More than 86 per cent of ethnic people of working age in Vietnam are
untrained. This is one of the main obstacles limiting the development of mountainous
areas, said Ksor Phuoc, president of National Assembly's Ethnic Council
yesterday.
Phuoc was speaking at a forum to
develop human resources among tribal people and others living in mountainous
areas.
The meeting involved policy
makers and experts from international organisations.
Phuoc said improving the quality
of human resources in ethnic areas was a key step in meeting requirements for
national development.
Statistics from the Committee for
Ethnic Minority Affairs revealed high illiteracy rates existed among ethnic
people, especially in the northern uplands (12.7 per cent) and Central Highland
areas (11.3 per cent).
In ethnic and mountainous areas,
70 per cent of people work on farms and the rest work in industry, services and
the trading sector. This compares to the rest of the nation, where 51.9 of
workers are on farms.
Not only are many ethnic people
untrained and illiterate, but many are also said to have limited stamina. There
is high rate of malnutrition in ethnic children, especially in northern upland
areas – 26 per cent – and central highland areas – more than 27 per cent. The
average rate of the country is less than 20 per cent.
The death ratio of children under
one year old is also high. In some northern and central highland provinces, the
death rate is double or triple the national average. At Lai Chau it is 47.7 per
cent, Dien Bien 39.7 per cent, Ha Giang 37.5 per cent and Kon Tum 38.2 per cent.
Life expectancy of ethnic people
is also several years lower than the national average of 72.8 years.
Lo Van Thien, a Thai tribal
member from northern Yen Bai Province's Van Chan District, said he was
illiterate, so he allowed his four children to attend school. However, two of
them dropped out because his house was far from school and they wanted to help
him earn money.
He said the monthly tuition fees
and cost of providing food at boarding school made it hard for him.
Dr Phan Van Hung, deputy Minister
and vice-chairman of the Committee for ethic Minority Affairs said the high
poverty rate among many ethnic groups was mainly to blame for high malnutrition
and illiteracy.
Pratibha Mehta, United Nations
Resident Coordinator, said while ethnic groups constituted only 14 per cent of
the population, they comprised half of those living in chronic poverty.
Hung said nearly 50 per cent of
people in ethnic areas were living under the poverty line and had little access
to health care. He said many children were not fully fed and became thin, weak
and vulnerable to disease.
He said 50 per cent of health
centres in some communes had limited facilities and 60 per cent of
commune-level health stations had no doctors.
Difficult transport conditions
also hindered them from attending proper health centres. So, nearly 40 per cent
of ethnic people in the northern uplands and 20 per cent of those in the
Central Highlands treated diseases and injuries themselves.
Hung said farm work, language
barriers and tough travelling conditions caused children to drop out of school,
leading to high rate of illiteracy, he said.
And vocational training centres
apparently failed to offer programmes based on the demand of labour markets.
Thien said no one in his locality
wanted to go to vocational training because many could not find work after two
years of training.
He said job-promotion centres
promised to offer trainees jobs, however, the pay was so low it couldn't even
buy food for a family.
Phuoc said it was necessary to
address shifting cultivation and uncontrolled migration by establishing
centralised housing units with room for 40 households each.
He said it would also help to
popularise the Vietnamese language before children attended primary school.
However, bi-lingual classes should be the norm for ethnic students between
grades one and four, he said.
Phuoc also said the State should
help ethnic students with tuition fees and accommodation.
And the development of vocational
training must be combined with the demands of the local labour market.
Mehta said the quality of health
services should be enhanced, and technology used to improve water supplies and
sanitation.
She said ethnic service
providers, including doctors, nurses and teachers, could help reduce barriers
and ensure their own people received better health treatment and education.
She suggested more innovation
could be used to reach ethnic people in remote areas. This could include
exploring tele-services in health and education as had been done in India and
Bhutan.
Nguyen Tuan Hung, deputy director
of personnel under the health ministry, said it was necessary to enhance
preferential and allowance mechanisms to attract well-qualified graduates to
work in remote areas.
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