Up to 87% of ethnic people of working age are untrained, being one of the main obstacles limiting the socio-economic development of mountainous areas, said K’sor Phuoc, Chairman of the Council of Ethnic Affairs of the National Assembly. Phuoc made the statement at a recent forum on developing human resources among ethnic groups and others living in mountainous areas by 2020. The event attracted policy makers and experts from international organizations. Mountainous areas now have poor human resources. The percentage of high and medium skilled workers is extremely low. Statistics from the council showed that high illiteracy rates among ethnic people remain high, especially in the northern uplands (12.7%) and central highlands areas (11.3%). The contingent of officials is short in number and low in quality. In ethnic and mountainous areas, 70% of people work on farms. The rest works in industry, services and the trading sector. This compares to the rest of the country, where 51.9% work on farms. Ethnic minority people are still encountering with such problems as weak constitution, language barrier, malnutrition, low life expectancy as well as premature marriage. Worse still, job-oriented education and vocational training have been combined inappropriately. Dr. Phan Van Hung, deputy Minister and vice Chairman of the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs blamed the high poverty among many ethnic groups for high malnutrition and illiteracy. Pratibha Mehta, United Nations Resident Coordinator, said while ethnic groups constitute only 14% of the country’s population, they comprise half of those living in chronic poverty. In fact, nearly 50% of people in ethnic areas are living under the poverty line, Hung said. “The state should help ethnic students with tuition fees and accommodation,” K’sor Phuoc said, proposing a training program to educate intellectuals who are ethnic people and offer preferential policies to train talented ones coming from ethnic minority groups. (www.chinhphu.vn [1] Aug 14, Ha Noi Moi – New Hanoi Aug 15 p2)
