Can Tho (VNA) – The first phase of theconstruction of the Khmer Theravada Buddhist Academy was inaugurated in theMekong Delta city of Can Tho on January 9.
Located in O Mon district’s Chau Van Liem commune,the academy, the first of its kind in Vietnam, consists of 19 buildingsspanning 6.7 hectares. Estimated to cost 451 billion VND (19.6 million USD),the building of the academy has three phases.
Speaking at the inauguration event, Most Venerable Thach Sok Xane, VicePresident of the Executive Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS),thanked local authorities and philanthropists for their assistance during thefirst phase of construction.
He said the supportwould contribute to the development of Khmer Theravada Buddhisteducation.
Truong Quang Hoai Nam, Vice Chairman of themunicipal People’s Committee, said the academy has an important meaning inmeeting demand from the Khmer ethnic community and realising the Party andState’s policies to support the group and the VBS.
President of the theVBS’s Executive Council, Most Venerable Thich Thien Nhon asked theVBS’s central committee to seek permission for the academy to offer masters anddoctoral training.
Established in 2006 under the VBS, the academy hasto date trained 200 graduates. Before the construction, its headquarters were situatedat the Pothi Somron pagoda in O Mon district.
Buddhism has been practised in Vietnam for morethan 2,000 years. The country has some 12 million followers, 40,000 monks andnuns and almost 15,000 temples, monasteries and other places of worship.
According to the Government Committee forReligious Affairs, Khmer Theravada Buddhists joined the VBS in 1981. As of June2010, they had 452 pagodas and nearly 9,000 monks, mostly in the MekongDelta.-VNA
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Scene at the inauguration ceremony (Photo: VNA) 
