A/HRC/28/57/Add.1 77. The Special Rapporteur encourages the Government to continue to support the development of minority scripts, while ensuring greater participation of researchers and academics from the communities concerned in the decision-making processes. That would help to address concerns raised by members of relevant communities regarding the script used by some groups in Viet Nam. For example, the Hmong script created in 1962 is reportedly not widely used amongst the Hmong population, who prefer to use a newer script developed in Thailand and the United States of America. 78. The Special Rapporteur also expressed concern that the Government-developed Cham script for education affects the Cham language itself owing to imports from Vietnamese syntax into the Cham language. People reported that the traditional Cham language and script have been modified and adapted to the framework of the Vietnamese language. According to information received, most Cham scholars wish to revert to the traditional script, but cannot make their voices heard. The Special Rapporteur notes the comment from the Government that there is no policy to encourage imports of Vietnamese syntax into the Khmer language and that there is a natural convergence of languages in the Mekong Delta. She nevertheless suggests that an independent body be established to assess the matter and take into consideration the concerns of scholars and the people affected. 79. Khmer people also complain about distortions created by the phonetic transcription of Khmer names into Vietnamese script, as a result of which, people feel they cannot use indigenous names for their children or for places. Reportedly, changes in the administrative structure of the territory have had a significant impact on topographical names, and Khmer family names and the names of localities and institutions, such as pagodas, have been replaced by Vietnamese names. Other groups, such as the Montagnards in the Central Highlands, similarly complain about policies to change tribal names into Vietnamese ones. (b) Teaching of and in minority languages 80. The Government encourages different groups to use and preserve their languages in addition to the national language, and has taken steps to promote the teaching of those languages and their scripts. 81. At the time of her visit, the Special Rapporteur was informed that 20 provinces and cities had introduced language education for seven languages, as well as six bilingual education programmes. In the school year 2013/14, in 688 schools with 4,764 classes, 108,000 students were being taught minority languages. The Special Rapporteur welcomes those achievements and encourages the Government to step up its efforts in that area. Overall, however, minority languages are still taught in schools on a very small scale. 82. Steps taken, supported or authorized by the Government in the area of bilingual education are promising. In particular, a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) pilot research project, conducted in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Training, promotes bilingual education for the Hmong, Jarai and Khmer — three of the largest minority groups — at the preschool and primary school levels, in three provinces. Significantly, research demonstrates that students benefiting from such programmes perform better than unilingual students in national tests. 83. However, the Special Rapporteur is concerned about the reported arrest, in 2013, of a group of Khmer-Krom Buddhists from the province of Soc Trang, who had opened a Khmer-language school in their pagoda for Khmer Buddhist children. The arrest took place following a confrontation with the authorities, who opposed the opening of the school. On 27 September 2013, two Buddhist monks and seven other people were sentenced to prison terms. The Special Rapporteur has not received sufficient details from the authorities on this case, and stresses the obligation of Viet Nam, under article 13, paragraphs 3 and 4, of 16