CURRENT SITUATION OF TRAINING AND FOSTERING OF ETHNIC MINORITY STAFFS IN VIETNAM

Being home to a diversity of 54 ethnic groups, Vietnam has attached great significance to training and fostering ethnic minority staff during its national development. The Document of the 7 th Conference of the 9 th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam on ethnic affairs emphasized the need to build a contingent of qualified ethnic minority staff meeting local requirements; and well execute the planning, training, fostering, and employment of ethnic minority staff for each region. This special attention illustrates a consistent view on the realization of equality and solidarity among the ethnic groups sharing the territory of Vietnam.


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Currently, the training and fostering of ethnic minority staff in Vietnam primarily concentrate on providing basic and updated knowledge about political theory, State administrative management, expertise, and operational skills, thereby improving their competencies and leadership skills and public duty management and execution skills to fulfill their assignments, steadily building a contingent of qualified and professional ethnic minority staff to well meet the country's development requirements. In light of the leadership views of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the Government, ministries, and agencies have issued and directed the implementation of abundant policies on the training and fostering of ethnic minority staff, with positive results.
In recent years, the training and fostering of ethnic minority staff have gained considerable attention in both form and content of training and fostering and benefits policies. Ethnic minority staffhas been sent to political schools for political theory training and fostering courses at all levels, from central to district one. They are also entitled to State management training and fostering, including programs for specialists, principal specialists, and senior ones; and fostering updated knowledge and skills of information technology, foreign languages, and many other aspects. Numerous young staff and female staff from ethnic minorities have been assigned to boarding schools, universities, and colleges for specialized and career courses to serve their homeland in the future. Ethnic minority staff is also given overseas study opportunities under local and institutional training programs.
According to the monitoring report on "the Implementation of Policies and Laws on Training and Employment of Ethnic Minority Staff, Public Servants and Public Employees" by the Ethnic Council in 2019 in 36 provinces and municipalities, the numbers of ethnic minority staff enrolled in expertise, political theory, State management, professional skill, oversea and other training and fostering courses were 17,598 people (among 374,263 people nationwide), (4.7%); 14,381 people (among 476,225 people nationwide), (3%); 7,368 people (among 77,927 people nationwide), (9.45%); 35,457 people (among 415,867 people nationwide), (8.52%); 99 people (among 2,989 people nationwide), (3.3%), and 36,648 people (among 219,940 people nationwide), (16.67%), respectively. The quality of ethnic minority staff has been improved in various aspects, partially enhancing the operating effectiveness and efficiency of agencies and entities at different levels, promoting socio-economic development, keeping strong political security and social order in the ethnic minority areas across the country.
There has been, however, existedcertain limitations and problems in the training and fostering of ethnic minority staff as follows: Firstly, the proportion of trained and fostered ethnic minority staffhas remained low. The data above reveals that the percentage of ethnic minority staff trained in all sectors was smaller than 5% of the total quantity of staff trained nationwide. If compared with the number of ethnic minority staff currently working in agencies and entities within the political system (accounting for roughly 12% of the national staff), the proportion of trained ethnic minority staffhas still been low. This has greatly impacted these staff's quality and ability to complete their tasks.
Secondly, despite enrollment in training courses, the qualifications of the ethnic minority staff have remained limited. This matter happens in different localities and at different levels. Regarding high-school education, percentages of ethnic minority staff in Northwest Vietnam, Central Vietnam and Central Highlands, and South Vietnam achieving this level were recognized, in turn,at 88.3%, 73.9%, and 71.9%. Such percentages at undergraduate and postgraduate levels among ethnic minority staff in these three regions were 63.5%, 45.7%, and 60.3%, respectively. The percentages of ethnic minority staff achieving primary and intermediate political theory qualifications were, in turn, 35.7%, 31.3%, and 35.4% in three regions. 25,4%, 68.7%, and 54.6% convey the proportions of advanced and undergraduate political theory qualification among ethnic minority staff in these three regions of Vietnam. This considerably affects their ability to deal with assigned tasks.
Thirdly, an absence of a focus was found in the organization of training and fostering activities. Despite a variety of improvements in the training contents and programs for ethnic minority staff,abundant issues such as heavy general theory, lack of content on governance, administrative skills, thinking development methods, social management skills and risk dealing, and fundamentals of socio-economic management in today's situation have been identified. Also, outdated and inflexible training methods make it difficult for staff to arrange their work to attend full-time training and fostering classes at schools.
Fourthly, the priority and benefits policiesfor the training and fostering of ethnic minority staff have unveiled certain shortcomings. Some benefits policies for ethnic minority staff are not adequate andattractive enough to encourage 183 them to overcome difficulties and barriers to actively study and improve their qualifications. Ethnic minority staff often confront challenges in accommodation and traveling for their far distance from training centers, requiring more expenditures while the State budget for the training and fostering of ethnic minority staff has remained tight.

Solutions
To address the limitations in the training and fostering of ethnic minority staff in Vietnam over the past time, aiming to contribute to building a contingent of high-quality, professional, dynamic, creative, disciplined, responsible Vietnamese ethnic minority staff who are qualified and capable to meet the need to build and develop an increasingly prosperous and happy country, the following specific solutions are proposed: Firstly, further improve policies and entitlements for training and fostering of ethnic minority staff The Party and the State of Vietnam have issued certain ethnic policies, including preferential policies for investment in economic and cultural development in extremely disadvantageous mountainous ethnic minority areas and preferential policies for the development of education (building the system of ethnic boarding schools, applying non-examination admission for staff resource building) and so on. Policies and entitlements for training, fostering, and improving qualifications for ethnic minority staffhave, nonetheless, still suffered limitations and inconsistencies.
In the training and fostering of ethnic minority staff, it is necessary to develop and promulgate specific policies and entitlements such as special preferential policies for ethnic minorities with few or no staff obtaining bachelor's, associate, and intermediate degrees.
Policies on financial support for ethnic minority staff pursuing part-time training courses (approved by their organizations), distance-learning, or instructor-led learning with degrees granted by the national education system should be taken in place to encourage their self-study, improvement, and efforts.
Also, adequate benefit policies for ethnic minority staff with outstanding academic and working performance such as reward, pay rise, and promotion need to be established and adopted. Key ethnic minority staff with high reputation, high educational qualifications, and great dedication must be honored through titles and noble rewards.
Secondly, ensure the specificity of the training and fostering contents and programs for ethnic minority staff Featured by specific cultures, awareness, and economic conditions, ethnic minority staff requires specific training contents and methods, as well because training and fostering must be learner-centered and learner-adjusted. Furthermore, each region with a large number of ethnic minorities has specific economic, cultural, social, security, and political characteristics and a separate position for the country's development, which sets out specific requirements in the development process. Ethnic minority staff should undergo training courses for improving their ability to work and solve local problems, thereby promoting local development. The development requirements of ethnic minority areas should be, therefore, taken into account in training contents, programs and methods. The specificity in the training and fostering of ethnic minority staff is shown in the following aspects: designing separate training programs for ethnic minority staffassociated with learners' characteristics and weaknesses needed to be addressed. Separate training schools for ethnic minority staff should also be built.
Thirdly, attach importance to making detailed roadmap-based plans for training and fostering ethnic minority staff.
It is compulsory to strengthen the elaboration of plans on the training of ethnic minority staff, in general, and those in extremely disadvantageous areas, in particular, whilst paying attention to making specific planning for each ethnic group. The principles of openness, democracy, and equality among ethnic groups must be respected during deployment.
Specific goals and plans in training and fostering should be set out to ensure that all ethnic groups have their own intellectuals and staff. Acceptance and recruitment of trained staff should be planned in a reasonable manner.
Closer coordination between the central and local agencies in the allocation of training targets and occupational structure to suit the socio-economic development conditions of extremely disadvantageous areas, besides creating opportunities for children of ethnic groups in remote areas to pursuit education at all levels and disciplines.

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Fourthly,strengthen the contingent of ethnic minority managers and teachers of training institutions As ethnic minority teachersunderstand customs and living and working conditions of the ethnic minority staffthoroughly, they can make recommendations about the training and fostering contents, programs, and methods to suit these learners.Hence, attention should be paid to strengthening the force of ethnic minority teachers in terms of both quantity and quality (political qualities and pedagogical methodology and skills) and improving their qualifications, as well. Also, it is essential to adopt proper remuneration policies for teachers in charge of training and fostering ethnic minority staff. Convenient accommodation for ethnic minority staff and teachers should also be arranged by local governments.
Fifthly, increase investment in modern facilities for the training and fostering of ethnic minority staff.
Extensive investment in modern teaching equipment is highly encouraged towardsthe modernization of teaching technical facilities. The immediate goal is to provide additional funding for the procurement and replacement of outdated equipment in certain training institutions, creating an airy and convenient learning environment and space. The intuitive method (combined audiovisual method) is the ideal choice for ethnic minority learners. The investment in training and fostering institutions must be considered a permanent and long-term mission.

Conclusions:-
The quality of training and fostering of ethnic minority staff is a combination of the following factors: training contents; programs and curriculum; teachers; facilities; and technologies for teaching and learning. Training and fostering are essential to building a contingent of ethnic minority staff who are professional, politically stable, and competent. The goal of creating a contingent of both qualified and skilled ethnic minority stafffor contributing to the country's socio-economic development is achieved only through adequate training and fostering activities.