Getting a good education is not something that is taken for granted in Cambodia.
One reason is that education went through a very dark period in the country’s not-so-distant history. Only 45 years ago, a good education was almost impossible to obtain. In fact, in the 1970s, the genocidal Pol Pot regime attempted to destroy education in Cambodia.
Today, education is considered critically important in the country, and young people are embracing the importance of education more than any generation in the nation’s history. And The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is helping them achieve their education dreams.
The Church’s first Asia Area Education Fair kicked off with two stops in Cambodia and was met with excitement, enthusiasm and big crowds in both Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. Nearly 300 young Church members and their families were thrilled to learn about the low-cost opportunities provided by Brigham Young University-Hawaii, BYU-Pathway Worldwide and its partner EnglishConnect, the Church’s Seminaries and Institutes programs, and funding resources from the Church’s Welfare and Self-Reliance division.
Veasna Neang, an educator and former Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission president, is well-positioned to speak about education in Cambodia. He experienced the immense value of Church education in his own life, and is a passionate and vocal education advocate, promoting the value of post-secondary training for young Cambodians.
President Neang directs a private K-12 school with nearly 800 students. He was thrilled to have the Church’s Education Fair come to Cambodia to discuss and demonstrate the education options the Church provides. The visitors from the Church education system made a visit to his school and talked to his students about post-high school opportunities.
“I am so glad the Church has invested so much in education and has made these programs available,” said President Neang. “It will create generational change. The Perpetual Education Fund, BYU-Pathway, and other programs are answers to our prayers.”
President Neang said not everyone needs four-year or graduate degrees. “But everyone can get vocational training or an associate degree so they can get a good job and change their life in Cambodia. The Church has done a very good job providing opportunities to our people.”
President Neang noted that, “Cambodia has gone through many wars and hardships, and a lot of educated people were executed” during the reign of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. “No one in those days could get an education.”
Most of the country’s teachers, educated professionals, and intellectuals were systematically killed. Books were burned. Modern institutions were demolished. The cities were emptied, with men, women and children forced into the country to work in the fields. A generation of educated people and institutions was lost.
President Neang’s generation grew up right after the Pol Pot era and had very limited educational opportunities. A solid education infrastructure had not yet been rebuilt.
“This is the first generation with widespread opportunities,” said President Neang of the young people today. “Now is the time for our young people to get a good education, to make up for those dark years. I remember when our [then] prophet, President [Russell M.] Nelson, came to Cambodia [in November 2019]. He asked us to do two things. Number one was to go to the temple, and number two was to get a good education.”
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President Neang and his wife, Chanthy Thol, at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Phnom Penh Cambodia Temple on September 18, 2021. President Neang presided at the ceremony on behalf of the Asia Area Presidency. © 2025 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.Cambodian young people are listening to the prophet, said President Neang. “They are starting to believe that education can change their life and help them get a better job, and not just a better job, but become better people, better providers and a better disciple of Jesus Christ, a better leader in the church. Education is one way the Lord blesses the lives of His people.”
President Neang said he once wondered why the Lord did not stop the terrible war in Cambodia. “But now I see the Lord’s hand. He will not always prevent war. Men have their agency. But he can provide education so that education can stop war.”
Good education “will change a whole generation of Cambodians from poverty to a better life, putting the past behind and going forward to a new day,” said President Neang.
His own story is instructive. “I joined the Church when I was 18. I heard about BYU-Hawaii and I applied and was lucky to be accepted. I was one of the first four Cambodians to go there. My education didn’t just give me knowledge. It transformed my life and made me a better person.”
He said, “BYU-Hawaii will always be special to me. I was only a member for two years with little gospel knowledge. Only a small portion of the Book of Mormon had been translated into Khmer. I went to Hawaii and I met a lot of returned missionaries. I learned how the Church functions, and it all greatly strengthened my testimony.”
After four years of learning, he was motivated to return home and help his Church and the Cambodian people. “It wasn’t just the skills I learned, but also because of the testimony I gained.”
He said he “met people from all over the world and I learned that it doesn’t matter where you are born, or what color your skin is, or what your background is. I learned we are all children of God, we have a Heavenly Father. That changed my life. It made it easy to love other people. It has made me a better father, a better leader and eventually it gave me the opportunity to become a mission president. BYU-Hawaii is always part of my life now.”
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For recreation and relaxation, President Neang loves to get out into the Cambodian countryside with his dirt bike.© 2025 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.He feels so strongly about education that when he was mission president he required all his non-English speaking missionaries to go through the EnglishConnect program so they would qualify for BYU-Pathway or BYU-Hawaii. “You have to do it. It will change your life,” he told them. “As a result, probably 80 to 90 percent of my missionaries either are on BYU-Pathway or are now in BYU-Hawaii. I continue to push them. I will also make sure my children have good education so they can serve their church, community and country.”
Because of his experience, he wants to give back. “One of the best ways to do that is to help young people get a good education.”
He said he hopes the Church education programs can go into all the rural provinces of Cambodia. “Cambodians don’t need money. They need education. If you just give money to poor people without education they will often spend it unwisely. With education they can get good jobs and build their own businesses. I wish all people, especially poor people, can have access to education.”