Ethnic people need training, education and healthcare

HA NOI – Nearly 90 per cent of ethnic people of working age are untrained.

This is one of the main obstacles limiting the development of mountainous areas, said Ksor Phuoc, president of National Assembly's Ethnic Council today.

Phuoc was speaking at a forum to develop human resources among tribal people and those living in mountainous areas over the next eight years.

The meeting involved policy makers and experts from international organisations.

Phuoc said improving the quality of human resources in ethnic areas was a key step in meeting requirements for national development.

Statistics from the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs revealed high illiteracy rates existed among ethnic people, especially in the northern uplands (12.7 per cent) and Central Highland areas (11.3 per cent). Most students leave school when they are 15 – or even before.

In ethnic and mountainous areas, 70 per cent of people work on farms. The rest work in industry, services and the trading sector. This compares to the rest of the nation, where 51.9 of workers are on farms.

Not only are ethnic people untrained and illiterate, but they also have limited physical strength.

There is high rate of ethnic children with malnutrition, especially northern upland areas with 26 per cent of children and central highland areas with more than 27 per cent. Meanwhile, the average rate of the country is nearly 20 per cent.

The death ratio of children under one year old is also high. In some northern and central highland provinces, the death is double or triple the national average rate. At Lai Chau is it 47.7 per cent, Dien Bien 39.7 per cent, Ha Giang 37.5 per cent and Kon Tum 38.2 per cent.

Life expectancy of ethnic people is also several years lower than the national average of 72.8 years.

Dr Phan Van Hung, Deputy Minister and vice-chairman of the Committee for Ethic Minority Affairs said the high poverty rate among many ethnic groups was mainly to blame for the high rate of malnutrition and high illiteracy.

Pratibha Mehta, United Nations Resident Co-ordinator, said while ethnic groups constituted only 14 per cent of the population, they comprised half of those living in chronic poverty.

Hung said nearly 50 per cent of people in ethnic areas were living under the poverty line and had little access to health care. He said many children were not fully fed and became thin, weak and vulnerable to disease.

Many also had to drop out of school to work for their families. – VNS