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| Students Providing Educational Access for Kids : Cambodia |
| In the mid 1970s, after many years of civil war, Cambodia came under control of a socialist group known as the Khmer Rouge. Headed by Pol Pot, a former Cambodian peasant, the Khmer Rouge was determined to obliterate all traces of westernization from Khmer culture; it therefore attempted to isolate the country from the rest of the world. In doing so, Pol Pot and his army created one of the worst human tragedies in the 20th century--a genocide in which approximately 1.7 million Cambodians lost their lives (21% of the country's population). |  |
| Throughout Pol Pot’s five year reign, young children were routinely taken from their homes and forced to train as soldiers, bodyguards, or messengers. Khmer children often carried weapons to the battlefield, where they increased their chances of being injured or killed. |
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Believing that “the more you work, the more you learn,” the Khmer Rouge stripped the Cambodian youth of any access to education. Children would attend a primary school for only two to three hours a day. However, as Pol Pot’s regime had slaughtered any educated people of Cambodia in an attempt to create an agrarian-based society, children were taught by illiterate peasants. Therefore, the Khmer Rouge denied Cambodian children a promising future.
Although children now have the freedom to attend school, for many families, the required supplies cost too much. Many times, the parents who can send their children to get an education are forced to pull their children out of school so the children can work to provide for the family. Even though many families understand the importance of getting an education, poverty holds them back. |
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Revive the Past
Rebuild the Future