Khmer literacy program offers ethnic Vietnamese a way forward

PHNOM PENH : Sok Srey Ngai is 15 but can read and write the Khmer language only at a second-grade level. She needs to learn more if she is to have a chance at realizing her modest ambition to work in a beauty salon.

The Catholic parish in Kor Norear, her Vietnamese community about eight kilometers east of Phnom Penh along the Mekong river, is giving her that chance. She has taken Khmer lessons in the church compound for the past three years.

Another student, Chin Chantha, is only 10 but eager to read and write Khmer well enough to fulfill this dream of owning a construction company when he grows up, to support his family.

When UCA News visited recently, the sound of children pronouncing the many letters in the Khmer alphabet in their distinctive Vietnamese accent filled the classroom. They were divided into two groups within the one room, owing to lack of space and teachers.

According to their teacher, Ly Rattha, 44 children aged 6 to 12 are in grade one, and 10 aged 13-16 are in grade two.Rattha, 25, says it is hard to teach two classes at the same time. When she starts teaching one grade, she gives exercises to the other.Ly Sothear, coordinator of the literacy program for Vietnamese communities in Phnom Penh apostolic vicariate, says the Church runs Khmer literacy classes in 15 Vietnamese Catholic communities. The program in Kor Norear started in 1995.

"Our program is of basic Khmer lessons for Vietnamese children before we send them to public schools," he explained. "But many manage to study only until grade six in school, and then drop out. They then come back to our classes because they find it hard to cope."

Poverty among the Vietnamese communities, most of whose members earn their livelihood by fishing or work as construction workers, garbage collectors, cobblers and petty traders, is a major challenge, according to Sothear. Children have to help earn for the family, and sometimes the Church "loses" its students, especially during the fishing season.

Sothear stressed that the ability to read and write Khmer is a basic requirement to enter a technical school or get a decent job in the country. Moreover, the local Church has a policy of using Khmer in its liturgy.

Father Peter Le Van Tinh, in charge of ministry to Vietnamese communities in Cambodia, told UCA News the local Church encourages Vietnamese Catholics to integrate into the national culture.

"It is difficult for me to speak Khmer," admitted the priest, who was born in Vietnam. "But I always try to learn and say Mass in Khmer with them."About 70 percent of the more than 26,000 Catholics in the country are ethnic Vietnamese.Courtesy : UCAN