Authorities of the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho have requested the municipal Board for Religious Affairs and relevant agencies to roll out measures to preserve Khmer culture, which is on the verge of oblivion.

Can Tho is home to nearly 23,000 Khmer people. Photo: tuyengiao.vn

Le Hung Yen, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Home Affairs and Head of the Board for Religious Affairs, the work has been focused on upgrading pagodas and schools, and raising local people’s awareness of conserving culture and rites of the Khmer ethnic minority people.

In the coming time, apart from investing in infrastructure facilities in schools, the local authorities will work with pagodas to arrange courses of Khmer language for primary pupils during three-month summer holidays.

Attention will also be paid to compiling textbooks serving the teaching and studying of the language. Teachers and monks and nuns at Khmer pagodas will be assisted to improve their skills to be able to join Khmer-language classes.

Can Tho is home to nearly 23,000 Khmer people, accounting for 1.9 percent of its population. They are living around 12 Khmer Nam Tong (Theravada) pagodas across the locality.

Source: VNA