Phu Giao district has 12 minority ethnic groups with 664 households of 2,874 residents. Of these, Khmer ethnic group has accounted for the majority of total local minority ethnic groups with 244 households at An Binh commune, followed by San Chi ethnic group with about 50 families at Tan Lap commune… Thanks to investment and assistance from the State, minority ethnic people’s life in the district has been changed. Along with economic development, improvement of cultural identity has been considered as an urgent task.

  A contest on ethnic community culture helps minority ethnic people realize their cultural identity.

Life stabilized

Tran Cong Quan, vice chairman of An Binh commune People’s Committee said that local Khmer ethnic group’s life has been changed positively. The local ethnic people have known how to apply advanced techniques into cultivation.

To offer advantages of healthcare, education… for them, the province has launched many programs and projects. Typically, programs 134, 135 have offered favorable conditions on production land, accommodation, water source for ethnic groups.

Since 2004, An Binh commune has granted land to 104 households, 1 ha for every household and introduced effective farming and breeding models to Khmer ethnic group. Therefore, the number of communal poor ethnic households is under 20.

Meanwhile, San Chi ethnic group in Tam Lap commune’s Dong Tam hamlet has invested in planting rubber, pepper, cashew and breeding fresh water fish species so on. Income from farming and breeding annually bring big profits, contributing to increase their income. To help the local ethnic people escape poverty, Tam Lap commune People’s Committee has launched a project of breeding freshwater fish species. After 8 years of launching the project, many households have reaped positive results. On average, each household has annually enjoyed over VND100mil in profit.

Aside from economic development, the district authority has focused on the cause of education and training for local ethnic groups’ children. Therefore, the local ethnic groups’ children have enjoyed assistance of tuition, books and notebooks during their study process. Many local ethnic people now are teachers and public servants working at the Party and State’s agencies.

Economic development in parallel with cultural identity preservation

Over the past years, along with socio-economic development for the local minority ethnic groups, the local party committee and authority have paid attention to investments in cultural life to raise the local ethnic people’s spiritual life and set out concrete measures to preserve and promote cultural values of local ethnic groups.

Implementing the national goal program of cultural identity promotion of local ethnic groups, the locality has focused on key projects of organizing festivals, rites of ethnic groups. Some rites and festivals have been recovered and become community festive days.

In the face of oblivion of cultural identity of ethnic groups, the district Center for Information Culture and Communication in cooperation with mass bodies and agencies has built many programs of music, sport and so on to lure participation of local ethnic people.

In addition, the center will spur promulgation and education to improve local ethnic people’s role and awareness on cultural identity promotion and so on.

Reported T.Ly, T.Hoai – Translated by A.C