CRC/C/VNM/CO/3-4 (c) Ensure the active involvement of targeted beneficiaries through adequate consultation and participation in the decisions relating to their rights and interests; (d) Develop and implement well-financed policies and programmes relating to safe drinking water and sanitation, especially in rural areas, including the national target programme on clean water and rural sanitation, and ensure that children in schools have equitable access to sanitation facilities, in line with the Committee’s previous recommendation (CRC/C/15/Add.200, para. 42). G. Education, leisure and cultural activities (arts. 28, 29 and 31 of the Convention) Education, including vocational training and guidance 67. The Committee welcomes the adoption of the Education Development Strategic Plan 2001-2010 and the National Education for All Action Plan 2003-2015. While appreciating efforts to implement its previous recommendations (CRC/C/15/Add.200, para. 48), inter alia, to increase budget allocations, to increase rates of primary and secondary school enrolment, and to develop financial education incentives to marginalized groups, and while appreciating the joint efforts of the State party together with UNICEF to provide for bilingual teaching for children belonging to ethnic minorities, the Committee is concerned at the following: (a) The scarcity of State-run facilities and programmes for early childhood development; (b) The fact that, despite the Constitutional provision for free-of-charge primary education, education-related fees are in fact being imposed, affecting the poorest, and mostly children of ethnic minorities and migrant children; (c) Continuing striking disparities in access to school between children of ethnic minorities and children of the Kinh population; (d) Continuing high rates of dropout at the primary and secondary school levels and in particular among children of ethnic minorities, mainly due to lack of access, povertyrelated reasons, and linguistic barriers; (e) Limited access to mother tongue-based education for ethnic minorities and indigenous groups; an insufficient number of ethnic minority and indigenous teachers and a lack of appropriate training for these teachers to teach in bilingual education, as well as the low quality of textbooks for children belonging to ethnic minorities or indigenous groups, which impedes the right of children belonging to such groups to learn adequately their distinctive language and preserve it; (f) A lack of information relating to the monitoring of the children in boarding schools for ethnic minorities; (g) A low quality of education and inappropriate teaching methods that do not allow children’s participation, as well as low teacher capacity, and the lack of information on whether human rights education, in particular children’s rights, is included in the school curriculum. 68. The Committee recommends that the State party take into account its general comment No. 1 (2001) on the aims of education, and: (a) Develop well-financed early childhood development programmes, using a holistic approach to cover all needs of children under the age of 5; and expeditiously 17

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