Bilingual education in Xinjiang bridging gaps
Source: Chinadaily [15:56 December 17 2009]
"The parents don't need to pay tuition because the cost of their children's education and even meals at the kindergartens will be completely covered by the central government," Dai said. "That's why the parents all want to send their children to those kindergartens."
In addition to learning Mandarin, the children will be prepared for elementary school, Dai said.
"I cannot speak Mandarin and that is something I always regret," said Enimar, whose 9-year-old daughter, Qimaiduo, studies at a village bilingual elementary school in Aksu region, southern Xinjiang.
Enimar said he did not think a knowledge of Mandarin would mean students would use their ethnic languages less, or that they would lose their heritage.
"Instead, mastering Mandarin can help us to promote our culture," he said.
Authorities hope bilingual education will help bridge communication divides among people in Xinjiang, where 60 percent come from ethnic minorities, including Uygur, Kazak and Mongolian.
Bilingual education in the region, which started in 1992, aims to improve the standard of Mandarin among ethnic minority graduates, so they could be more competitive in the workplace. Bilingual kindergartens, which were first set up in 2004, are expected to accentuate the trend, Xinjiang's regional government chairman Nur Bekri said earlier.
At present, more than 600,000 students from ethnic minority groups in Xinjiang are participating in the bilingual education initiative, accounting for a quarter of all minority students.
