A/HRC/16/45/Add.2 IV. Language and education 43. Vietnamese is the official language of Viet Nam, the medium of instruction in schools and of administration. Many minority communities in isolated and remote locations do not frequently interact in Vietnamese. Many speak ethnic languages in almost all family and social interactions, and others, particularly older generations, speak and understand only a little Vietnamese. Only 24 ethnic minority languages have written scripts, which creates particular challenges for their preservation. 44. Article 7 of the Education Law stipulates that Vietnamese is the official language to be used in schools and other educational institutions, and that the State should enable ethnic minority people to learn their spoken and written languages in order to preserve and develop their ethnic cultural identity, helping pupils from ethnic minorities easily absorb knowledge when they study in schools and other educational institutions. The teaching and learning of these languages is to be conducted in accordance with the Government regulations. Despite positive provisions relating to minority languages, however, in practice all children are taught in Vietnamese (other than those taught in the context of pilot projects initiated in cooperation with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)). Minority languages are taught in some schools only as separate subjects and not as the medium of instruction. 45. Ethnic Khmer representatives provided information to the independent expert in which they alleged restrictions on the Khmer language in schools and public places. They claimed that Khmer was not offered even as a separate subject in schools in Khmer regions in southern Viet Nam, and that the teaching of the Khmer language was therefore limited to the home or to those who attend Pagoda or pali religious schools. They also claimed that ethnic Khmer had faced restrictions on their activities to use, teach or promote the Khmer language, and that the authorities imposed strict restrictions on the publication of books or documents in Khmer. 46. The Government contested these allegations and stated that it took steps to encourage the preservation and development of the languages of ethnic minorities. It added that the national television channel had daily programmes in 13 languages of ethnic minorities, including Khmer. National radio had a separate station for 11 ethnic minority languages (VOV4), including Khmer. Daily and weekly newspapers and electronic news portals are also available in Khmer. 47. According to a UNICEF briefing note on ethnic minority people’s right to use their mother tongue as languages of instruction in school provided to the independent expert, the primary school completion rate among ethnic minority children is just 60.6 per cent compared to 86.4 per cent for the majority Kinh. For some of the most disadvantaged ethnic minorities, the completion rate is far lower. Beyond primary education, the situation becomes even more serious for ethnic minorities, with far fewer progressing to secondary level. Disparities between ethnic minority groups also become more pronounced. While large minorities, including the Hoa, the Tay and the Muong, have better educational outcomes, some groups, such as the H’mong, Bana and H’re, demonstrate particularly poor education outcomes. 48. A survey has revealed that, in 30 per cent of ethnic minority households, at least one child had dropped out of school before completion of a grade, compared to 16 per cent of Kinh.16 Contrary to the view that cultural factors within minority communities have the most significant impact on drop-out rates, minorities reported that excessive school fees, 16 12 World Bank, Ethnicity and Development in Vietnam, 2009, p. 25.