Bilingual education will help improve living conditions for Vietnamese ethnic minority communities, said Gay McDougall, an expert on minority issues for the United Nations, on July 21 after spending a ten-day fact finding tour in the country. “Equal access to education is one of the best ways of reducing poverty, as well as preserving and promoting the cultures, languages and identities of ethnic minorities,” the Tin Tuc newspaper reported Jul 23, citing McDougall. With all 54 different ethnic groups having different languages, religions and cultural traits, Vietnam should give top priority to bilingual education, she also said, noting that it helps children to gain better results at school, which is a firm foundation for their studies in the future. McDougall is expected to submit a full report to Human Rights Council in March, 2011.
