Developing education in ethnic minority areas

In recent years, Khanh Hoa Province has focused on ethnic education, achieving satisfactory results and improving the quality of education in ethnic minorities and mountainous areas.

Several measures implemented

The province has effectively implemented policies for educational managers, teachers and students in ethnic minority and mountainous areas. In addition, the province also has specific policies such as tuition exemption and grants for ethnic minority students and those from especially economically disadvantaged areas; tuition exemption for preschool children in Truong Sa Island District, ethnic minority children at preschool and primary schools in Khanh Son and Khanh Vinh districts; scholarships,  clothes and lunch grants for students and other assistance for cadres and teachers in ethnic minority communities. In addition, the province continues to develop kindergartens, general schools and boarding schools, continuing education and vocational centers and community learning centers, empowering ethnic minority students to access learning opportunities and pursue their dreams for a better life.

Students of Cam Ranh Ethnic Boarding High School.

According to Le Van Nam, Vice-Principal in charge of Cam Ranh High School for Ethnic Minorities, the school has received support from all levels and sectors in upgrading facilities for teaching and learning and students have benefitted fully from these policies. In the 2023-2024 school year, the school built 4 new subject practice rooms, upgraded the dormitory, a dining room and a kitchen funded by the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas for the period 2021-2030 with a budget of VND14 billion. In the 2024-2025 school year, the school will invest more in classrooms for learning English and other subjects.

That investment has helped improve the education quality, gradually decreasing the dropout rate with no student dropouts reported in the last school year. The number of excellent students has increased with many prizes in city and provincial competitions awarded.

To minimize the dropout rate and maintain education universalization in mountainous areas, the provincial education sector has implemented many synchronous solutions such as Organizing Vietnamese language enhancement classes in summer for ethnic minority children preparing for the 1st grade and students with limited proficiency in the Vietnamese language; integrating Vietnamese language enhancement in subjects and educational activities; enhancing learning materials, equipment and teaching aids; organizing full day classes with semi-boarding meals; mobilizing the public community in purchasing equipment, teaching aids and clothes for ethnic minority students, renovating semi-boarding kitchens and school playgrounds.

According to Le Minh Trung, Head of the Division of Education and Training of Khanh Vinh District, every year, the Steering Committee for Illiteracy Eradication and Universal Education of the district has focused on providing tuition support for disadvantaged students. Many schools, namely Lien Sang Primary School, Khanh Vinh Town Primary School, Khanh Nam Primary School... have mobilized community participation in school facilities, including kitchens to serve the boarding students, contributing to reducing the dropout rate.

Effectively implementing ethnic policies in education and training

According to Le Dinh Thuan, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training, besides the results achieved, there is still a gap in ethnic education compared to other areas in the province. In the coming time, the provincial Department of Education will continue to implement ethnic policies in education and training effectively with investment in facilities for ethnic boarding schools and schools with many ethnic minority students; and recommend competent authorities enhance policies for ethnic boarding school students and school staff.

The province currently has 58 kindergartens with ethnic minority children (out of 205 kindergartens in total) with nearly 5,000 children (accounting for 9.3%). In addition, there are 5 ethnic boarding schools, including the Provincial Ethnic Boarding High School and 4 ethnic boarding high schools with 1,120 students in the localities of Khanh Vinh, Khanh Son, Cam Ranh and Ninh Hoa.

H.N

Translated by N.T