Policy and practice in Viet Nam

The government of Viet Nam recognises 54 minority ethnic groups and languages. It expresses strong commitment to the development of its ethnic minority communities, about 13 percent of the population which, however, have missed out on Viet Nam's dramatic economic growth.

The constitution says that all ethnic groups have the right to use their own languages.

Yet using ethnic minority languages in education is limited to a small number of schools. Guidelines restrict the language of instruction to Kinh (majority Vietnamese) and only eight minority languages are taught as school subjects. Only 28 languages have standardised writing systems; few books exist outside the main minority languages - Tˆy, Muong, Cham and Khmer; and there are few ethnic minority teachers, due to the difficulties they face progressing through the education system.

Some international agencies support teacher training initiatives for minority groups - a long term solution. Education agencies are also piloting mother tongue-based bilingual education in areas with one main minority language and a writing system.

Improving practice in the highlands

Children in Vietnam's highlands come from multiple language groups, most without active writing systems. Several languages are often present in one classroom but lessons are all in Kinh.

At pre-school level, Save the Children UK works with 'key mothers' in highland communities, building their skills as teaching assistants so that each class has a resource person who speaks the children's language.

Key mothers work with teachers to ensure content is relevant, adapting curricula and textbooks to local context and using active play and learning techniques. They use local language to introduce new content and the teacher reinforces the message in spoken Kinh.

To help prepare children for primary school, Kinh is introduced verbally and children are familiarised with the Kinh alphabet. However, one or two years of this approach in pre-school are not enough for children to cope at primary level, let alone to develop essential learning and literacy skills in their own languages.

At present it is not possible to deliver truly bilingual education through the school system: without writing systems it is hard to teach in local languages, and schools lack ethnic minority teachers. What can be done in this challenging context?

Strengthening local languages

Save the Children UK is developing a new phase of multilingual education in pre-schools and primary schools. Working along a 'continuum of good practice', it will build capacity to strengthen local languages and teach bilingually. Home languages will be introduced as far as possible in pre-schools and primary schools.

A network of bilingual community teaching assistants including key mothers will work in partnership with teachers to develop active learning and improve children's mother tongue and Kinh language skills. Teaching assistants will help improve communication between teachers and children. Teachers will improve their local language skills through language courses and supported communication with local people.

The government is now looking for practical solutions to address education needs in different language contexts, testing locally relevant approaches to fit Vietnam's situation. Save the Children UK wants to offer an approach for progressing towards multilingual education (MLE) in the most difficult contexts in Vietnam.

If MLE is to become both policy and reality, two challenges must be met:

• Robust methods for reporting early successes are needed, or the opportunity to influence policy may be lost. Rigorous mechanisms for monitoring longer-term progress are also needed.
• Agencies promoting multilingual education must reassure local education planners that using minority languages for learning strengthens rather than undermines students' skills in the national language.

Helen Pinnock
Save the Children UK, 1 St. John's Lane, London EC1M 4AR, UK
h.pinnock@savethechildren.org.uk

Dinh Phuong Thao
pthao@scuk.org.vn
Nguyen Thi Bich
ntbich@scuk.org.vn
Save the Children UK, La Thanh Hotel, 218 Doi Can, Hanoi, Viet Nam
T +84 4 8325 319

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