The national assembly, Vietnam's 450-member legislative body which meets twice a year, quizzed the government on why so few minority students enrolled in universities when 1,000 qualified nominees had been selected for higher education. Hanoi earmarked for ethnic minority programme development since 1992.
Experts are to report back to the assembly later in the session.
Vietnam's education system is grappling with a mushrooming number of students at all levels, compounded with a decrease in per-pupil state funding. State education subsidies for families were once a mainstay of the country's school system, but 48 per cent of the education budget is now privately financed, according to press reports. Primary school fees for the country's 53 ethnic minority groups, which comprise about 12 per cent of Vietnam's population, are still heavily subsidized by Hanoi, however. Despite the government's visible commitments to minority areas, development agencies say ethnic groups face mounting education problems, including lack of access to schools in many remote regions. Nearly all schooling is in Vietnamese, the language of the country's Kinh majority.