The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport issued guidance on preventing irregular activities on Valentine's Day in public and private educational institutions. The ministry said the occasion was not a Khmer tradition and that a small number of young people had been getting carried away, neglecting their studies and losing their sense of dignity.
The guidance followed observations that a small minority of students misunderstood February 14 as a lovers' holiday or a day for romantic dates.
To continue strengthening the implementation of internal rules in all public and private educational institutions, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport instructed the relevant parties to carry out the following seven measures:
1. Use all available means to explain the meaning of the occasion properly and prevent cultural misunderstandings.
2. Strictly implement school discipline and continuously monitor student absences.
3. Incorporate moral education into the teaching of every subject.
4. Encourage youth councils and children’s councils in schools to carry out peer-to-peer education.
5. Maintain two-way communication between schools, parents or guardians, and communities.
6. Work together on prevention, education and guidance, and address problems promptly.
7. Capital and provincial education departments, school management and all stakeholders must continue implementing Prakas No. 1258 MoEYS.PrK of March 27, 2009 on primary-school internal rules, and Prakas No. 2786 MoEYS.PrK of October 22, 2009 on internal rules for public general secondary schools. Reported by Pai Sokhim.
