Deputy Minister of Education and Training Dang Huynh Mai was that one of the main reasons that children from ethnic minority groups leave school early is that their families are too poor and crowded. In areas inhabited by ethnic minority groups, the rate of girls going to school is reduced remarkably. This is attributed ideas still prevalent with some families, who think that only boys can go to school and girls should get married at the age of 13 or 14. Therefore, after completing their primary education, many girls from ethnic minority groups stay at home and prepare to get married.

In addition, some students have no time for homework because of family working commitments and may feel discouraged and then quit school after only completing  primary school.

An education expert from the Ministry of Education and Training Kieu Thi Bich Thuy said that most subjects are taught at school in Vietnamese when pupils from ethnic minority groups can be very bad at using this.

The Ministry of Education and Training in co-ordination with Save the Children UK conducted a survey of the competence in Vietnamese language of people living in remote areas. The results of the survey have shown that many pupils from ethnic minority groups cannot read or write Vietnamese by the time they reach the sixth form. The rate of sixth-form pupils in the survey who could not read or write Vietnamese was 30 percent. This leads to the reality that many pupils from ethnic minority groups quit school.

In addition, learning environment are often not attractive enough and lack extra-curricular activities. Lack of safety at boarding schools and living far away from home are also popular reasons for quitting school.

To make pupils go to school

The quality of teaching methods in the ethnic minority areas is also one of the reasons, which affects the achievements of many students. Many teachers have not had suitable training to work with these students. Deputy Minister of Education and Training Banh Tien Long said to help pupils in remote areas to go to school, top priority should be given to improving the teaching quality and methodology. Accordingly, the Ministry of Education and Training organized regular training courses for teachers to improve teaching method as well as their ability to use ethnic minority languages.

For bilingual programmes in Vietnamese and minority languages, it is necessary to establish programmes and documents suitable for each level of education as well as building a friendly and safe environment that will encourage children to take part in studying activities.

Ms Thuy said that one of the solutions is to call on families to make sure that their children are going to school, especially families from ethnic minority groups.

The education sector is very interested in improving the quality of teaching for children from ethnic minority groups in remote areas. Apart from close collaboration among localities, families and schools and pupils, it is necessary to have support and investment from the state for such areas.