By Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
Senior Officials at the Royal University of Fine Arts (RUFA) have announced recently that no new students have applied to study Traditional Music and Theatre subjects since RUFA’s change of location to the Boeung Tayab area in Khan Roussey Keo, west of the Capital.
The officials reported that the number of new students who applied for study at RUFA decreased because the school’s location was inconvenient for travel and the roads in the area required repair. Furthermore, student feedback indicated that these skills do not meet the demands of the current job market in Cambodia.
Proeung Chhieng, professor and vice-dean of the Royal University of Fine Arts, said that the number of new students applying for courses of study in Traditional Music and Theatre Subjects at RUFA had decreased every year. He said, “I believe the main reason for the decline in the number of students is the new school’s situation, being far removed from the city center.”
“Apart from this, the road links to the University are very bad, being no better than muddy tracks after a light sprinkling of rain,” he said.
“In addition, the subjects we have to offer at RUFA are seen as irrelevant, given the current nature of the Cambodian job market.”
Speaking by telephone, the Professor told the Cambodia Weekly on September 1 that according to a university report, RUFA was pleased to accept at least 300 applications from high school graduates every year, when it was situated near the old Olympic stadium in Phnom Penh.
However, he said that since the move to the new location in Boeng Tayab in early 2005, there had been a drastic reduction of interest, with enrollment running at around only 30 to 40 students per year. Of these new enrollments, only a small minority of candidates applied to study performance art subjects like Lakhaon Boran (traditional theatre) with its sub genres of Lakhaon Basac, Shadow puppetry, Circus and Yike, let alone the classical music subjects.
Yun Khean, professor of Traditional Music and vice-dean of Khmer Traditional Music studies at RUFA, said that yearly enrollment now seldom rose above four students. The richness of musical tradition, captured by familiar names such as Pleng Arak and Pleng Mahory; the sound of Khmer music sung by instruments such as drums, oboes, Chapei Dorng Veng, Kse Diev (guitars), Tro Khmer, Bror Bos and Chhing was in danger of being silenced.
Khean recognized that students do apply to study other subjects as they thought that these skills would lack relevance in the employment market of a rapidly developing economy.
Khean went on to paint an alarming picture. “If there is no immediate action from the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts or the Royal Government as a whole, the future of traditional music, dance and theatre looks bleak. For this art form to thrive in the future we need new blood in the form of young and enthusiastic students who can foresee a workable career for themselves on the stage.”
Por Teung, director of the Fine Arts High School which shares a compound with RUFA, said of academic year 2008-2009 that his school planned to prepare up to 300 new students to study these traditional performing arts.
However, Teung said that these efforts would be hampered by physical conditions and held out little hope of being able to encourage students to support the intentions.
He has appealed to the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts (MoCFA) and the Royal Government of Cambodia to buy more school mini-buses and to renovate the RUFA campus accommodation facilities for the benefit of students and teachers who come from provinces.
Khim Sarith, secretary of state at MoCFA, said that with the full support of His Majesty King Norodom Sihamoni, the ministry has bought three mini-buses for RUFA students to date.
Sarith told the Cambodia Weekly by telephone on September 2, 2008 that so far, the ministry has no plans to buy more mini-buses, nor plans for campus improvements.
He said, “The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts is aware of the strains experienced by RUFA but there simply is not the budget to meet these requests.”
“However, the ministry will work hard and formulate alternative solutions to the problems and thus ensure a healthy population of fresh and inspired students for RUFA,” he continued. “As a leader for MoCFA, I can assure everyone concerned that the ministry will not rest while these conditions remain and we have no intention of allowing our cultural heritage to disappear in the future.”
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