Can Tho helps Khmer ethnics develop livelihoods, preserve script

At an event to introduce the project on October 16, Tao Viet Thang from the municipal Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs and head of the project said a research team has implemented a script teaching model at Khmer pagodas, while training ethnic people to grow rice and make handicrafts.

The team found that the group’s rice cultivation method was out of date, resulting in low productivity and unstable incomes. In response they organised seminars and invited experts to help Khmer people apply technology to production and select suitable rice varieties to improve their earnings. The team has also opened water hyacinth weaving classes for the group to capitalize on cheap local materials that are readily available.

Witnessing the falling number of Khmer people who could write in their own language, the project invited intellectuals and teachers within their community to revive the language. The initial outcome has shown positive improvements.

Tran Thanh Be, former director of the Can Tho Institute of Socio–Economic Development Studies, lauded the project’s socio-cultural-economic value, saying further assistance from relevant public sectors and departments is needed to replicate the model for other ethnic communities across Can Tho.