Tuong Duong: The arduous task of preserving ethnic cultural identity...

(Baonghean)On the last day of the year, we traveled back to Tuong Duong, a place striving to preserve and promote the cultural identity of its ethnic groups. The head of the district's Culture Department, Vi Sat Son, said that the department is implementing a program to teach the Lai Pao Thai script. When asked which place was the furthest away?
He replied: Nga My…

Located nearly 70 km from Hoa Binh town, Nga My commune comprises 9 villages with an area of ​​18,584.39 hectares, 959 households, and 4,397 inhabitants, of which 855 are poor households. With the support of the district, Nga My is implementing a Thai Lai Pao language class at the secondary school and teaching the O Du language in Van Mon village.

The Lai Pao Thai script class is taught by Ms. Luong Thi Ngoc, a staff member of Program 30a in Nga My commune. The atmosphere in the class is quite lively. With a touch of shyness, Vi Thi Nga, a student in class 8D, said that she can write the letters, combine words, and spell. According to Nga, learning the Lai Pao Thai script isn't too difficult. When asked if she enjoys learning the script as much as other subjects, Lo Tai Tri said: "I like it because it's the script of my people. But I hope all my classmates can learn it…"



Teacher Luong Thi Ngoc and students of the Lai Pao Thai script class.

According to Luong Thi Ngoc, the demand for literacy education among students in Nga My is very high, but she alone cannot handle it. Her class has 40 students, including those of all levels and a few commune officials, which is already overwhelming for her. Ngoc confided that while the students are conscientious, teaching literacy is relatively easy, but there are still many difficulties. Because she lacks a dedicated teaching space and has to borrow classrooms, literacy lessons are mostly held in the evenings, while Ngoc is also busy with her young child. The Lai Pao literacy curriculum consists of 20 lessons, which doesn't fully reflect the unique characteristics of Thai culture and makes it difficult for students to achieve fluency in reading and writing. Furthermore, the pronunciation of Thai people varies across different areas in Tuong Duong. For example, the word "eat rice" is pronounced "ki khau" by Thai people in Nga My and Yen Hoa, while it's pronounced "kin khau" by Thai people in Luong Minh, Luu Kien, Tam Quang, and Tam Thai, resulting in inconsistent written representation. According to Ngoc, funding for training is also an issue that needs more attention. “I’m not too worried about my own wages, because teaching the Lai Pao script to my people is a great joy. However, there needs to be funding to train more teachers, open more classes, and compile more materials… so that more people can learn and learn the Lai Pao script well.”



Mr. Lo Van Nghe taught the O Du language to the people of Van Mon village.

The Van Mon hamlet in Nga My commune is home to the O Du ethnic group, who are resettled as part of the Ban Ve Hydropower Plant resettlement program. Currently, the hamlet has over 90 households with approximately 400 inhabitants. According to Party Secretary Mac Thi Tim and Hamlet Head Lo Xuan Tinh, due to years of scattered settlements and mixing with other ethnic groups, the O Du language has faded. Therefore, upon settling in a concentrated area, the teaching of the language is receiving attention from higher authorities. However, language teaching faces many difficulties because it relies on five elderly people in the hamlet, who are all frail and have unclear voices, making it difficult for them to communicate effectively. The five elders only remember about 100 words, and they lack community cultural activities to use the language. Outside the hamlet, they speak Vietnamese or Thai, resulting in low teaching effectiveness.

Interacting with the elders Lo Van Nghe and Lo Hong Phong – those who transmit the language – revealed the immense difficulty in preserving the cultural identity of the O Du ethnic group. These elders are dedicated and strive to impart all their knowledge, hoping that their language will not be lost. Unfortunately, their resources are limited, while the teaching requires many things that they and the O Du community in Van Mon village cannot afford. As we left Van Mon, the Party branch secretary, Mac Thi Tim, said: “There are many difficulties beyond the reach of the village. We hope the higher authorities will find teaching materials and provide additional funding, because for each teaching session, both the teacher and the student only receive 30,000 dong…”

According to the Head of the Culture Department, Vi Sat Son, over the past four years, the district has opened 12 classes teaching the Lai Pao Thai script in various communes, with approximately over 400 students. Previously, the budget for each class was 43 million VND, but in 2012, 60 million VND was allocated to each class. “There are many expenses such as printing materials, teaching fees, administrative fees… but the funding is very slow. In 2012, we had to borrow money temporarily to open the class. To this day, the funds haven't arrived, and the department's staff are holding onto the files to go to the province for final settlement,” Mr. Son said. “Teaching is difficult, but keeping learners using the script is even harder. The Department of Culture wants to print some books of folk tales and songs of the Thai ethnic group in the Lai Pao script to send to school libraries for the children to use, but there is no funding, so we have to give up. Moreover, cultural activities are too few; there is only one calligraphy competition a year at the Van Temple - Cua Rao Festival. If you learn but can't use it, you'll forget it in a short time…”

According to Mr. Son, the province has invested over 2 billion VND in the Ethnic Affairs Committee to implement the "Support for the Development of the O Du Ethnic Group" project, which includes support for production, the construction of cultural centers, and language classes to restore the language for the people. However, the current implementation is ineffective because the language teachers are elderly, lack pedagogical skills, teach orally, and do not speak enough, making it difficult for the people to learn and communicate. The lives of the O Du people are very difficult, so few people are attending language classes…

Through discussions with officials from the Tuong Duong Cultural Department and observations made in Nga My, it has become clear that, in addition to the efforts of the local government and the self-respect of the people, further support in all aspects is needed for the preservation and promotion of the cultural identity of the ethnic groups in this area to achieve results.

Nhat Lan