Khmer ethnic minority students in SocTrang province in the Mekong Delta have been learning with their nativelanguage as well as Vietnamese from primary to secondary education.

All six boarding schools for more than 1,000 Khmer students in theprovince have included the Khmer language in their curriculum,according to a report from the provincial People’s Committee.

Students at 151 public schools, including 116 primary schools, 31 high schools and four senior high schools, have studied Khmer.

Khmer students have been exempted from school fees and poor students have been provided with textbooks and schooling aids.

All 399 teachers of Khmer language have been trained in both Vietnamese and Khmer and instructional methodologies.

They are also paid an additional monthly pay supplement that equals at least half of their normal salary .

Tran Viet Hung, director of the provincial Education and TrainingDepartment, said 6,600 students last year took a test of proficiency inKhmer, with up to 98 percent of them being qualified.
In some schools, third-grade students have begun to study English oranother foreign language, along with Khmer language as well as otherrequired subjects, Hung said.

He said there are too many subjects and proposed that the Education andTraining Ministry review and adjust the curriculum for Khmer students.

The province, where most of the Khmer ethnic people in the countrylive, have more than 68,000 Khmer students learning Vietnamese andKhmer this school year./.