On General Issues of Bilingual Education for Minority Ethnic Groups

Minority language literacy is an important issue in national education policy for any multi-nationality country. China sticks to the policy of safeguarding the rights and interests of ethnic minority groups to use their own languages and writing systems. In education, considering communications among different nationalities and the development of minority ethnic groups, a bilingual education policy is being implemented by insisting on teaching students in their own ethnic languages; when the mastery of their own languages has been achieved, bilingual teaching will be employed. There are three types of bilingual teaching for minority ethnic groups: teaching in their own languages, with Mandarin Chinese added; teaching in Mandarin Chinese, with minority languages added; teaching both in Mandarin Chinese and in minority languages. The biggest problems to be solved in implementing bilingual education in ethnic minority regions are the editing of language textbooks and supporting materials for minority ethnic groups and the training of ethnic minority teachers.