Deputy Chairman of the Government's Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs Son Phuoc Hoan spoke with Tin Tuc (News) newspaper about a project to offer vocational training to ethnic minority labourers.
* How has the Government's Decision 1956/QD-TTg issued in 2009 on the vocational training for poor people, ethnic minority people and rural labourers been implemented?
Vocational training is very important to ethnic minority people. Currently, there are about 1 million poor ethnic minority households. Of those, 400,000 have no land for cultivation so, to avoid poverty, they need vocational training.
The implementation of Decision 1956 has gained certain achievements. However there are still many difficulties, both objective and subjective. The reason is because we have not had complete statistics nor caught up with the demand for vocational training. The co-ordination among ministries and sectors has not been close.
Decision 1956 itself has not assigned any member specialising in ethnic minority affairs to be in charge of vocational training for ethnic minority people, who mostly live in remote and mountainous areas.
* What are your comments on the investment for training systems at the grassroots and district levels for ethnic minority people?
We do not have huge training centres. However, most of the poor districts have set up training centres. Besides, they have also co-ordinated with other training centres and handicraft artisans.
For non-agricultural vocations such as mechanics, which require practice facilities, they can borrow the local communal and cultural houses for workshops.
I think it's necessary to select vocations which are strengths of the localities, for which they can invite skilful trainers and artisans, who also know well about local languages and customs, to teach the ethnic minority people.
However, in the long run, there needs to be large-scale training units.
Besides, boarding schools for ethnic minority people in districts that are home to more than 10,000 ethnic minority people can also offer vocational training to students who finish their compulsory education and do not want to study higher.
* What do you think about the claim that the vocation training now is less than realistic?
Relapsing into poverty again after having escaped it is one of the reasons why vocational training fails to be in line with reality.
For example, for the above-mentioned 400,000 households out of 1 million poor ethnic minority households who do not have land for cultivation, it will be a huge waste if we do not offer them vocational training in non-agriculture areas and create jobs for them.
So the problem is that the survey and research have not met the training demand and social needs.
* What are the obstacles in vocational training and job creation for ethnic minority people?
Currently, training centres have not had adequate market information and have not linked with employers.
In the coming time, we will gather all demand and research for market information, thus, we can instruct ethnic minority people on how to register for proper vocations.
For agricultural vocations, we will prioritise those who have land for cultivation so that they can apply what they learn right after training.
We will help define what kind of trees or animals are suitable for their land and use proper training.
We will also work with factories and farms around the localities to see what vocations they need to create for ethnic minority people.
* What solutions are there in the coming time to better implement Decision 1956?
Right after joining the decision's steering committee, we have proposed to amend the decision to be more suitable with ethnic minority people, as they are the Number One priority in the decision.
Accordingly, we will focus on raising the support for trainees as they are mostly the main breadwinners in the family.
In the coming time, we will also boost the building of collective training centres in localities as ethnic minority people normally live scattered.-VNA
* How has the Government's Decision 1956/QD-TTg issued in 2009 on the vocational training for poor people, ethnic minority people and rural labourers been implemented?
Vocational training is very important to ethnic minority people. Currently, there are about 1 million poor ethnic minority households. Of those, 400,000 have no land for cultivation so, to avoid poverty, they need vocational training.
The implementation of Decision 1956 has gained certain achievements. However there are still many difficulties, both objective and subjective. The reason is because we have not had complete statistics nor caught up with the demand for vocational training. The co-ordination among ministries and sectors has not been close.
Decision 1956 itself has not assigned any member specialising in ethnic minority affairs to be in charge of vocational training for ethnic minority people, who mostly live in remote and mountainous areas.
* What are your comments on the investment for training systems at the grassroots and district levels for ethnic minority people?
We do not have huge training centres. However, most of the poor districts have set up training centres. Besides, they have also co-ordinated with other training centres and handicraft artisans.
For non-agricultural vocations such as mechanics, which require practice facilities, they can borrow the local communal and cultural houses for workshops.
I think it's necessary to select vocations which are strengths of the localities, for which they can invite skilful trainers and artisans, who also know well about local languages and customs, to teach the ethnic minority people.
However, in the long run, there needs to be large-scale training units.
Besides, boarding schools for ethnic minority people in districts that are home to more than 10,000 ethnic minority people can also offer vocational training to students who finish their compulsory education and do not want to study higher.
* What do you think about the claim that the vocation training now is less than realistic?
Relapsing into poverty again after having escaped it is one of the reasons why vocational training fails to be in line with reality.
For example, for the above-mentioned 400,000 households out of 1 million poor ethnic minority households who do not have land for cultivation, it will be a huge waste if we do not offer them vocational training in non-agriculture areas and create jobs for them.
So the problem is that the survey and research have not met the training demand and social needs.
* What are the obstacles in vocational training and job creation for ethnic minority people?
Currently, training centres have not had adequate market information and have not linked with employers.
In the coming time, we will gather all demand and research for market information, thus, we can instruct ethnic minority people on how to register for proper vocations.
For agricultural vocations, we will prioritise those who have land for cultivation so that they can apply what they learn right after training.
We will help define what kind of trees or animals are suitable for their land and use proper training.
We will also work with factories and farms around the localities to see what vocations they need to create for ethnic minority people.
* What solutions are there in the coming time to better implement Decision 1956?
Right after joining the decision's steering committee, we have proposed to amend the decision to be more suitable with ethnic minority people, as they are the Number One priority in the decision.
Accordingly, we will focus on raising the support for trainees as they are mostly the main breadwinners in the family.
In the coming time, we will also boost the building of collective training centres in localities as ethnic minority people normally live scattered.-VNA
