pvi, Since the Vietnamese parents in Cambodia can send their children to schools in Vietnam & have them back home in Cambodia every school day freely & openly, I believe it's not illegal in Cambodia to do so. However I urge the Cambodian government to encourage the Vietnamese parents to send their children to Cambodian schools in Cambodia, and, if necessary, to offer them incentives to do so. Without having attended Cambodian schools & without having had Cambodian friends, those kids when they become adults will most likely not love Cambodia.
>From my own experience in Cambodia up to 1975, Vietnamese Cambodians who went to Cambodian schools & had Cambodian friends loved Cambodia & didn't think of themselves as Vietnamese at all. They thought of themselves as Cambodians, not Vietnamese. They spoke Khmer fluently, exactly like the pure Khmers did. They took the side of Cambodia in every Cambodia-Vietnam conflict, whether capitalist Vietnam or communist Vietnam. Some even joined the Lon Nol Khmer Republic armed forces to fight the Vietcongs (& later on the Khmer Rouge). (The same was true for the Chinese Cambodians who went to Cambodian schools & had Cambodian friends.) (I like to draw attention to the fact that these were pure Vietnamese & pure Chinese, not the mixed- raced Khmer-plus-Chinese-or-Vietnamese-or-all-3 Cambodians.) The same can't be said about the Vietnamese (or Chinese) who didn't go to Cambodian schools & didn't have Cambodian friends. Soriya On Sep 16, 8:14 am, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Cambodia’s ethnic Vietnamese cross the border to go to school 22:35' > 07/09/2008 (GMT+7) > > Ethnic Vietnamese primary school pupils living in Cambodia cross the border > into Viet Nam to go to school.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) > > **************Psssst...Have you heard the news? There's a new fashion blog, > plus the latest fall trends and hair styles at StyleList.com. > (http://www.stylelist.com/trends?ncid=aolsty00050000000014) --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Cambodia Discussion (CAMDISC) - www.cambodia.org" group. This is an unmoderated forum. Please refrain from using foul language. Thank you for your understanding. Peace among us and in Cambodia. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/camdisc Learn more - http://www.cambodia.org -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
