Bilingual education was top of the agenda when foreign and domesticexperts gathered at a seminar in the southern province of An Giangon August 16-17.

Cham and Khmer ethnic groups make up about 5percent of the local population, with many of them only speakingVietnamese as a second language, if at all. As a result, children fromthese communities have been facing a language barrier when attendingclasses at State schools, where they are required to use textbooks andtake tests written in Vietnamese before they are able to speak thelanguage fluently.

The seminar was organised as part of aproject – funded by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) - forthe 2013-2014 school year in the province.

Participants learntabout UNICEF’s model for bilingual education in the provinces of LaoCai, Gia Lai and Tra Vinh, which has proved effective since itsimplementation in 2008. Experts at the seminar reported that examplesfrom around the world show blingual education to be the best option forstudents living in ethnic minority areas.

In An Giang, Khmerpeople account for over 80 percent of all ethnic minority groups, withmost communities living in the mountainous districts of Tri Ton and TinhBien.

Ho Viet Hiep, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’sCommittee, pledged to faciliate the UNICEF project in order to helpethnic students feel self-confident in conversation and studying, and toreduce the number of children dropping out of the school system.-VNA