“Today, the MOE has embarked on a resolute march toward educational modernization. I hope the state will provide extra support to small minority groups to give our children equal access to modern education,” said He Yingchun, CPPCC representative and Assistant Principal of the No. 1 Middle School of Sunan - the only Yugur autonomous county and one of the 28 least populated regions in China.

Whilst acknowledging the rapid educational advances made in recent years, He noted that hurdles to further progress remain. “In Sunan, for instance, all school-age children have access to education, but quality education is still not available for them. Elementary school curriculum reforms have achieved success across the country, but the long-standing problem that course content is not adapted to the local natural, social and cultural contexts remains unsolved.”

He tabled a three-point proposal to the CPPCC session aimed at helping small minority groups to fully benefit from the MOE’s drive to modernize China’s education system. First, minority group native languages and cultures should be incorporated in the national curriculum framework. Second, bilingual teachers should be trained, and bilingual education should be made mandatory. The local teaching body should be expanded, especially by recruiting bilingual college graduates to work as full-time teachers. Top performing language teachers should be sent to teach at grass-root level schools to improve the overall teaching level. Third, more funding should be provided for developing elementary education curricula properly adapted to local contexts.