Chau Lang commune of An Giang province’s Tri Ton district currently has 2,372 Khmer households, accounting 65 percent of the commune’s population. To meet the need of studying Khmer language by local people, Chi Ka Eng Krom pagoda located in the commune’s Ta On hamlet has opened Khmer language classes during summer for Khmer pupils.

During the class taught by monks of the Khmer pagoda, local students learned about Khmer pronunciation, letters, and traditional customs as well as enjoyed folk games of the Khmer culture. Books, notebooks and learning tools for the class were supported by Buddhists in the locality.

At the end of the class, the pagoda’s management board also presented rewards such as bicycles, books or toys to pupils with best studying results.

Tieu Can district of Tra Vinh province currently home to 112,363 people, with 29,027 households of which 30.24 percent of them are Khmer households. 15 pagodas under the Khmer Theravada Buddhism have also opened Khmer languages classes for Achas and young Buddhists, with the number of participant pupils in the past five years has reached 10,161.

During classes, in addition using textbooks of the Ministry of Education and Training in teaching, monks also preached Buddhist scriptures written in Khmer language for promoting the spirit of “Good life, good religion” to pupils.

The Khmer language teaching has been widely supported by the local authorities and Buddhists in the locality.

At a Khmer language class in 2020 in Soc Trang province

Vinh Chau provincial city of Soc Trang province currently has over 88,100 Khmer people, accounting for nearly 53 percent of the provincial city’s population. For preserving the Khmer culture, every year, pagodas in Vinh Chau open classes for teaching Khmer language to young Buddhists in the locality.

This year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Association for Solidarity of Patriotic Monks has requested for the suspension of all Khmer language classes at pagodas in summer in order to prevent risk of the disease spread.

As a result, pagodas have closed all Khmer language classes and divided numbers of pupils studying Khmer language into small groups, limited large gatherings, according to Venerable Abbot of Kandal pagoda located in Vinh Phuoc ward Lý Phét.

As reported, Sala Pothi pagoda located in ward 2 of Vinh Chau provincial city is one of pagodas which opened Khmer class very early, and has the largest attending pupils in the locality.

During the pandemic, monks in Sala Pothi pagoda have prepared textbooks and notebooks for guiding pupils to self-study at home instead of gathering at pagodas, said Venerable Deputy Abbot of pagoda Lưu Hạnh.

From centuries, pagodas in Southwest region have been the places preserving the cultural identity of Khmer ethnic people, including their language and letters. The opening of Khmer language classes has been regarded by these pagodas as important and practical activities, contributing to preserve the cultural identity of Khmer people.