La khmérisation de l'enseignement et l'indépendance culturelle au Cambodge

Abstract

Abstract The Khmérisation of Teaching and Cultural Indépendance in Cambodia During the French colonial period, the French language was imposed on every domain, including administration, justice, and education. According to the directives of the colony's governor, "the objective of giving the Cambodians a basic French education is to enable them, as quickly as possible, to fill the functions of telegraphers and interpreters. It is by gradually excluding the Annamite element, and by involving the Cambodian people in our administrative life as quickly as possible, that we shall succeed in winning the sympathy of a people that defies us because it does not yet know us." F. Martini, a French linguist, observed that the politics of colonization entailed the stagnation of native languages. After the departure of the French in 1953 and until 1967, in spite of a complete change of orientation in French language education, French remained the dominant medium of instruction. In 1967 the "khmerization" of the educational system was decreed. Khmer teachers were substituted for French teachers and schoolbooks in Khmer were written. From 1967 to 1974, with the support of various political and cultural movements, the Pali and Khmer linguistic groups jointly led Cambodia towards linguistic independence.