A/HRC/16/45/Add.2 taught solely in Vietnamese and cannot participate confidently in active learning. The problem is compounded by the fact that there are few teachers from minority communities who can communicate effectively in ethnic minority languages. Teachers who do not come from ethnic minorities themselves are, however, increasingly required to learn the local language of the region in which they will teach. 54. With the ultimate goal of fluency in Vietnamese, bilingual education helps minority children to make better early progress in education and provides a strong and culturally appropriate foundation for their future schooling. It is not sufficient that minority ethnic languages are taught only in a separate language course. 55. During the independent expert’s visit, the Prime Minister signed a decree on the teaching and learning of ethnic minority languages in regular educational institutions and full-time education centres. The decree regulates the teaching and learning of ethnic minority spoken and written languages in institutions within the national education system. Education experts who spoke with the expert during her visit interpreted the decree as a continuing restriction on the teaching of ethnic minority languages solely as separate language courses, not to be used as the medium of instruction. B. Action Research on Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education 56. Since 2008, the Research Centre for Ethnic Minority Education of the Ministry of Education and Training, supported by UNICEF, has been implementing and monitoring the Action Research on Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education. The programme aims to (a) design and implement an approach to mother tongue-based bilingual education in selected pre-primary and primary schools and to evaluate the results through an action research model; and (b) support the development of an applicable and sustainable policy for bilingual education. It is being implemented in three provinces (Lao Cai, Gai Lai and Tra Vinh), initially focusing on three ethnic minority languages: H’mong, Jrai and Kmer. 57. The approach of the above-mentioned programme uses ethnic minority languages as the main language of instruction and introduces Vietnamese as a second language for preschool, and primary school first and second grade students. Vietnamese is introduced as a language of instruction in third grade together with the mother tongue. The years from the third to the fifth grades are a transition period. By the end of the fifth grade, students are expected to have developed bilingualism and biliteracy, and to meet the standards of the national curriculum. Students in each province will complete the pilot project by 2015. The approach aims to help ethnic minority children to overcome the language barrier, enabling them to read and write in their mother tongue first, and then to transfer these skills to learning Vietnamese. 58. Assessment results have been highly encouraging and demonstrate evidence of improved performance of students involved in the programme. Students demonstrated higher levels of confidence in their learning activities when learning in their mother tongues, improved communications skills and improved skills in the Vietnamese language. In Lao Cai province, positive results have led the Provincial Department of Education and Training to expand the approach to other schools, using their own resources. The independent expert attended a training session for teachers taking part in the programme. The teachers unanimously confirmed the positive findings from their own classroom experiences in minority communities. They highlighted additional benefits, including the increased possibilities for parents who do not speak Vietnamese to interact with their children’s education and the strong support of communities who want their children to learn their mother-tongue language and Vietnamese. Teachers noted the need for more text books in minority languages and curricula that are appropriate for bilingual teaching. 14