A/HRC/16/45/Add.2 high opportunity costs (child’s labour required at home), poor instruction and the distance of schools were the most important causes of the high drop-out rate. Minorities are also more likely to enrol late for primary school and lack pre-school access. The survey concluded that these were all factors suggesting that better education policies and financial support were needed rather than a change in attitude or culture among minorities.17 49. For minority women, the problem of illiteracy is acute, and many can neither read nor write in any language. According to a World Bank study of 2006, 18 while literacy rates for ethnic Kinh women are 92 per cent, for ethnic Thai women the figure is 70 per cent; for H’mong women, it is just 22 per cent. Lack of education and literacy and of the ability to speak Vietnamese severely limits the opportunities available to women and their possibilities to interact beyond their communities or to seek wage labour. 50. The Government has increased the number of schools in minority localities significantly, as was demonstrated to the independent expert in several minority regions visited. It remains unclear, however, the extent to which adequate education facilities have reached the most remote regions. The establishment of boarding schools has been a positive initiative to address the lack of physical access to schools. Data provided by the Government of Viet Nam in a memo to the expert on 5 January 2011 showed that, in 2008 and 2009, there were 1,657 ethnic minority boarding schools in the country, including 629 primary schools, 895 secondary schools and 133 high schools, attended by a total of 144,124 students. However, access to such schools remains extremely limited in some regions. Reduction of school fees, financial grants to families and free meals have contributed to a general increase in enrolment of minority children at all levels. 51. Steps taken to increase the number of ethnic minority teachers include the introduction of scholarships for persons belonging to ethnic minorities to train as teachers and the establishment of teacher training institutions in minority regions. The Ministry of Education pointed out that ethnic minorities now account for 10.86 per cent of teachers at the primary level, 5.9 per cent of teachers at the lower secondary level, and 4 per cent at the higher secondary level.19 The Government acknowledges the persistent challenges with regard to the provision of teaching staff in minority regions, including the lack of competitive salaries. Teachers who relocate to ethnic minority areas now receive an additional 70 per cent of their salary as an incentive. 52. To promote ethnic minority enrolment in further education, a programme initiated in 1990 allows minority students who have performed well at school but who may not meet the standard required to pass entrance exams to be nominated to enter university after one year of further preparatory study. While the programme is open to the ethnic Kinh majority, nominations of Kinh must not exceed 15 per cent of total nominations. The programme requires members of ethnic minorities who receive scholarships for university education outside their home region to return to their province of origin to take up positions upon graduation. A. Bilingual education 53. The fact that minority children do not receive instruction in their mother tongue in their early years of primary school has created a language barrier for children who begin their education with little if any understanding of Vietnamese. They struggle with being 17 18 19 Ibid., p. 26. World Bank et al., Viet Nam Country Gender Assessment, Hanoi, December 2006. Pursuant to decree 61/2006/ND-CP, a policy on assistance to teachers has been in place since June 2006. 13