The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, in collaboration with the Constitutional Council of Cambodia (CCC), held the first meeting of their working groups to discuss the inclusion of the basic provisions of the constitution into moral and civic subjects in school curriculums, the ministry announced on Monday.
Minister of Education, Youth and Sport Hang Chuon Naron and CCC president Im Chhun Lim were present at the CCC’s conference hall in Phnom Penh on Monday. Chuon Naron fully supported the proposals.
“We agreed to create a joint task force to review the issues and prepare documents. We will organise a discussion forum in the near future,” he said.
Similarly, Chhun Lim acclaimed the reforms of the education sector which he said had achieved remarkable success.
“This is a diamond opportunity for Cambodia to incorporate some basic laws and regulations of the constitution into the national curriculum,” he said.
Ministry spokesman Ros Soveacha told The Post on Tuesday that on March 1, Chuon Naron and Chhun Lim had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the inclusion of constitutional laws and articles in the national curriculum.
He said they did so because their institutions recognised the constitution as the supreme law of Cambodia that every citizen should learn and abide by.
Soveacha said that understanding the major principles upon which the Kingdom’s constitution was founded was important in building a common knowledge among all Cambodians to enhance patriotic awareness and social morality.
“The incorporation into curriculums of some of the basic laws set out in the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia is an effective mechanism and broadens the scope for quality human resource development."
“The Constitutional Council will provide technical assistance in the preparation of basic content and lessons to be taught related to the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia, which will be included in primary, secondary and high school curriculums,” he said.
He said the ministry would publish basic content for lessons to be taught on the constitution in any subjects that are appropriate.
The CCC and the ministry, Soveacha said, have agreed to create a joint task force to carry out the work, and the results will be finalised by the heads of the two institutions.
The joint technical teams are preparing an action plan to carry out the recently signed MoU, he said, and the plan will include the detailed process and timeframe of the work.
