Cambodia is the Buddhist country since the first century. Buddhist monks have played very important role in Khmer society to educate people both in religious knowledge and general knowledge.
Since 1988, Buddhism was formally restored as the national religion of Cambodia. The general education in the country was based on the temple education. Khmer monks played their role as the teachers to provide study in Buddhist teaching and general knowledge to the people. They work as the guider for people how to make their way of life.
The Temple or Wat in Khmer is the basic place for education, and it was also the place to perform every traditional ceremony or festival of the country. Even today, this tradition still holds on.
However, in the world of Buddhism today Khmer monks have play little role in the international Buddhist community. Priority to 1970 Cambodia had a lot number of monk Buddhist scholars who work for the propagation of Buddhism. But unfortunately after the Khmer rouge Regime Buddhism was completely destroyed. This is the cause of why Khmer monks are weakly today.