At the event (Photo: VNA) Can Tho (VNA) – A 600 million VND (25,983 USD)project has launched Khmer script and vocational training classes for 183 Khmerethnic people aged between 15 and 60 in Co Do district in the Mekong Delta cityof Can Tho.
At an event to introduce the project on October 16, Tao VietThang from the municipal Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs and head of theproject said a research team has implemented a script teaching model at Khmerpagodas, while training ethnic people to grow rice and make handicrafts.
The team found that the group’s rice cultivation method wasout of date, resulting in low productivity and unstable incomes. In responsethey organised seminars and invited experts to help Khmer people applytechnology to production and select suitable rice varieties to improve theirearnings. The team has also opened water hyacinth weaving classes for the groupto capitalize on cheap local materials that are readily available.
Witnessing the falling number of Khmer people who couldwrite in their own language, the project invited intellectuals and teacherswithin their community to revive the language. The initial outcome has shownpositive improvements.
Tran Thanh Be, former director of the Can Tho Institute ofSocio–Economic Development Studies, lauded the project’ssocio-cultural-economic value, saying further assistance from relevant publicsectors and departments is needed to replicate the model for other ethnic communitiesacross Can Tho./.
VNA
