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Ethnic Vietnamese primary school pupils living in Cambodia
cross the border into Viet Nam to go to school.
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VietNamNet Bridge - Schools in
Khanh An Commune, An Phu District, An Giang Province are welcoming
hundreds of new Vietnamese-Cambodian students from Kan Dal Province,
Cambodia this academic year.
The majority of
the students hail from Pec Chay Commune, Koh Thum District, Cambodia,
where many ethnic Vietnamese are living.
Khanh An
Commune’s Primary School B has more than 600 Vietnamese-Cambodian
students, according to principal Nguyen Tan Tai. All of the school’s
new first graders are Vietnamese-Cambodian.
Vietnamese-Cambodians
made up 60 per cent of Khanh An Commune’s Primary School A’s 930
students, said principal Nguyen Thi Sanh.
According to Le
Van Be, Khanh An Secondary School principal, 30 per cent of the 800 new
students this year live in Cambodia.
More and more of
Khanh An Commune’s student body is Vietnamese-Cambodian because many
cannot afford to send their children to schools in Cambodia.
The
Vietnamese-Cambodian students’ parents, many of whom are illiterate,
also hope their children learn to both read and write their mother
tongue.
Thus, many of
these overseas Vietnamese cross the border into Viet Nam to take their
children to school every day.
Bui Minh Hung of
Koh Thum District, Cambodia sells fish at An Giang Province’s Khanh
Binh border gate, and brings his child to a Khanh An school every day.
After all his stock is sold, he takes his child home at 12 a.m.
Despite a
difficult commute, Nguyen Thi Xuan of Koh Thum District, Cambodia still
makes her children to go to school in Viet Nam so they would speak
Vietnamese.
Educational
authorities in An Giang Province are assisting Vietnamese-Cambodian
students to go to school by waiving school infrastructure fees and
giving gifts.
For preparation
of this school year, Khanh An Commune Primary School A gave away 878
packages of school bags and other classroom necessities worth
VND100,000 (US$6) each.
Residents at the
border also help out the students by ferrying them across the river for
free.
Thanks to local
authorities and residents’ help, many overseas Vietnamese students have
beat the odds to succeed. For example, Le Duy Phuong, Nguyen Van Lanh
and Diep Hoai An, all former Vietnamese-Cambodian high school students,
have gone on to university.
Danh Thi My Non,
a Vietnamese-Cambodian An Phu High School alum, just entered her junior
year at An Giang University, said her vice principal Ngo Thai Can.
Nguyen Quang Tuu
of Koh Thum District’s Vietnamese Association said many ethnic
Vietnamese in Cambodia were happy their children could learn their
mother tongue and keep some Vietnamese cultural traits.
(Source: VNS)
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