7
125 125 125 125 75 75 75 125 125 975
Table 5 Predicted Student Intake and Output for RUA, 1998-2007
The employment opportunities for graduates from the five existing faculties and the
two proposed faculties were investigated by PAFAARC and the findings are
summarized in the report Analyse des Metiers et des Emplois Agricoles au
Cambodge.
Output Numbers Targeted
According to the PAFAARC report RUA should also consider the role it would take
in retraining MAFF staff who would be made redundant or redeployed under a
proposed civil service reform policy. The report suggests that RUA would be
responsible for providing on the job training and requaiification training for 18S0
staff of the MAFF. PAFAARC estimated that approximately 554 jobs would be
available or created for these staff in the private sector.
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Appendix 7
Institutional Management and Maintenance Policy Recommendations
Institutional Management and Maintenance
Context
RUA has a total of 181 staff and plans to have approximately 500 students enrolled in
any one year. Many of the staff involved in the administration and financial
management have received on the job training at RUA but have not received
specialist training for educational management.
Statement of Need
To improve the management and maintenance of staff, students and facilities of RUA
Policy Recommendation - {As proposed by the NAPHE}
• Recognition of the value of strategic planning as a basic management function in
MAFF and in the three agricultural institutions to coordinate the medium - and
long-term planning. .
• Recognize the need for the introduction and maintenance of a management
information system to integrate the data required to assure the efficiency and
effectiveness of the major management functions of the institutions.
• Introduce the policies and procedures to reorganize and strengthen the various
institutional management functions in the institutions of agricultural higher
education and the gradual introduction of a degree of management autonomy.
• Recognition of the need for personnel management policies and procedures in the
institutions and role of skilled MAFF personnel as part-time teachers at the
agricultural institutions.
• The need for the standardization of internal operational policies, regulations and
procedures of institutions and the systematic codification of such standards.
• The need for the standardization of internal operational policies, regulations, and
procedures in the system of evaluation of student academic performance in the
three institutions. Policy of integrating standards into institutional management
documentation.
• Recognition of the need for systematic formation of incumbent and potential
administrators via both formal training and continuing education programs.
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185
Action Recommendations
• Provide training for the appropriate members of staff in institutional management
and maintenance
• Prepare clear job descriptions for the staff of SAKC
• Establish a committee to be responsible for the management and maintenance
procedures at RUA and for coordinating the use of laboratories and practical
facilities
• Assign faculties to operate, maintain and manage their laboratories and facilities
■ Provide incentives to the staff employed as maintenance staff at SAKC to perform
their jobs _______
• Provide technical assistance to SAKC in the form of international experts who
have experience in developing the capacity of staff of institutions to upgrade their
institutional management procedures.
• Recruit staff or train existing staff in laboratory management and maintenance
• Establish an adequate security for the RUA campus equipped with the
communication means, such as telephones and transceivers (Icom) and guns
• Make regular inventories of the lab or other practical facilities
• Budgets which cover the annual costs of running the laboratory should be
prepared by the laboratory managers and heads of faculty
• Provide hygiene courses for staff and students
• Involve the students in maintaining and cleaning classrooms and laboratories and
make them responsible for damage or loss of equipment they are using
• Allow faculties to charge other faculties for the use of practical facilities
• Introduce strict discipline to prevent students from vandalizing school property
• Recruit cleaning staff
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Appendix 8
RUA Institutional Income Generation
Income Generation
Context
RUA, like other institutions, is supported financially by the RGC but also receives
support from NGOs and IOs. The funds received by RUA are not enough to cover
stationary for the faculties, laboratory materials, cleaning or maintenance of the
buildings. The income is totally inadequate to run an educational institute which has
more than 400 students. The constitution prohibits educational institutions from
charging fees. Only the Institute of Management has been authorized to charge fees
(approximately S200 dollars per year) to private students. Fees for public students
have been set at 7,000 riel ( $2) per semester
Statement of Need
To generate income for RUA
Policy Recommendation
• Request the Government to introduce policies and procedures to permit educational
institutions to generate revenue
• Request MAFF to give autonomy to the agricultural institutions to manage the
finances generated by the institutions.
Action Recommendations
• Set up a committee responsible for managing RUA finances and train them in
financial planning and management for educational institutions
• Prepare a policy on income generation for RUA
• Train the staff of RUA in the management of budgets
■ Provide technical assistance to RUA to prepare a realistic operational budget for
maintaining and managing the institution and for paying adequate salaries to staff
• Investigate the introduction of annual fees for students and prepare staff to
introduce procedures concurrent with fee paying education
• Train staff to provide fee charging services for NGOs and private companies
• Investigate the possibility of renting school facilities for use by organizations or
private teachers
• The school should raise animals and vegetables on the school grounds which
provide an income for the school and not private individuals
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Appendix 9
Non-salary Incentives for Staff
Non-salary Incentives for Staff
Context
At present teachers receive their government salary and supplementary payment for
teaching.
Statement of Need
To provide non-salary incentives to improve staff moral and motivation at RUA
Policy Recommendations
• Request MAFF to introduce policies and procedures to provide non-salary
incentives to all staff of MAFF
• Request MAFF to give RUA the autonomy to implement it's own system of non-
salary incentives for staff.
Action Recommendation
• RUA should prepare the principles of non-salary incentives and propose this to
MAFF.
• Establish a committee responsible for coordinating non-salary incentives for
teachers in the agricultural institutions with MAFF. This committee should take
responsibility for assessing the achievements or output of teachers and staffs
• Procedures should be introduced to encourage and promote teaching and
supporting staff at RUA. Promotion might involve official announcement of
promoted positions, awards to acknowledge outstanding performance at work,
provision of accommodation at RUA or transport to RUA from Phnom Penh,
annual leave, etc.
• Introduce procedures to improve security of staff at RUA and to improve the status
of teachers in the eyes of the students
• Provide English language and computer training for staff
■ Assistance with production of handouts and other teaching materials
• Provide better teaching resources including reference books for teachers in a
library
• Provide comfortable work and teaching rooms
• Provide communication - email etc.
• Provide scholarships for proficient staff
• Provide study tours
• Establish a basic insurance scheme for staff at RUA for illness and death
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Appendix 10
Sectoral NAPHE Statement on Language Training
Language Training
Context
The volume of agriculture literature available in Khmer is inadequate for agricultural
education. Staff need to be proficient in a second language to access knowledge and
new information from international standard text books and journals.
Statement of Need
To improve the English or French skills of staff and students of RUA to enable them
to access information relevant to their fields
Policy Recommendations
• Define the institution’s policy on foreign language use at RUA
Action Recommendations
• Provide English or French language training for staff and students of RUA
• Appoint skilled English teachers to work at RUA and provide further training for
the existing English teacher
• Renovate the library at RUA and increase the number of agricultural books
• Train staff to work as librarians
• Provide adequate salaries for the librarians at RUA to open the library for a
sufficient number of hours each day
• Provide Internet access for staff and students to enable them to access information
• Encourage visiting agriculturalists and staff working on donor projects to present
seminars for staff and students at RUA
• Encourage the Government to ratify international agreements on copyright to
encourage the publication of Khmer text books
• Encourage projects to translate all documents produced on subjects relevant to the
agricultural sector
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Appendix 11
1993 Planning Meeting Summary, Objectives, Expectations and Outputs
3. Workshop Objectives, Expectations and Outputs
On 27 January 1993, a pre-departure workshop planning meeting was held at AIT and
the objectives, expectations (both of the AIT team and likely participant expectations) and
workshop outputs were discussed. These appear in the minutes of the meeting and are
summarised below. They are noteworthy as informed predictions of the workshop’s eventual
outcomes.
3.1 Objectives
* Identify the potential for, and the constraints to, the development of aquaculture
by small-scale Cambodian farmers.
* Provide a forum for the various organizations involved in aquaculture
development to discuss their experiences and plans for the future.
* Identify specific areas in which ATT could assist in aquaculture development in
Cambodia.
3 2 Expectations
A TT Expectations
* The opportunity for ATT to make more widely known the comparative advantage
of education and training by A TT.
* The opportunity to engage in a dialogue with the larger agencies on the way they
might prepare a development plan for the country, whilst dissuading them from
agreeing to unfeasible "mega-projects".
* The opportunity to become familiar with how agencies relate to each other.
* To see how ATT could fit in with individual government agencies and NGOs.
* Recognition of the institutional framework in which ATT will have to operate.
* To continue building both formal and informal relationships with the agencies
involved.
* The opportunity to get all the aquaculture "players" into one meeting could lead
to a regular forum for aquaculture which would allow government and NGOs a
continued dialogue.
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190
- * Different perspectives from participant agencies on their aquaculture experiences
to date.
* . A consensus by participants on how aquaculture might develop in Cambodia.
Likely Participant Expectations
* T Participants’ workshop expectations may reflect broader expectations o f ATT, for
example:
The Ministry of Agriculture and Department of Fisheries may want an outreach
initiative. The agriculture colleges will probably expect technical assistance
leading to. curriculum development. NGOs may have specific needs and will
likely tell AIT what they want.
* Agencies may take the opportunity to arrange training opportunities at ATT or
through ATT staff in Cambodia.
* Following the workshop, ATT may be expected to survey and/or evaluate
UNICEF/FFP farmers, or other projects underway.
* - Technical solutions to specific problems. It was agreed that ATT should keep
. technical discussion broad and not get preoccupied with technical details. General
solutions could be offered.
3.3 Outputs
* A formal report for dissemination among the participants, AIT personnel and
other interested parties.
* A broad workplan for ATT over the next 4-6 months.
* A structure for prioritising demands on AIT expertise or for soliciting ATT
assistance.
* The stimulation for participating organizations to arrange, or ask ATT to arrange,
similar meetings on a regular basis to allow a dialogue to continue.
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191
Appendix 12
February 1993 National Workshop on Small-scale Aquaculture Framework
4. Workshop Framework
4.1 Rationale
It was the strong conviction of the AIT team that the most appropriate Outreach initiative
in Cambodia would result from first listening to the experiences o f those already working in
aquaculture development in the country. By relating identified problem areas to what A T T can
offer in terms of technical and educational support, the overall workshop aim was to learn from
the workshop participants while at the same time informing participants of the areas of A T T * s
relevant expertise.
With the focus on a genuinely participatory program planning experience, a
complementary workshop methodology was employed whereby participants were able to express
their views, learn more about the work o f AIT Aquaculture and contribute to an eventual
program proposal. The workshop timetable (Appendix S) outlines the framework. Participants
; engaged in small group discussions (five groups of 5 - 8 persons each) on four pro-determined
- topics: Aquaculture in Cambodia S l Asia: A Comparative Overview; Seed Production; Field
Research < f c Development; and Education &. Training. After small group discussion a group
representative reported back to the workshop on their group’s findings. AIT’s perspective
preceded the first session but followed the group presentations on the other three topic areas.
Primarily because of time constraints, the workshop did not proceed according to the
original timetable although the framework remained intact. The third day was intentionally left
open since the final day’s activities were to a large extent to be determined by the previous two
days’ outcome.
The workshop was a learning experience for the A T T team as well: ideas for activities
were generated and implemented as information from the participants emerged to become part
of the overall discussion. Language-related issues which arose and the actual way in which the
workshop proceeded are highlighted in the following two sections.
4.2 language Issues
There were some five participants who were comfortable working in both Khmer and
English. After the first day’s sessions we were able to ensure that each group had someone to
interpret. We were fortunate in that our primary interpreter, Kosal, was skilled at doing what
turned out to be a challenging task.
For the workshop to be meaningful to each participant, it was essential that everyone
knew what was being talked about and what was to happen next. To achieve this, all workshop
proceedings, whether spoken or written, were carried out in both languages. For example, all
information from the small group discussions presented on flip-chart paper was transcribed in
both Khmer and English.
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192
4.3 Proceedings
Each of the five discussion groups was made up of representatives from the Ministry of
Agriculture, Department of Fisheries, the two agriculture colleges, and NGOs. At least one A T T
team member participated in each group. To guide the groups’ discussions, key issues in each
topic area were posed as questions (Appendix 6) so that both the reportback sessions and the A T T
presentations took the form of answers from the Cambodia and A T T perspectives.
The first day’s sessions were particularly challenging in their technical content. To
introduce the issues, Peter showed a comprehensive set of slides of the potential and constraints
to small-scale aquaculture in Asia with emphasis on Cambodia, which gave the workshop an
initial focus (see Appendix 7). The issue of availability of fish seed arose in this session and led
into the second session on Seed Production. To bridge the gap between this session and the Field
Research S t Development session, the A T T team listed the identified problem areas and
categorized them according to whether A T T Aquaculture had answers or not (see Appendix 9).
Cn the second afternoon, time ran out on the Education S t Training session. Therefore,
the findings were compiled from small group discussion notes, summarized and addressed as to
AIT’S capability to meet the identified education and training needs. It had by this time become
clear that participants wanted more concrete information about AIT Aquaculture’s expertise in
each of its three programs (education, research, outreach).
Following the Education S t Training summary by Bill, Peter presented AIT research
findings in key technical areas. This was a concise theoretical presentation offering a range of
technologies and their quantifiable benefits. This was followed by a two-part session on Outreach
activities starting with the viewing of a video which highlighted the Outreach philosophy and
approach to rural development. Although the video had an English soundtrack, key points were
translated as they arose. Two Khmer-speaking Outreach staff, Nat and Gop, then described (in
Khmer) their work in Northeast Thailand and the process through which some of the Outreach
posters (which had been on display in the meeting room from the start of the second day) were
produced. These sessions seemed to change the atmosphere of the workshop significantly as
participants began to realise the possible scope of AIT’s potential involvement in Cambodia.
These sessions, in which AIT had in effect presented its credentials, led into the
penultimate session where possible categories for AIT Aquaculture’s involvement in Cambodia
were presented to the workshop and participants were asked to prioritise the areas in which
AIT’s assistance was desirable. For the final small group discussions, government agencies
(Ministry of Agriculture and Department of Fisheries), the agriculture colleges and the NGOs
formed their own groups (without members of the A T T team). The subsequent reportbacks thus
represented each institutional sector’s priorities. From these final presentations, the AIT team ■
were able to identify two concise areas in which AIT could begin working immediately.
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193
Appendix 13
February 1993 National Workshop Findings
5. Workshop Findings
5.1 Aquaculture in Cambodia & Asia: A Comparative Overview
The session began with a series of slides from Professor Edwards which clearly
illustrated 24 fundamental issues which are likely to affect the way in which fish culture
develops in Cambodia. These issues were presented in question form (see Appendix 7). The
main findings from the discussion sessions following this overview could be loosely grouped into
three categories: knowledge gaps, resource and input use, and socio-economic factors.
Knowledge Gaps
* It was widely agreed that there were significant gaps in both
farmer and extension/research worker knowledge bases which were
constraining fish culture development in Cambodia.
* The discussions raised questions on such issues as predator
control; species of fish for culture; culture of fish in rice fields;
inorganic fertilisers as pond inputs and water colour as an indicator
of pond productivity. Despite these constraints, it seems farmers
are slowly becoming more aware of fish culture as a potentially
profitable activity and interest is now developing.
Resource and Input Use
* The issue of water retention in ponds was seen as a major
constraint by many of the participants.
* Some areas such as Kan dal Province were reported as having very
few ponds and may have little potential for aquaculture
development although this may not necessarily be related.
* References were also made to a reluctance by farmers to dig ponds
or convert rice paddies due to the resulting loss of agricultural land
from the farm.
* Competition on the farm for inputs such as rice bran and livestock
manures was also thought to be a significant factor. With the
reported increase in pig farming, competition for rice bran can
only be expected to get more intense.
* The use of animal wastes as pond inputs was expected to meet
opposition from some farmers and the use of human waste as a
pond fertiliser was considered unacceptable by ethnic Khmers.
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194
Non-availability of fish seed in rural locations was also seen as
constraining the spread of small-scale fish culture.
Socio-economic Factors
Problems with security of fish stocks in ponds had been
encountered by several of the participants, the scattered nature of
many land holdings exasperating this problem. A proposed solution
to this was to encourage groups of farmers to begin fish culture
simultaneously in a village rather than a single farm family on
their own. Theft of water by cutting rice field embankments to
irrigate poorly watered agriculture land was also reported. The
issue of remoteness of rice fields to the homestead was thought to
be a probable constraint to the development of rice-fish culture.
The other significant issue discussed was the current conflicts over
water for domestic use, irrigation and fish culture. Until alternative
supplies of potable water are secured, pond owners would be
reluctant to "green" their ponds to increase fish production. One
suggestion was to dig wells or an alternative pond for domestic
water use only.
The cultural aversion to using manures in ponds, as mentioned in
the section above, is epitomised by the common question to fish
traders as to whether the fish were wild or grown on manure or
rice bran. Presumably, this has an effect on market price.
As aquaculture is new to many locations in Cambodia, there is a
reluctance of those people with money to invest in it as an income
generating activity. Those farmers without money for investing
were thought to be interested in taking aquaculture up as an
activity but lacked the resources to do so.
It was thought by some of the participants that if a good fish
culture demonstration were set up in a village then many farmers
would become interested in aquaculture.
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195
Appendix 14
Institutional Capacity Building
Faculty of Fisheries, Royal University of Agriculture,
Cambodia
Trip Report
AIT-Danida Aquaculture Outreach
6-16th February 1996
Mads Korn
INTRODUCTION
It is now almost 6 months ago that the Danida Specialist M r H B Nielsen and M Korn
came to assess and implement a series of activities relating to the M o U on the Capacity
Building Programme of the Faculty of Fisheries, Royal University of Agriculture
(Chamcar Daung) in Cambodia.
In this period, the first 5 month have shown alarming little progress.
Highlights are however: basic supply of water (payed by the French) and electrical
power (connected by Danida); iron bars having been completed for all external
[ windows; som e smaller inventory; fish stocked in three ponds; regular incentive pay
for 10 faculty/staff; two scholarships and one field-trip; and, M r H Vuthana
appointed as Chamcar Daung liaison officer (FoF Curriculum Development
1 Coordinator). Efforts have also been made in the proposed implementation structure,
with a coordinating committee and four sections within the FoF.
I
The progress of the project has recently been in several deadlocks, some of which
may be due to the fact that a lot of uncertainties still seem to exist related to the
programme implementation (modus operandi); inappropriate/unclear organizational
structures, unclear expectations from both counterparts and personnel/faculty
involved, not least concerning the overall budget and its administration.
As seen from the AIT Outreach position, the approach has been to focus'on
structures immediately related to project activities and the successful implementation
of the curriculum development issues. Thus, an emphasis on FoF management has
been found essential, not only as part of a general capacity upgrading, but also to
as a means of interacting and facilitating the process of active cooperation.
i
M A IN FIN D IN G S A N D CO N CLU SIO N S
1
Basically, itis thought that the Project Steering Committee should meet, as described
i in the M oU . A n Action Planning Committee (or any corresponding forum ?) should
meet 1-2 times every month, to support the Vice-Dean. Besides, clear lines of
communication and terms of reference (TOR/task descriptions) for sub-sections must
be decided.
1
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196
The role of the Liaison Officer is regarded as crucial to the implementation of the
project, since full-time presence of the A IT Country Programme Manager is
unachievable.
Communication within the project must be improved through uniform and regular
reportings of all activities and expenditures to the Rectors office.
However, an open question m ay still be wether the organization and managerial
procedures of the Royal University of Agriculture have been adequately perceived?
In order to achieve future progress of the project it is ultimately advised that either
alternative ways of organizing are put forward, or immediate action be commenced on
the following issues:
a) organization and implementation plan
b) gross budget
c) communication
d) the four academic sections
e) equipment and inventory
f) supplementary salaries
g) training of teacher programme
h) workshops and courses at R U A
During the next period, additional resources should be drawn from AIT, Bangkok
and ultimately through external consultants. So, please let m e have your comments
if any, ladies and gentlemen ?
It is envisaged that the Curriculum Adviser w ill visit Chamcar Daung on a m ore
frequent basis the coming semester and it is sincerely hoped that a bigger effort be
put into the progress of the scheduled activities
In brief, the result of the trip is the following project activities:
SU G G ESTED M ILESTO N ES O F A C H IE V E M E N T
15th Feb Draft of job-description (TOR) for Liaison Officer to Rector
26th Feb Library policy accomplished and approved by University
26th Feb Quotation and plan for living fence presented
29th Feb Maintenance of m ain embankment completed
29th Feb Formal approval of TOR for Liaison Officer, if possible
29th Feb AIT present guidelines on policy for purchase and quotations
Guidelines for supplementary salaries available
1st M arch Shunt valve for FoF water tank installed
2
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197
8th M arch Survey of some excellent Cambodian laboratories completed
8th M arch TORs drafted for all FoF Sections
ll-14th Project Steering Com m ittee Meeting proposed.
Constitution of Action Planning Committee, if decided ?
14th M arch Master Plan and budget proposal for each section decided
31st M arch Renovation of FoF building completed
April Section activities according to plans
M ay Improved farm management plans and practice
13-17th M ay Section activities and follow-up by M r Korn
8-19 July Workshop: faculty development by M r W Savage and Danida Specialist
Late 1 9 9 6 Workshop (tentative): training needs assessment and curriculum
revision
Besides, at least an intensive laboratory techniques/management course and a fish
breeding/farm management course is planned to occur paralleled during March-
August.
(Please request the full detail report, if interested.)
Besides the many talks and meetings necessary to accomplis the above increments of
an implementation plan, a curriculum workshop was attended at Preak Leap
Agricultural College (with who Dr D em aine signed a M o U on 11th.Feb); a donor
coordination meeting was attended between Australian, German and French projects
involved at PreaK Leap; an inaugural and very informative meeting was conducted
with C TA M r B Da-Dalt and his team, relating to Chamcar Daung activities.
Eventually, several individual sessions were arranged to sustain the current subjects
being taught during the spring semester.
Total number of days spent: 1 0
Total people encountered: many
Calendar: flexible
Itinerary: Royal University of Agriculture (Chamcar Daung), A IT office, Preak Leap
Agricultural College.
Regards
M ads Korn
AIT-Danida Curriculum Adviser
1 9 0 2 9 6 / A t T - D a n i d a / A q o a c u t tu c * O u C C « a c n /H I C
3
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Reproduced with permission o f th e copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
W r r r ' K ' ;■>■■■■ • ’ H f ....................................
' CONTRIBUTION OF TEACHERS IN RtIA FISHERIES CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
C F -C o m p le te ly follow ed; M F - M a in ly follow ed; S F -S o m e follow ed; N A -N o a n sw ered
T c a c h c ra T o u ch c o u rse C F M F S F
N o n -fo llo w cd ■
p a r t i
W h y C h a n g i
co n tain
D e q u e u e d b y
te a c h e rs D iffic u ltie s o f te a c h e r
I . M a o S am
O n n
(F u ll-lim c)
M shcrlcs p ro d u c ts
re c c in g tech no lo gy
Y es . L ab p ractical . N o lab
. L ack o f d o c u m en t St
le a c h in g m aterials.
. A d d la b p ra c tic al h o u r . L a c k o r d o c u m en t fo r stu d e n ts
. L a ck o f m ea n St te a c h in g m ate ria ls
. N o lab a n d c h e m ica ls
. L a ck o f fu n d for field trip
H an d lin g & tra n sp o rt,
o f fish erie s p ro d u c ts
Y es . P ractical In lab &
en terp rises.
. L ack o f la b eq u ip m en t
. L ack o f lim e St m ea n s
NA . S tu d en ts lack K h m e r d o c u m en t for
fu rth e r research.
. L a ck o f m ean St m ate ria ls fo r te ac h in g
a n d le a rn in g
.N o lab £ lab e qu ipm ent.
. N o re ad in g ro o m fo r stu dents.
. L a ck p f fu n d for research St field trip
2. Ilu o l V utha
(F u ll-llm e)
In la n d a q u ac u ltu re Y es . F en c u ltu re
. F ield trip
. N o d o cu m en t
. P e n Is n o t k no w n by
teach er
. L ack o r m ea n s Tor travc
. N eed slid e pro jector,
V ID E O , o v e rh e a d
. T e a c h e r fie ld trip in
c o u n try St o verseas
. L a ck o f le ac h in g m ate ria ls
F ish e ries forestry
ex
'lo tli
stin g C C
N A N A N A . R e a l p ic tu re Is n o t a v a ila b le to b e
sh o w n to stu d e n ts
3. M en S okha
(F ull-lim c)
Fislt d isease Yes . D iseases c au sed by
leeches & m otlusks
. N o d o cu m en t . A d d Itasic o f
c p b o o th o lo g y , In clu d e
th e ir o ccurrence,
n o n -in fe ctio n d isea se
. N o m icro be p ic tu re s to sh o w stu d e n ts
. N o e le c tro n ic m icro sco pe
. N o slid e p ro jector
. N o lab
4, S cang M cng
(Full-lim c)
O ceano graph y Yes . Ph ysical p he n o m e n a
in I h c s c a l& ll
. O cean d o o r, sh o relin e
a n d p ro cesses l& II
.P ro d u c tiv ity o f th e
O cean
. N o c le a r references
w h ich sh o u ld b e used
Tor le ac h in g
. M o st re fere n c es a rc
w ritte n in foreig n
la n g u a g e w h ich
c o u ld n o t be
u n d ersto o d clearly
by te ac h e r
. S om e im p o rta n t
references re lated to
th is sub ject sh o u ld bo |
tra n sla te d In K h m e r
. D ifficu lt in u n d e rsta n d in g th e
references.
. L ack o f te a c h in g m ate ria ls
. N o la b for p ra c tic es
a
x
n - >
( /■
V O
00
Contributions o f Teachers i n R U A Fisheries Curriculum Development
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- 2 -
T e a c h e rs T o uch c o u rse C F M F S F
N on -fo llo w cd
p a r ts
W h y C h a n g i
c o n ta in
R e q u e s te d b y
te a c h e rs D iffic u ltie s o f te a c h e r
S. llo lT h a r in c
(F u ll-lim c)
Sy stem atic
aq u atic liolnny Y es
. M y xo ph yceae
. D acilario ph yccae
. R h od op hy ccac
. Lull sectio n
. N o references
in K h m er
. N o lab
. R eferences re lated to
th is sub ject sh o u ld be
tra n sla te d in K h m e r
. M o st re fere n c es a rc in F o reig n
la n g u a g e
. N o real p ic tu re to b e sh o w n lo stu d e n ts
. N o la b
6. S en g Sam
Plial
(F u ll-lim c)
Lim nology N retu n
A nalytical
a q u ac u llu ic tecton ic
N rctu rn
A qu acu llu ic
e n g in e erin g
N a retu rn
7. C hliouk
H orin
(F u ll-lim c)
P o pu latio n
d yn am ics
Y es N A N A T h is c ou rse sh o u ld b e
elim in a te d from C C g u id e
N A
X. I.y K im H an
(P art-tim e)
F ish e ries law Y es N A ' N A No N o d ifficu lties
9. T ouch
S cang T an a
(P a il-lim c )
F ish eries
m an ag em en t
Y es Study lo u r L ack o f fun d . A dd IS h r m ore N A
F ish eries A qu acu lture
extensio n
Y es No No A dd field Irip . M o re th a n 5 0 % o f stu d e n t c o u ld n ot
u n d e rsta n d le ctu re d u e lo less Interest
o f stu d e n ts
Ill.C linn R ollia
(F u ll-lim c)
System atic
aq u atic /.oology
Y es O rd e r im p o rta n t
v ertebrates
. N o ab ility to fin d out
a su itab le reference
. A dd b iolo gy o f fish
. , ___ L
. L a ck o f te a c h e r e xp eriences
. N o t e n o u g h c ap ac ity lo tra n sla te
e x istin g d o cu m en t
. N o te a c h in g m a te ria ls for
sh o w in g sitid en is
V O
O
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r ..
T e a c h e rs T e n c h c o u rse C P M P S P
N on -follow cd
p a r t i
\V liy C h a n g i
c o n tain
R e q u e ste d b y
te a c h e rs
-------------------------------------------rfrrr: r7; j t t g
D iffic u ltie s o r te a c h e r
I I . K y
V a n n a re lh
(P a il-lim c )
S y stem atic
a q u a tic '/.oology
Y es . C rab
, T u rtle
. L ack o f docum en t . N o N o
1
G en e ral a n d fish
p hysiology
Y es . C o uld not fin ish all
p art
, L ecture is lo ng er th an
d u ratio n .
1
. No . R e q u ired le ctu re s w e re n e v e r fin ish e d .
. B u sy a n d n ev er c o v e r th e re q u ire d h r
C o astal a q u ac u ltu re Y es . C ra b cu ltu re
. C ru stac ea n cu ltu re
. L ack o f d ocum en t
■ T h e types o f cu ltu re
w ere n ot availa b le in
C atnbodin.
. N o • .N o
12. K ou R u n
K lican g
(P a rt-tim e )
P ish N u tritio n Y es . L ip id re q u irem e n t . S tu d en t c o u ld no
follow
. R e q u ire m o re h o u r on
p ra c tic al sectio n
. N eed la b facilities
. S tu d en t h a v e lo w b a c k g ro u n d o n
th eo ry
. L ack o f Instru m en ts
. L ack o f electricity
S tatistics a n d
ex p erim en tal d esig n
Y es . A N O V A
. C h i S q u are
. S tu d en t w as difficu lt
to follow
. S h o u ld h av e so m e stat.
book in F F lib rary for
stu dents.
. S tu d en t h av e n o sta tistic b ac k g ro u n d
. S o m e stu d e n ts a re w eak in stu dy
P rin c ip le s o f g en etics
a n d fish b re e d in g
Y es . P ractical sectio n . N o facilities .N o . S tu d en t h av e poo r k no w led ge, th erefore
w e d iflic u lt lo ex p lain .
13. T y T h a n y
(P a rt-tim e )
F ish e ries p ro du cts
c a n n in g technology
Y es . P ractical . N o th in g in lab A dd itio n in
. M icro bio log ical a n d
h eal p e n etra tio n asp e cts
. E con om ical c alc u latio n ,
p ro c ed u re c an n e ry
. N o in stru m e n t a n d m a te ria ls to b e
sh o w n to stu d e n ts
Q u a lity con trol o f
fish erie s p ro du cts
Y es . P ractical . N o th in g in lab A dd itio n in
. S tatistica l q u a lity c o n tro l
. Q u a lity m an ag em e n t
in fo rm atio n system
. Q u a lity c o st a c c o u n tin g
. N o In stru m e n t a n d m o d el lo b e sho w n
to stu d e n ts
w
Reproduced with permission o f th e copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
-4-
T e a c h e rs T o u c h c o u rs e C F M F S F
N on-follow er)
p a r ts
W h y C h a n g i
c o n tain
R e q u e s te d b y
te a c h e r s D iffic u ltie s o f t e a c h e r
14. T ith e S ara
(P a rt-tim e )
Pish in g era!)
tech no lo gy
N retu rn
r
P ish in g g ea r
tech no lo gy
Y es . P ra c tic al al fish in g
lots
. Lack o f fun d A d d itio n in
. P rin c ip le o f c alc u latio n
. L a ck o f re fere n c es
15. K n n V ib o l
(P art-tim e)
fis h e rie s eco no m ic N i rein rn
1
16. O u m V cn g
(P a rt-tim e )
fis h e rie s •
m a rk etin g
Y es . C o llectio n o f fish
p ro d u c tio n a n d lltcir
q uality
. P re serv a tio n o f fish
q u ality
. L ac o f d ocum en t a n d
o fficial d ata
. l a c k o f d ocum ent
.A d d IS h r lo p ractical
sectio n
, L a ck o f le a c h in g d o c u m en t
. U c k o f E n g lish k n o w led g e lo tra n sla te
E n g lish d o c u m en t in to K h m e r. <
l7 .P c n So ph on
(l-'ull-lim c)
N av ig atio n anil
sca m n n sh lp
Y es . L a b p ractical
. N o field trip
. N o la b eq u ip m en t
. Lack o f m ean s
R equ ire
. O v e r h e a d p ro jecto r
. S lid e p ro je cto r
. M o dels lo b e s h o w n to
stu d en ts
.L a b
. P ictu re to b e sh o w n lo
stu d en ts
. D ifficult to e x p la in stu d e n ts d u e to n o
e q u ip m e n t a n d m ate ria ls
. N o p la c e s for p ra c tic a l
. L ack o f d o c u m en t fo r fb rth e r re se a rch
t
III. Sun Sotliy
(Part-tim e)
F ish eries p ro d u c ts
tech no lo gy ( i s l p a rt)
Y es . L ab p ractical . N o te ac h in g m ate ria ls
a n d in stru m en ts
N o , N o la b for p ra c tic al
. N o fie ld trip (lo e n te rp rise )
19. Dun Rasy
(P art-tim e)
F ish eries p ro d u c ts
tech no lo gy (2 n d p art)
N a retu rn
201
202
Appendix 16
Training of Teachers (Sample short-course description)
VI) ToT Course Description
AIT-Danida Aquaculture Outreach
Training of Teachers Programme
Specific short-courses
N o 1
Course Title I A q u a c u l t u r e L a b o r a t o r y T e c h n i q u e s a n d B a s i c M a n a g e m e n t
D a t e : M a y - J u n e , A u g u s t - D e c e m b e r 1 9 9 6
Place: a i t c a m p u s a n d F o F l a b o r a t o r y
P a r t i c i p a n t s : M r M e n S c k h a ( B . S c . ) , K o l T a r i n e ( B . S C - ) , S e a n g M e n g
( B . S C . ) , H u o t V u t h a ( B . S c . ) ; f a c u l t y o f F o F a t t h e R o y a l U n i v e r s i t y o f
A g r i c u l t u r e , P h n o m P e n h , C a m b o d i a . P r i n c i p a l l y t h i s c o u r s e s h o u l d b e o f f e r e d
f o r s i x m o r e p a r t i c i p a n t s , w h e n c o n v e n i e n t . P h a s e I a n d I I I s h o u l d b e o p e n f o r
p a r t - t i m e t e a c h e r s .
Teacher:
Course Objective: t o i m p r o v e t h e g e n e r a l k n o w l e d g e a n d p r a c t i c a l
s k i l l s i n b a s i c l a b o r a t o r y t e c h n i q u e s r e l a t i n g t o a q u a c u l t u r e f i e l d o f s t u d y .
Expected Outcome: s k i l l s i n c h e m i c a l a n d b i o l o g i c a l m e t h o d s f o r
l a b o r a t o r y a n a l y s i s i n a q u a c u l t u r e s c i e n c e . A c a p a c i t y t o c o n d u c t r e l e v a n t
l a b o r a t o r y a n a l y s i s a s c o n f i n e d b y t h e e x i s t i n g c u r r i c u l u m a n d e x p e c t e d f a r m
t r i a l s a n d t o p l a n f o r t h e a r r a n g e m e n t o f t h e s e i n c u r r e n t s y l l a b u s .
Course Content:
I ) I n t r o d u c t o r y l a b s e s s i o n s c o n n e c t e d t o t h e o p e n i n g a n d o r g a n i z a t i o n o f t h e
r e n o v a t e d F o F l a b o r a t o r y . I n t e n s i v e f a c u l t y w o r k s h o p 8 - 1 9 t h J u l y .
I I ) A q u a c u l t u r e L a b o r a t o r y T e c h n i q u e s a n d M a n a g e m e n t . C h e m i c a l a n d b i o l o g i c a l
m e t h o d s o f w a t e r q u a l i t y a n a l y s i s . E v e n t u a l l y , n u t r i e n t a n a l y s i s a n d b a s i c
s o i l a n a l y s i s . S u p p l e m e n t a r y a n d c o n t i n u o u s C a m b o d i a n l a n g u a g e g u i d a n c e .
S h o r t - c o u r s e m w e l l e q u i p p e d l a b a t A I T , a s s o o n a s i t m a y b e a r r a n g e d .
I I I ) T a i l o r e d l a b t e c h n i q u e s a n d m a n a g e m e n t . R u n n i n g - i n a n d s y l l a b u s
i n t e g r a t i o n o f F o F l a b o r a t o r y p r o c e d u r e s . A t R U A , C h a m c a r D a u n g d u r i n g A u g - D e e
1 9 9 6 .
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203
Teaching M ethods and Activities: s h o u l d b e w it h * d ear fo c i ? 1
on practical laboratory training with optional linJcs to local research areas.
Assessment: pending
C o n t i n u a t i o n : phase X and II could chronologically be shifted. A
paralleled training in basic research design would be beneficial.
Internal admin/logistics in the context of current RDA development plans.
P r e c o n d i t i o n s : basic English ability is required by the participants,
but paralleled .intensive guidance in Khmer is obligatory during training
sessions.
Paralleled and continuous English training will be provided by current
'capacity building package.
Small scholarships are provided referring to the MotJ between AIT and RUA,
provided by Danida.
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204
Appendix 17
Conditions for Supplementary Salaries
IX) Conditions for Supplementary Salaries
Conditions for Supplementary Salaries
for RUA Fisheries Faculty Teachers and Staff
1. The conditions below will apply until the situation is reviewed in December 1996 .
2. The salary supplement from AIT is for additional work, (Le. development of the
fisheries curriculum), carried out by the teachers or other RUA staff It is not seen by
AIT as payment for teaching or other duties expected by the RUA Administration.
3. Teachers receiving a salary supplement from AIT will be expected to develop their
individual courses and the section to which they are assigned.
4. The salary supplementation is for 5 full time fisheries teachers, 2 Diploma level staff
and 3 unskilled workers assigned to the RUA Fisheries Faculty only. Faculty or staff
attending short courses of more than one month duration or Masters Degree courses
will not be eligible for a salary supplement whilst they are away from RUA.
5. Supplementary salary rates will initially be SI 00/month for a teacher with a Bachelors
degree and S70/month for a staff with a diploma. ATT also agrees to pay a monthly
allowance of S30/month each to the faculty caretaker and 2 farm labourers who will be
expected to carry out duties in line with Project activities and goals..
6. AIT reserves the right to stop payment to any faculty member or staff who is seen as
not contributing to or obstructing the curriculum development process. This would
only be done after consultation with the Rector or his representative.
7. The RUA administration will advise AIT, through the DOF/RUA Liaison officer if it
wishes to stop or postpone payment to an individual faculty or staff member due to
poor performance during Project implementation.
8. At the end of each month, AIT will administer the salary supplements directly to the
faculty and staff involved through the AIT/RUA Fisheries Faculty Liaison Officer.
Each person must sign on receipt of the money.
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205
Appendix 18
July 1996 Intensive Faculty Workshop: Objectives, Purposes, Format,
Pre-workshop Task and Timetable, and Participant list
II Purpose, Objectives and F o rm at
The basis for the workshop purpose, objectives and format arose from discussions
between the RUA Rector, Chan Nareth. Vice-Rector, Phadh Mony and a work group
consisting of the FoF Vice-Dean. Mao Som Onn. and MK. The following statement of
these was the result of discussion among MK, HBN and BS.
Purpose:
The overall purpose is the development of the Faculty of Fisheries (FoF) curriculum
and capabilities of FoF teachers. The workshop will provide participants with an
opportunity to discuss, evaluate and improve the FoF curriculum as well as to develop
supporting management policies and practices.
Long-term objectives:
Support the professional career development of FoF teachers.
x
Improve faculty capability to communicate in English.
x
Upgrade the knowledge and skills of students, by improving the FoF curriculum to
meet the current needs of society, market demand and national policy.
x
Produce documentation for the promotion of fisheries and aquaculture activities in
Cambodia.
Short-term objectives:
Prepare for September semester courses, by reviewing and revising course
descriptions, and identifying specific course development requirements.
x
Assess needs in teaching methodology.
x
Develop the FoF Curriculum Guide into an effective curriculum management tool..
x
Work on English learning activities and plan continuing English training.
x
Assess current computer needs and introduce appropriate software applications.
x
Develop action plans for the sub-sections with reference to the FoF Master Plan.
x
Decide on follow-up curriculum development activities.
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Form at:
The two-week workshop will have a flexible schedule with sessions from 8-12 am,
with a reportback session each day (except Wednesdays) from 9:15-10 am that other
RUA personnel may join.
I ll Pre-W orkshop Task and Tim etable
During the AIT team’s pre-workshop meetings, it was decided that the focal point of
the workshop would be preparation of the courses to be taught in the September 1996
semester, from which would emerge specific workshop tasks involving English,
computer, library and laboratory development. This meant that 1) it would be
necessary for the workshop to begin with the FoF teachers talking about the immediate
preparation needs for the September courses, and 2) the workshop timetable would
need to be flexible to allow for identified tasks to be carried out.
To achieve these two aims, the pre-workshop task and draft timetable (Appendix 1)
were devised and faxed to the Vice-Dean along with a list of previously agreed
responsibilities for workshop preparation.
IV P articipants
1 Dam Sambo Chief of RUA Education Office
2
Choung Sophal Chief of RUA Practical & Research Office
3 Khoun Eang Agronomy Faculty
4 Ek Thinavuth Veterinary Faculty
5
Von Monin Forestry Faculty
6 Chan Saruth Agricultural Engineering Faculty
7 Vun Vary Agricultural Engineering Faculty
8 Mao Sopheareth Basic Sciences
9 Ty Thany FoF part-time teacher
iO Bun Racy FoF part-time teacher
11 Ky Vannarith FoF part-time teacher
12 Oum Veng FoF part-time teacher
13 Kim Sour FoF part-time teacher
14 Sun Sothy FoF part-time teacher
15 Seng Samphal FoF part-time teacher
16 Ros Vuthy Dept of Fisheries administrator
17 Hean Vuthana AIT-RUA liaison officer
18 Mao Sam Onn • FoF full-time teacher
19 Huot Vutha FoF full-time teacher
20 Seang Meng FoF full-time teacher
21 Men Sokha FoF full-time teacher
22 Holl Tharine FoF full-u'me teacher
23 Oul Noty FoF full-time staff
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Appendix 19
English:Feedback on Writing
GENERAL COMMENTS
• Remember your audience
• Re-reading
• Learning from corrections
• Respond to Bill's questions by continuing the writing
• Proofreading marks
STYLE
• Starting with “In my opinion...” “I think ” “In my idea™”
SENTENCE / PHRASE
• Strings of terms
...efficiency, satisfaction, and cost.
skill in writing, skill in control, skill in management
principles of diagnosis, prophylaxis and therapy
consistency: managing, arranging and preparing
• combining I am a lecturer. I am a fu ll-tim e teacher.
• writing short sentences (no and!
• One the other hand, At the other hand
• By this way / In this way
• Why the productivity of agriculture is still low?
• works a lot of housework
WORD
• Words for connecting ideas:
therefore, thus, hence
however
even/even though
although ... but
but and and I w a n te d to be a teacher, b u t now I am .
• be, being, is, are
• discusses about assessment
• in which / which
• covers on
• in, during, from, on, since 1991
• in, at Kandal Province
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Appendix 20
Sample of “Tasks”
TASKS FOR MONDAY
1. Prepare a sample lecture plan (in Khmer or English) for one class
session (perhaps one hour) of a course you teach. Next week, we
will be giving you individual feedback on your sample lecture plan.
2. Read the two articles:
C urriculum D evelopm ent in Tertiary Agriculture and H orticulture
Restructuring the N ational Polytechnic Institute in Lao PDR
You should prepare to discuss these next week, and ask questions
about the concepts and vocabulary.
3. Continue writing in your dialog journal. We will collect them again
on Monday.
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Appendix 21
Workshop Evaluation
1. What do you think about the way (method) the workshop has been
conducted?
good:
for preparing curriculum framework and management
for teachers to follow as an experience
find out new methods to improve our work
time for discussion
organization, plan
results and clear explanations
for future curriculum development
this workshop better than the last, in terms of preparation objectives
and the teachers can improve their capacity to make plan for teaching
constraints:
not clear discussion and not clearly solve all the problems
start and end hours noton time
did not concentrate on specific subjects
should have timetable and document clearly
2. How useful do you think the tasks were?
useful:
teaching method
organize teaching plan
improve lecture preparation
course development
curriculum framework
resource persons list
new experiences
lot of information
model for our working
ideas for next workshop
show real activities in practicals for teachers and students
could improve and develop curriculum
get good ideas from teachers
improve teacher motivation
show clearly what we need to do in development of FoF
increase understanding each other
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210
3. How do you feel about your own participation?
happy and face some difficulty
get a lot of knowledge
results of discussions are useful
gained many ideas from teachers
discuss to find out what we need
a chance to speak and listen to English
I know what I don’t know before.
confident
tired
all workshop were not reach requirement of teachers
4. Have we achieved the objectives of the workshop?
yes:
know how to prepare method of teaching and evaluation
management plan, computer use, English, NGO/private
method of course preparation, plan for glossary, plan for student
research
develop the curriculum, improve lecture plan, advice on teaching
group discussion
I can speak English better than before the workshop.
5. What suggestions do you have for improving the way the
workshop was conducted?
Increase discussion in English
Everybody should present the results of discussion
Participants should concentrate more on workshop
Bring some curriculum guide from outside, so we can pick up some
appropriate points for Cambodia.
Set up a plan clearly about laboratory use, install lab equipment as soon
1 as possible, then teachers will be easy to prepare plan for teaching.
Combination of many ideas is good to solve problems. Have another
workshop to improve our condition.
Invite all teachers. All participants should provide their own ideas.
Not enough time. Need to explain in more detail.
Next workshop at AIT.
Increase allowance.
Improve coffee break. We have to finish before 11 am.
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211
Appendix 22
Faculty of Fisheries Workshop Poster Session
P osters
* 1. Procedure for FoF Glossary (Thany, Vutha)
* 2. Lesson Plans (Vutha, Thany, Vannarith, Racy)
* 3. Course Development Checklist (Samphal, Sothy)
* 4. Procedures for Translation (Thany, Vutha)
5. Draft of the Library Policy (Tharine, Meng)
6. Teacher Training Needs and Requests (Mads)
7. Advice on Good Teaching (Racy, Sokha, Vannarith)
8. List of NGOs (Sothy, Vuthy)
9. Improving Student Motivation to Learn (Samphal)
10. Fnglish Training Plan (Bill)
11. Results of Computer Questionnaire and Consultations (Henrik)
12. Teaching Materials and Aids (Mao Sam Onn)
13. Integration of Student Research (Oum Veng)
14. FoF Curriculum Guide (Bill)
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PROCEDURE FOR FoF GLOSSARY
1) Alphabetical
2) 3 sections
a. Fish terminology
b. Fish species
c. Education
3) Procedures
a. Discuss together with teachers
b. Blank form for recording the words
4) Computer Program
a. How to enter
b. How to alphabetize
c. How to do the Khmere
- How often to update
• How to make available to teacher
- library
- copy
1) Short term for:
reading
teaching
English learning
2) Medium term for:
reading
teaching
English learning
3) Long term for:
teachers
students
fisheries official
publishing fisheries glossary for other people
Sample Format
English word - Khmere word explanation • English sentence example
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LESSONS PLANS
Advice on good teaching:
• Raise your voice when giving lecture - vary.the voice - otherwise the
students will fall asleep.
• Look into the eyes of the student - eyecontact
• Ask questions to the students - and wait for the answers.
• Manage the use of the Overhead projector.
• Turn off when you do not use it.
• Stay in the classroom while teaching.
• Use visual aids (pictures, OH, slides, posters, white board drawings).
• Vary the teaching methods, i.e. lecture + demonstration
lecture + group discussion
lecture + student exercises
lecture + brain storming
lecture + practical
• Start a lecture (lesson) with reviewing the earlier lecture.
• For group discussions, choose a student representation to present findings
and elaborate on questions from other students (reportback).
• Give the students writing -exercises, they w ill have to prepare at home
and hand over to the teacher.
• Give examples!!!
• Encourage the students to learn from each other.
• Preparation of the lecture:
lecture plan
prepare materials for practice, if any - OH, slide, posters,
materials for demonstration
• Give handouts to the students and discuss/address a few main points in
the handouts.
• Write only main points on the white board - otherwise the students will
find it difficult to take notes and listening to the teacher simultaneously
(at the same time).
• Encourage the students to take note only from the main topics to the
lecture.
• Students evaluations of teachers.
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214
COURSE DEVELOPMENT CHECKLIST
1) Course Description Updating
Needs Khmer translation
Some new course need description
2) Course structure (topics) adjustments
Group discussion
example:
Aquaculture Capture Processing
and Economic
Aquatic
Science
Courses
Very big courses need to be developed
Linking courses
teacher meeting
objectives of each course important for decision
Teachers should be able to contact resource person themselves
faculty responsibility should be clarified/decided
address lists should be available
RUA should support teachers in all the above activities
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215
PROCEDURES FOR TRANSLATION
F oF needs a standard procedure to translate docum ent
to Khmer. Full/Part tim e teachers can do
translations
Translation (English, Khmer)
Lecture Note
Committee
1. Identify important document
2. Procedure for translation (where can
be done) DOF, FoF, Onacher office
3. Use : Library, teachers, students, DOF
. 4. How to pay?
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Name Status Form al Courses
pastipresent
O th er Languages Subjective R ating A
Teacher Self-Rated %
Recommendations (in o rd e r of priority)
Ros Vullty part-time private; private 7, 100% reading/writing, conversation/listening
Vun Vary agri - eng private; private 2,10% basic English
Ouni Veng part-time private;private Vietnamese 3, 30-40% conversation/listening, reading/writing
Holt Tharine full-time studied with friends; self 4,50% conversation/listening, reading/writing
Ky Vannarith part-time private; none Vietnamese 4,40-50% basic English
Bun Racy part-time none; none Vietnamese 5,60% conversation/listening, reading/writing
Kim Sour part-time ACE; advanced English
at ACE
10,100% technical English, TOEFL/IELTS preparation,
translation
Mao Sam Onn full-time Vietnamese 7 reading/writing, technical English
Men Sokha full-time private; self 3,30% basic English
Huot Vutha fbll-lime private, self 2,30% basic English
Ty Thany part-time private & ACE; none Russian 6,60-70% reading/writing, conversation/listening, technical
English
Oul Noty full-time staff private; private 2,10% basic English
Sun Sothy part-time private; none French, Vietnamese 7,60% technical English, translation
Mao Sophearelh basic sciences private; priavte French 8,30-60% technical English, translation ••
1 Seng Samphal part-time private, intensive &
IELTS at ACE; none
Russian 10,100% translation
Seang Meng full-time private; private 7 reading/writing, conversation/listening, technical
English
►
T S
ti
re
9
a
x
s i
w
to
ON
English Training Assessment a n d Training Proposal
English Training Assessment
One of the main tasks carried out during Week 2 of the workshop was an assessment
of teacher’s previous and present E nglish learning, end their self-identified training
needs. This was done through an open-ended questionnaire (in Appendix 14) and a 15-
. minute discussion with each teacher. As part of the discussion, BS subjectively rated
each teacher on a scale from 1 to 10 as to their communicative competence in English.
Each teacher was also asked how much they thought they had followed of the English
spoken during the workshop. They all responded in percentages. A summary of the
results follows in the table.
English Training Proposal
Overall, it is recommended that English training take place in three phases over the
next year.
First Phase (6 to 9 months!
English courses for current needs o f individual Faculty of Fisheries teachers, including:
• basic English
• conversation/listening
• reading/writing
• translation
• technical English
• TOEFL / EELTS preparation
The majority of the teachers felt that ACE had the best-quality courses available in
Phnom Penh. Recommendations for individual teachers in this phase are made in the
table.
Second phase (after 6 to 9 months!
Course on “technical English for fisheries” for all teachers together.
Such a course could be handled, for example, by subcontracting an agency like ACE to
develop and deliver the course, or paying the E n glish department at RUA to do it (with
advice from CLET).
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Third phase (after one year)
Intensive four-week English program for all teachers together, conducted by two
CLET faculty members.
There are three options to be considered here:
1 . The entire program at RUA would mean lower cost, but also no outside exposure
to English, less availability of learning resources, and perhaps less motivation on
-the part of the teachers.
2. The entire program at AIT would entail substantially more cost, but with the
advantages not found in the first. Question: Would the teachers be able and willing
to be away horn Cambodia for four weeks?
3. Half of the program at AIT and half at RUA This would be a compromise option
which would have many of the advantages of the first two options. One can
envision an exciting program whereby teachers would first be at ATT with all of its
resources, and then go back to RUA with teacher-developed resources in hand to
work further on English development in their actual work context. This is the
recommended option.
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219
Appendix 24
Time Bound Activities and Terms of Reference (ToR)
Sample of one subsection at the FoF/RUA
T e r m s o f
f o r
S i x b - S e c t i o n
W itt reference to the Rector of R U A , M r C Nareth and the AIT
Liaison O fficer, M r C Borin, the following tasks are to be carried
o u t:
G e n e r a l T O R s
a) improvement of Library and reading room and
management hereof
b) compilation of regulations and production of
teaching m aterials
c) development of individual courses and FoF curriculum
d) implementation and exertion of sp ecific project
a c tiv itie s (as specified)
e) present a monthly report on how time was spent on
curriculum/management tasks and project a c tiv itie s
) Revision of Course Description
prepare a Khmer d raft (handwritten or typed on disc) of own Course
Description
tran slate to English and type the revised d ra ft on disc, if
possible
d e a d l i n e = 4th A pril
fin a l corrections and i m provements to be typed in Khmer
version
d e a d l i n e : mid M ay
T i m e b o x o n d . a c t i v i t i e s a n c 3 -
d e a d . 1 i n e z 28 th February
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220
final Khmer Course Descriptions are printed and published
d L e a c i l ine : 21st M ay
o ) Reading room, improvements
- organize tables, remove unnecessary items, implement regular
weekly cleaning, advertise opening hours and lib ra ry policy on door
or pin-board in lib ra ry
deadline = 28th Feb
3 > Photocopies of essen tial books
- contact part-tim e teachers and s ta rt to make photocopies of the
mngf -relevant-, p riv ate books. M ake an estimate of how much money is
needed to pay fo r these photocopies.
deadline = 28th Feb
- acquire a l i s t of books from P A D E C lib rary . C irculate and discuss
th is l i s t with FoF teachers a t the next monthly meeting. V isit
P A D E C and prepare a ordering l i s t and estimated budget for
photocopies of the most essen tial books. A fter approval by M r
M SO nn, process end transport books to FoF lib ra ry .
c i e a d l i n e r mid March
- v is it D C F lib ra ry and assess T r hmer bocks as -.b '-ru -e
d e s L e H dLne; ; 15 th April
4 ) Ordering of free books
-from AXT-Danida Book Catalogue nol, order books from IC T iA R M (that
are free of charge to Cambodian U n iv ersities). Contact Asian
Foundation for possible free samples.
deadline = 1st April
0 < 0 2 J 7 /A 2 ? -0 « o ld a /A ^ n » c u l6 u r a O u e r » « e i* /* *
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Appendix 25
Section o f Administration Action Plan
4.1. Section of A dm inistration
T able 1: The M ain A ctivities Plan an d its D escription
Activities i Description
Administration and management plan Standard procedure for operation, organization and
manascmcnt o f the activities of the facutrv.
FoF development plan Five year master plan of faculty development. To
make this plan, faculty of fisheries may need
assistance of AIT and other oreamzation.
Training policy & management plan A plan of English & short course training including
its DOlicv of RCA about Dart-time teachers.
Course revision At the end of every semester, all the courses have to
be revised. ARLO should work with the dean/vicc
dean to do this. The result of student's evaluation is
useful in the course revision.
Building reparation & Maintenance Repainting of the building and laying cemented
ground around the Faculty of Fisheries are needed.
All the exisung equipment and equipment provided
bv ATT are needed to reDair when necessarv.
Teaching aids and office equipment OHP. slide projector. TV and VCR are useful for
teaching and presentation. OHP and slide projector
can be purchased in Phnom Penh.
Some office equipment like computers will be
ourchased for librarv and for the teachers.
Class room & office upgrading To teach by using visual aids and to make the room
and offices comfortable, windows are needed. In the
office it help in maintaining coldness provided by
air-condition.
In some important room and office, we will install
jir-trndiucti.
Workshop There will be two workshops on:
1) Research methodology
2) Style guide for writing thesis
These two workshop might be participated by
different facuicv and department in RCA.
English training for the teachers Some teachers including also part-time teachers
meet difficulties in communicating in English and
using this language in w— .tatg ...ra re ncte for the
students.
Study tour To get and exchange new experiences of
curriculum development as well as faculty
developmeni in different countries, the study tour
mav be needed for some staffs.
Student's field trip Since nowaday s the students arc thought with only
theory and less practical, the field is v ery important
for them as the alternative way of having practical
and eettine field experiences.
Research Small research grant will be given to the individual
or group of teachers who have completed research
proposal. This w ould be beneficial to the teachers
both experiences and income.
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222
Appendix 26
RUA Faculty of Fisheries Curriculum Development
Activities: Summary Report June-November, 1997
6 Month A ctivity R eport b y C B orin and R G regory
Royal University of Agriculture
Faculty of Fisheries
Summary Report
on
RUA Fisheries Faculty
C urriculum Devel'mment Activities
June - November, 1997
Summary
During the period May to October, 1997 progress has been made in the following areas: library
and lab development and management, and farm development. Considerable achievement was the
course revision in Khmer and English, although there were constraints and difficulties to achieve
the final draft and it needs to continue and follow up. The overall accomplishments were about
59 % of all planned activities. Among all 4 sub-sections, the laboratory subsection was the
slowest one (33 %).
Total in country expenditure for the work at RUA for the period Mav-October. 1997 is
calculated as just over USS 40.866.88. This represented 43 % of total budget allocation for that
time.
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223
1. RUA Fisheries F aculty S taff Developm ent
In the Faculty o f Fisheries (FoF) there are two M.Sc. from AIT. Additional to Mr. Chhouk Borin
returned and w orking as AIT Liaison officer, Mr. Chan Rotha sucessfuily finished his M.Sc. at
AIT and at the moment has been appointed as a manager in "Aquatic Resource Management"
project supported by the Saint's M ary University.
Mr.Seang M eng w ho teaches "Fish Nutrition" attended short-course training at SEAFDEC on
fish nutrition in Iloilo, the Philippines. This short course is financially supported by AIT-
DANIDA.
At the moment 2 staffs, 5 full-time teacher and one part-time teachers have attended basic
English language training at ACE, Phnom Penh. At the end o f this year, they will have completed
4 terms, from 4 th to 7B levels.
Recently, FoF received two RUA graduates and one graduate from Vietnam. They will become
FoF teachers.
2. RUA Fisheries S tudent D evelopm ent
Eight RUA fisheries students have been worked on research supported by the AIT program and
supervised by FoF teachers and staff from the Aquaculture Office o f the Departm ent o f Fisheries
for their thesis studies. Research for tw o o f these topics is planned to be carried out on campus
at R U A The topics covered are:
1. Case Studies o f Cage Aquaculture in Kompong Chhnang, with particular attention to
marketing, stocking and early rearing o f Pangasius and Snakehead.
2. The Potential and Constraints to Aquaculture Development in Tramkok District, Takeo.
3. Case Studies o f Cage Aquaculture in Siem Reap, with particular attention to marketing
stocking and early rearing o f Pangasius and Clarias.
4. Access Issues and Ricefield Fisheries in Svay Rieng and Takeo Provinces.
5. On Station G row th Trials o f Trichogaster in Svay Rieng.
6. The M arket o f Tilapia Survey in Phnom Penh.
7. Fish Pond Design at R U A
8. Tilapia Cage Culture Trial at RUA.
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224
3. Progress of the four Sub-Sections of FoF
Work plans have been given to all 4 subsections o f the faculty. Therefore every sections followed
the works related to the last 6 months plan approved by the Steering Committee. The w orks
bellow were completed:
3.1. Section of Library
• Four tables for reading in the library were purchased.
• Air condition was installed for the library
• 13 books were copied from DOF and M RC/DOF libraries.
• There was the positive reply from ICLARM that some o f it publication will be sent to FoF.
• Some more were already listed from different publication.
3.2. Section of Administration and Education
• Sending one teacher to attend the short-course training on fish nutrition in Iloilo, the
Philippines.
• During this 6 months, full-time and part-time teachers; and administrative staff have been
attending basic English training at ACE. M ost o f them have nearly finished 2 terms while 2
teachers, Mr. M ao Sam Onn and Hout Vutha missed to continue due the trip to Vietnam in
September.
• Student's field trip to Bati Fisheries Research Station. The student work was the seed
production trials o f some culture species.
• Teacher study tour in Vietnam. There were 9 participants in the trip, 2 representatives from
FoF and the rests were RUA leadership and the representatives from other faculty. The
report o f this was done.
• Course revision:
The first English version o f curriculum guide book was published in 1994 and it has been
used without much improvement. Since then there is was no attem pt to revised it. Just FoF
have ARLO who w ork full-time at RUA, this work has been started.
Until now, 24 course guides were written in Khmer. From these, there were 22 w ritten and
revised in English. ARLO found some constraints and difficulties in revising the fisheries
courses.
• Parallels with the course revision, FoF have started to establish the credit system for the
fisheries courses. However, there was some difficulties in doing this. The basic principles o f
the credit system development are needed.
• Visual equipment for teaching: one OHP and one slide projectors were installed tw o tables
that be moved easily for teaching activities. In order to fulfill the academically professional
teaching, 2 classrooms were equipped (fixed on the wall) w ith one screen in each.
3
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225
• In library, meeting room and office o f Mr. M ao Sam Onn, air-condition w ere installed.
• Two more desktop com puter were bought in order to fulfill the requirement o f the teachers.
• Lamps and fans in many rooms, classrooms and offices, were renovated.
• First phase evaluation questionnaire was delivered to the teachers and staffs.
• The 4th 6 months action plan was prepared.
3 .3 . Section of Laboratory
• All the equipment that were ordered through Euro Continents, a local lab supply company,
arrived in Cambodia. FoF have been waiting for long tim e the tax exemption. A plan was
drawn for expansion o f the electric supply and new sockets and switches.
• The second list o f the equipment planned to order were done. T he Euro Continent have
already given the quotation. M ost o f the equipment are the ones for protein, fat and cellulose
analysis.
• To fulfill the needs for the short-course training on lab management, this sub-section made a
proposal for some chemicals from the French project in RUA. W e can get some basic
chemicals used in w ater analysis, but due to the risk o f losing the quality o f chemicals after
opening the boxes o r bottles and having no use, we need to w ait until we have lab
management training.
• Quotation o f chemicals for FoF lab was done, but they are very expensive. Now , according
to advise from M r.Chan Nareth, RUA vice rector and our discussion, we have to find the
supplier from neighbourgh countries, like Vietnam and Thailand.
3.4. Section of On-farm Research
• The ownership problem o f the new site planned to build experimental pond w as already
solved with the help o f Mr. Chan Nareth, RUA vice rector. Since w e have the pond design
done by a fisheries student in his thesis work, we can redesign it and start to construct the
pond very soon .
• The thesis work o f a fisheries student on Tilapia cage experiment was finished. The results
were poor. All the experimented fish were removed into the pond located on the new site for
pond construction.
• Farm development: 100 m concrete channel. 2 concrete tanks (2.5 m x 4 m x 0.5 m), inlet
monk of reservoir and well for farm water supply.
4
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226
Harvesting and Selling Summary
Production Items Quantity Riels earned
Silver carp (700 g each)
Tilapia fingerlings
Mixed species
226 heads
15,850 heads
63 kg
2,102,000
819.500
157.500
Total: 3,079,000
F or the purpose o f earning income for FoF, th e production o f silver carp which demanded for
food recipes in w edding ceremony, should be promoted.
4. Problems and Constraints
• Although during this 6 months we could have teacher's monthly meeting (4 times) more than
that in the last 6 months, the limitation o f the meeting was considered as a limitation to good
coordination in the project.
• Although FoF have successful written a draft o f course revision in English, there were some
limitation that cause the delay of satisfactory achievement in course revision:
-The lack o f overall RUA policy based on which the curriculum development and
management process is carried out.
-Low level o f the teacher's commitment in improving course outlines and improving
teaching materials.
-Limitation in improving course outlines and teaching materials w ere not only associated
with lack o f clear policy on financial support, but also the low level o f technical English
proficiency.
• Delay o f lab equipment and tax exemption has delayed the planned short-course training on
lab management and affects to the practical that should now be introduced to the students.
Besides it has became a bottle-neck to the Aqua Outreach Cambodian project cash-flow.
5
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227
5. In C o u n try P ro je ct E xpenditure; M ay-O ctober, 97
Total in country expenditure for the w ork at RUA for the period May-October, 1997 was
calculated as USS 40,866.88. A breakdown by line item follows:
RUA E x p en d itu re M ay-O ct 97 (in USS)
M ay-97 Jun-97 Jul-97 A ug-97 Sep-97 O ct-97 Total
Development 950.00 1960.00 1640.00 50.00 3387.86 1072.12 9059.98
Materials and Supplement 734.13 514.32 1635.22 70.18 1478.58 891.84 5324.27
Equipment and Facility 980.00 9062.00 5784.00 0.00 4240.00 520.00 20586
Workshops 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Travel and Per diem 245.00 0.00 400.00 0.00 252.14 0.00 897.14
Studv Tours 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 4999.49 4999.49
T o ta l: 2,909.13 11.536.32 9.459.22 120.18 9,358.58 7,483.45 40.866.88
7. R ecom m endations
Due the difficulties mentioned above, some recommendation should be considered in order to
overcome and have m ore achievement:
• Coordinate the fisheries teachers to understand clearly about RUA internal regulation and
policy; and the policy o f AIT Aqua Outreach.
• Teacher monthly meeting should be considered as the first priority among ongoing activities
ofFoF.
• ATT should continue to support in both, technically and financially to fisheries teachers in
upgrade their technical English knowledge.
• The terms o f references for supplementary salary for full-time teachers and staffs should be
revised.
R eported by : Mr. Chhouk Borin and reassessed by Mr. Rick Gregory
December 7, 1997
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228
Appendix 27
Revised Terms of Reference for Supplementary Salaries
Revised Terms of References
for Supplementary Salaries
for RUA Fisheries Teachers and Staff
1. The salary supplement from ATT is for additional work, (i.e. development o f the fisheries
curriculum), carried out by the full-time teachers or other FoF staff. It is not seen by AIT as payment
for teaching or other duties expected by the RUA Administration.
2. Full-time teachers receiving a salary supplement from ATT well be expected to develop their
individual courses and the section to which they are assigned.
3. The salary supplementation is for 9 full-time fisheries teachers, 2 Diploma level stafis and 3 workers
assigned to the RUA Fisheries Faculty only. Faculty or staff attending short courses of mote 30 days
duration or Master Degree courses will not be eligible for a salary supplement whilst they are away
from RUA. This will be implied also for the faculty members or staffs who leave from the project
activities within this duration.
4. Supplementary salary rates will initially be S 100/ month for a teacher with a Bachelors degree and S
70 /month fro a staff with a Diploma. AIT also agrees to pay a monthly allowance of S30/month each
to the caretaker and 2 farm laborers who will be expected to cany out duties in tine with the project
activities and goals.
5. The salary must be supplemeted according to the assessment of the achievements conducted monthly
by using a form that indicates the Project activities broken down into:
the given tasks or resposibility are not disturbed.
7. AIT reserves the right to stop payment to any faculty member or staff who is seen as not contributing
to or obstructing the curriculum development process. This would only be done after consultation
with the Rector or his representative.
8. The decission on supplementing salary to new full-time teacher or staff wil be done by a committee
consisting of RUA Rector, AIT Aqua Outreach Program Manager or his representative and the dean
of the Faculty of Fisheries.
9. The RUA administration will advise A IT , through the AIT-RUA Liaison Office'/it wishes to stop or
postpone payment to an individual faculty or staff member due to poor performance during Project
implementation.
10. At the end of each month. AIT will administer the salary directly to faculty and staff involved through
the AIT-RUA Liaison Officer. Each person must sign on receipt o f the money.
- Signature o f attendance
- Monthly activities report of sub-section resposibility
- The report of teaching activities or individual course development
-Others
y U /O
/ r '-ty-l' 60 %
5 %
20 %
15%
6. Full-time teachers can have- teaching material development, in the case that
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Asset Metadata

Creator Stafford, Rita X. (author)

Core Title Educational development aid and the role of language: A case study of AIT -Danida and the Royal University of Agriculture in Cambodia

School Graduate School

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program Education

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag education, higher,Education, Teacher Training,language, linguistics,OAI-PMH Harvest

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor Eskey, David (committee chair), Lamy, Steven L. (committee member), Rideout, William M. (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c16-67902

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Legacy Identifier 3018033.pdf

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Document Type Dissertation

Rights Stafford, Rita X.

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Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

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