Vietnam supports learning of very small ethnic minority students
Issuing and implementing policies to support very small ethnic minority children and students is a solution for Vietnam to exercise the rights of ethnic minorities to access learning opportunities, narrowing the development gap in education and training with other ethnic minorities and the majority ethnic group.
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| Students from ethnic minorities with small populations in P.E class. (Photo: CPV) |
In May 2017, the Government issued Decree No.57/ND-CP stipulating incentive policies for admission and study support for preschool children, pupils and students of ethnic minorities with small populations (the Decree). In Vietnam, 16 ethnic groups are identified as beneficiaries, including: the Cong, the Mang, the Pu Peo, the Si La, the Co Lao, the Bo Y, the La Ha, the Ngai, the Chut, the O Du, the Brau, the Ro Mam, the Lo Lo, the Lu, the Pa Then, and the La Hu.
Those are ethnic minorities with a population of less than 10.000 people, accounting for 0.08% of the national population and 0.55% of the ethnic minority population. They reside in difficult areas, in the “poor core” region of the country, so they always lag behind in accessing resources, public services and development opportunities compared to other ethnic minorities and the majority ethnic group.
Due to difficult socio-economic conditions, having to go to school far from home and partly influenced by the outdated perception that human resources are needed for productive labor to ensure daily meals, or even “high education is useless”, so there is still a situation where a few ethnic minorities have the primary school attendance rate below the target, such as the Brau.
The rate of out-of-school children of the Brau is the highest (35.4%); the rate of children not attending secondary school is 3 times higher than the general level of 53 ethnic minorities.
Among 16 ethnic groups identified as beneficiaries, the lowest rate of trained workforce is the Brau (2.2%) and the highest is the Pu Peo, also only reaching 29%. There are 9 ethnic minorities with small populations whose rate of trained workforce is lower than the general level of 53 ethnic minorities, which is lower than 10.3%.
Some data cited from the results of the 2019 census on ethnic minority groups show that ethnic minorities with small populations still face many difficulties in accessing education, thereby having trouble in accessing professional and technical training to create their own jobs or find higher-paying jobs than doing pure agriculture in their homeland, leading to the poverty rate among these ethnic minorities remains high.
The Decree was issued to contribute to creating conditions for children from ethnic minorities with small populations to have the opportunity to access education, ensuring requirements to expand career choices, protecting and promoting disadvantaged groups to exercise their right to education and training, full development and equality with other ethnic groups, fulfilling human development, and enhancing the life quality.
Implementing the Decree in the 2017-2022 period, 100% of preschool children wish to study at public preschools and kindergartens and 100% of students from ethnic minorities with small populations can attend high school levels at ethnic minority boarding schools and public high schools.
When graduating from secondary and high school, students are placed in higher education levels appropriate to their personal aspirations and learning level.
In addition, nearly 710 billion VND has been spent to implement learning support policies for students from ethnic minorities with small populations.
Tao Thi Dieng is from the Lu ethnic group, studying at the Central Preparatory University for Ethnic Minorities and entitled to study support as prescribed in the Decree equal to 100% of the base salary/person/month and paid directly every month. She shared that this support has helped her family ease the difficulty of paying for their child’s monthly tuition, and at the same time motivated her to be determined to study to attend her dream university.
According to the assessment of the Department of Ethnic Education (Ministry of Education and Training), the policies stipulated in the Decree not only facilitate enrollment but also support students financially, creating additional learning conditions, thereby maintaining attendance rates, reducing school dropout rates, making an important contribution to implementing and consolidating the universalization of preschool, primary and secondary education, and gradually improving the education quality.
For example, in Bao Lac district, Cao Bang province, the implementation of a priority admission policy has helped the proportion of Lo Lo ethnic students finishing primary school and enrolling in ethnic minority boarding schools gradually increase. In the 2018-2019 school year, this rate was 17.24%, but by the 2019-2020 school year, it had increased, reaching 53.13%.
However, according to Deputy Director General of the Department of Ethnic Education Le Nhu Xuyen, currently, the implementation of the Decree is facing some shortcomings. For example, the learning support policy only applies to from up to 3- year-old preschool children, kindergarten children do not have support policy, while the poverty rate of many ethnic minorities is very high, up to 80%, leading to difficulties in mobilizing kindergarten children to go to school.
In addition, the population of very small ethnic minorities has also changed. The La Hu and La Ha ethnic groups have a population of over 10.000 people and are no longer beneficiaries of the Decree. According to Decision No.1227/QD-TTg dated July 14,2021 of the Prime Minister on approving the list of ethnic groups facing many difficulties and specific difficulties for the period 2021 - 2025, there are only 14 ethnic groups remaining (except the La Hu and La Ha).
Deputy Minister of Education and Training Ngo Thi Minh said that the implementation of policies to support children and students from ethnic minorities with small populations has affirmed the humanity, superiority and the Party and State’s concern for the ethnic minorities.
This is also a solution for Vietnam to exercise human rights in general, and the rights of ethnic minorities in particular in accessing learning opportunities, in order to shorten the development gap in education and training with other ethnic minorities and the majority ethnic group.
In the upcoming time, along with prioritizing the allocation of resources to seriously and fully implement policies that prioritize enrollment and learning support for preschoolers, pupils, and students from ethnic minorities with small populations. In accordance with the Decree’s provisions, the Ministry of Education and Training will coordinate with ministries, sectors, and localities to direct the review and fulfillment of mechanisms and policies consistent with reality to create the best conditions to develop education and training for ethnic minorities with small populations.
The Ministry also strengthens supervision and promotes the role of mass organizations, village patriarchs, village heads, and reputable people in ethnic minority areas to participate in propaganda and advocacy to promote communication work on the implementation of the Decree and policies in the field of education and training in ethnic minority and mountainous areas.
At the same time, the Ministry requested the People’s Committees of provinces and cities to strengthen inspection, promptly detect, prevent, and address violations of the Decree in the implementation process.
