An Giang is a province with a large number of Khmer people (90,271 people), mainly living in Tri Ton and Tinh Bien districts, and accounting for 4.21 percent of the province's population. Previously, due to low educational level and outdated production practices, the rate of natural population growth was high and people lived in poverty. In recent years, the State has introduced a lot of socioeconomic development policies in support of Khmer people, like providing housing and production land. A lot of Khmer people are now leading a very good life.
Good vocational training and residences have created momentum to spur production development and increase employment. The province also focuses on investing in building socioeconomic development policies and improving living conditions of Khmer people. Specifically, apart from building a policy to support Khmer ethnic groups to have farmland and job generation in 2007 - 2010, the An Giang Provincial People's Committee also directed building the socioeconomic development policy serving the Khmer people in 2011 - 2015.
National target programmes and projects, particularly Programme 135 and Government Decision 134, have been persistently implemented by An Giang province in an effort to improve infrastructure, reduce poverty and raise living standards of ethnic minorities. In 2007 - 2010, according to the second phase of Programme 135, An Giang received funds for 12 extremely poor communes. Notable projects and components in this programme included production development, infrastructure construction, personnel training, public life improvement, and legal support projects.
Each year, the province received nearly VND20 billion from this programme. An Giang also had additional support policies like Khmer people resettlement support (under Decision 33-TTg), and soft loans for Khmer people (under Decision 32-TTg). Additionally, under Government Decision 74, An Giang province supported more than 10,000 Khmer households in 2009 and 2010 with land, housing, training and capital. The total funding amounted to nearly VND90 billion.
An Giang province also implemented many poverty reduction solutions like changing crops and livestock to suit local conditions in combination with scientific and technical application to boost productivity and quality of farm products.
The province sent agricultural engineers and officials to guide local people to learn new economic models. Besides, it intensified agricultural and aquacultural extension programmes, instructed Khmer people to increase harvests, supplied new high-yield varieties, and supported farm and garden economic model development. Thus, ethnic groups managed to improve their living conditions. GDP per capita of the Khmer people increased from just VND2.5-4.5 million in 2005 to VND8 - 9.5 million in 2010.
The cultural and spiritual life of Khmer people is lifted, while education is upgraded. Education systems of Khmer people from preschool to high school in Tri Ton and Tinh Bien districts are basically complete. All communes have kindergartens, preschools, secondary schools and all districts have high schools. The province has one boarding school, one boarding vocational school, and one semi-boarding school for ethnic minorities.
Ms Lam Tuyet Mai, Deputy Director of the An Giang Ethnic Minorities Committee, said the socioeconomic situation of Khmer ethnic people is relatively good. The face of rural areas is uplifted, and the material and spiritual life of ethnic minority groups is better. Traditional cultural values of the Khmer identity continue to be preserved and promoted. The spirit of solidarity among Kinh, Hoa, Khmer and other peoples is deepened in the cause of doi moi (renovation).
Thanh Loc
Vietnamese
