VietNamNet Bridge – Dak Lak is suffering from a serious shortage of teachers, to the detriment of Ede ethnic minority students, officials said.

A teacher at Dak Ha Primary School in Central Highlands Kontum Province's Tu Mo Rong District encourages ethnic minority pupils to go to classes. (Photo: VNS)

"To be sufficient, we need an additional 300 teachers," he said.

Dak Lak is home to about 13.6 per cent of the 1.8 million Ede living in Viet Nam.

The province introduced a programme to preserve the Ede language 30 years ago. However, due to a staff shortage, schools have been forced to employ retired teachers who speak Ede.

Nguyen Thi Huong, vice principal of the Y Jut Primary School in Buon Ma Thuot City, said: "Teaching in Ede is difficult. Recruiting native speakers is particularly difficult because the allowance we offer is so small."

Schools in the province offer teachers VND25,000 (US$1.25) a lesson, which equates to VND2 million ($100) a month.

Huong added that the two Ede teachers currently employed by the school were planning to leave this year because of the poor pay.

Making matters worse, the province was even short of textbooks, she said.

Vu Van Huynh, the deputy director of the provincial Department of Education and Training, said the authority was planning to increase teachers' salaries.

In addition, the department planned to have more text books translated into Ede.

"By the next school year, the province will have a uniform curriculum," Huynh said.

However, he said the State should make more funds available for Ede teachers.

"But overall, I think the State should introduce a law to preserve, develop and teach ethnic minority languages, and it should include proper policies for language teachers," Huynh said.

Dac Lac provincial officials said they hoped that by 2015, Ede would be taught in at least 100 schools attended by about 15,000 primary and junior secondary graders.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News