English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

A Gendered and Rights-Based Review of Vietnamese Legal Documents through the Lens of CEDAW
information on the selection process. With the push to fill up the quotas, many also claim that
those who qualify are not very well prepared.
There have also been concerns about the ethnic minority semi-boarding school (EMSB)
system. 427 EMSBs are spread across mountainous areas of some 30 provinces of Viet Nam
and they provide education to an estimated 68,000 students. 428 In contrast with ethnic minority
boarding schools, EMSBs are set up as regular primary or lower secondary schools, but they
became boarding schools over time. 429 More than 60 percent of EMSB students have homes
from 8 km away or over. 430 As they were not originally set up as boarding schools, there are
no official guidelines for their management, in particular the living conditions of students. 431
Many students live in unsafe residences and eat meals meeting only minimal dietary
requirements. 432 Policies for aid and support for the students remained ad hoc, mostly coming
from their families, the community or local government. 433 It was also pointed out that even in
EMSBs there is a serious gender enrolment imbalance, with Hmong girls accounting for only
10-35 percent of Hmong students. 434 In some cases, it is common for children of ethnic
minorities, especially Dao and Hmong children, to get married while still in school. Hence, girls
often drop out. 435 Supervising single girls of marrying age is also an issue considered sensitive
in EMSBs.
Recommendation: In providing recommendations, general improvements in
access to education must benefit ethnic minority girls as they are the ones usually
excluded where resources are limited. Hence, recommendations apply to general
access issues and specifically to ethnic minority girls. It is suggested that a legal
document be issued for: (a) provision of more transparent and detailed criteria for
entitlement to scholarships, social subsidies and places/quotas; (b) putting in place
measures for reduction of/exemption from non-tuition fees or to facilitate students
loans for payment of non-tuition fees, especially in cases where students are entitled
to free tuition; (c) ensuring the appropriate proportion of ethnic minority women and
girls, starting from 30 percent and gradually moving to 50 percent of the total ethnic
minority grantees, are qualified for scholarships, social subsidies, tuition subsidies
and reductions, and other measures; and (d) exploring the possibility of credit facilities
and allowances for ethnic minorities being provided to meet the cost of education and
to alleviate the loss of income or help due to schooling of their children, especially
girls.
203
427
This assessment of EMSBs is published in Committee for Ethnic Minorities and UNICEF, ‘Getting on Board’, Ha Noi,
2006 (Committee for Ethnic Minorities Report). This was done in 16 schools of 8 districts in four provinces that is,
Son La, Ha Giang, Quang Nam and Dak Lac.
428
Committee for Ethnic Minorities Report, p. 6
429
Ibid., p. 12
430
Ibid., p. 41
431
Ibid., p. 12
432
See Ibid., pp. 33, 35 and 36
433
Committee for Ethnic Minorities Report, pp. 12 and 14
435
Ibid., p. 31
Education (Article 10 of CEDAW)