Part I.pdf - MTB-MLE Network

There is a desire to replicate and expand the current Thai (Pwo Karen) project being conductedwith the support of UNESCO-APPEAL. Initially, the project will be expanded in a focusedgeographical area, rather than diluting human resources over too broad a geographical spread. Incooperation with Thai universities, national, and international organizations, there is a desire toextend research on multilingual education to other ethnic groups within the country. This researchhas the potential to influence both the Ministry of Education and education law by documentingproject successes.Viet NamIn Viet Nam, the Kinh majority numbers 88%, withethnic minorities numbering 12% of the population.The national education policy promotes theattendance of ethnic minorities in primary andsecondary school. Since the 1960s, the primaryeducation law supports equity of educationalopportunity for ethnic minority peoples.There is an Ethnic Minority Department at theMinistry of Education that focuses on thedevelopment of ethnic minority education. InViet Nam’s central university, there is a departmentworking on writing systems. Currently, twentyethnic minorities have their own scripts. At thenational level, the Ministry of Culture andInformation also has an agency for ethnicminorities.Discussion on Policy and SustainabilityResearchGovernments often do not like to take risks, and may not like pilot projects. Thus, it is importantto document experiences which can then impact governments and key decision-makers at the nationallevel. Politicians and government agencies generally look for research outcomes and objectivedata. It could be important for UNESCO-APPEAL to support a research component in several ofthe countries implementing multilingual education projects for minority peoples in order to providesupportive data on the effectiveness of multilingual education. UNESCO recognises that these pilotprojects can demonstrate the importance of mother-tongue education to the respective authorities.In reality, very few of the ten countries involved have actively implemented policies on multilingualeducation for minority language communities. Originally, the UNESCO-APPEAL project title was“Research on Mother-Tongue Education for Ethnic Minority Communities.” Only Thailand hasbecome involved in rigorous research since the beginning of the project. UNESCO encouragedthe new countries to document their whole process of programme development and implementation.65