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It should be noted that bilingual education does not simply refer to English plus one other language, in many communities, especially those within a minority setting, English is overlooked as a linguistic denominator and other combinations are promoted and preferred in bilingual education, combinations which act to serve the local community effectively are often those which are demanded by minorities, yet majority groups seem to favor a language combination which serves a more international function. If we take a look at some of the non-English based bilingual education programs which are employed by Asian countries it becomes apparent that the choice of language, the social reaction to minority groups, and the attitude and support of government are all crucial factors which are currently shaping the future of many nations and their inhabitants.

China

It is estimated that 1 in 5 people on the planet speak Chinese in the form of one of its seven dialect groups. Chinese, as we casually know it, refers to the majority ethnic group otherwise known as “The Han”, they account for almost 92% of the mainland population in China and speak “Putonghua” which is considered the Lingua Franca by the PRC communist government. The remaining 8% of the population belong to anyone of the 55 officially recognized shaoshu minzu or minority nationalities. Since the cultural revolution of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s the Chinese government has been making efforts to increase bilingual education schemes for the large number of minority groups. The development of a policy stating that every individual has the right to use and be educated in their native minority language under the protection of the constitution was one of the first steps forward for minority education.

Whilst early government initiates seem positive there are a number of other issues that need to be addressed. The fact that language minorities are expected to master Putonghua through the government policy of dialect bilingualism is reflective of “the great Han” mentality; this has been the basis for discrimination and linguistic biases for many years. The Han population themselves, are not required in any form to master or take part in studies of minority languages; in this respect bilingual education in China simply refers to minority groups studying the dominant language of Putonghua whilst aiming to maintain their native language ability in some form of secondary program.

The “Putonghua Promotion Campaign” which began in the 1950’s has been seen as an enemy of many minority language groups, those groups which are located within Putonghua speaking populations have found it difficult to maintain their native minority language. The language of the “Manchu” is now a dead language which many attribute to the continued spread of bilingual education programs which emphasize development in Putonghua and at most, a basic maintenance in the minority language. Contrary to government opinion there is a general consensus among Chinese scholars that mother tongue teaching is the best policy for minority groups, but there is little emphasis on the development and progression of mother tongue or minority language skills. The implementation of mother-tongue teaching in China can be seen, primarily as a facilitator of transferring the Putonghua language rather than a sincere attempt at progressive bilingual education. Connected to this is the view that bilingual education merely serves as a tool for political stability within large minority populations, additionally, cooperation with the communist government is highly valued and minority community leaders are often placed in such positions to enforce the government’s wider ambitions rather than to serve the local community they claim to represent.

In 1985 there were about 160,000 schools in China implementing some form of bilingual education. This bilingual education predominantly stops after elementary school with all junior, high school and universities adopting majority language tuition. Regardless of this, many local provinces have since set up their own publishing companies for producing local minority language information, but without government financing and support these efforts are destined to fail. Within China there are over 100 languages spoken, this as made it difficult for major publishers to create profitable textbooks for schools, the focus of large scale mass publishing efforts as been directed toward the Han population through the use of Putonghua only. This fact combined with use of a centralized curriculum within all of China’s schools are both issues for concern to minority groups, the lack of flexibility, support and relevance to local or remote communities does not encourage students to learn or even attend school, it excludes parents and provides no positive reinforcement of identity to the students. At the end of this standard schooling minority students are expected to compete with majority Han students for University places and financing. With the odds stacked firmly against them many minority students end up in local second-rate colleges rather than national prestigious universities.

Cambodia

Khmer is the national language and medium of all instruction within the Cambodian education system. It is promoted as the single language in which all Cambodians should be fluent. Like China, Cambodia is a country with many diverse ethnic and linguistic populations. The most notable of which is the highland population of northeast Cambodia who number almost 100,000.  This figure includes the Brao, Tampuan, Kreung, Jarai, and Bunong, all of whom possess and speak their own indigenous languages. The indigenous minorities who are often referred to as Khmer-Loeu, foreign residents or immigrants that include Chinese, Vietnamese, and Thai are all recognized officially by the government. Their minority languages though, are generally discouraged from use in the school system after elementary grade 2, the emphasis even at this young age is on translation in Khmer. Due in part to the country’s growing illiteracy rates, the Cambodian government has proposed a policy of, “Education for all” by the year 2015. So far this policy has been successful in improving the literacy rate of Khmer speaking lowlanders both in public and private programs. Unfortunately, the highlanders have been marginalized and excluded from such national initiatives because they do not speak the national language of Khmer. In 2001 the Christian group, the International Cooperation for Cambodia (ICC) launched the “READ” bilingual non-formal education program to assist the Bunong hilltribe people in Mondulkiri Province, northeastern Cambodia. They began by developing a nationally recognized script for the Bunong language and then proceeded to transcribe legends, folktales, and histories of the Bunong people. The ICC’s involvement was based on offered non-formal education classes that were designed for uneducated adults who had suffered at the hands of the government’s rigid Khmer only language policies. The focus of these programs was not reading and writing but on the tuition of life skills in fields such as health, hygiene, animal production, vegetable production, and malaria prevention.

In addition to curriculum development, READ has also been selecting and training teachers for the bilingual education classes. A long-term goal of the ICC is to take advantage of the momentum gained and the materials developed through the non-formal education platform and eventually facilitate the incorporation of bilingual education into the elementary school system in both Mondulkiri and Bunong provinces. It is believed that bilingual education will enable school-aged Bunong children, who do not speak Khmer, to learn first in their mother tongue, and then to learn to speak, read, and write Khmer.

Encouraged by the success enjoyed by the ICC, in 2004 UNESCO launched the most comprehensive bilingual education program so far, the Highland Children’s Education Project (HCEP) was created with the full support of the Cambodia government. This project aimed at creating community schools with the northeastern highlands in which the communities would have a crucial hand in the running of the schools, the emphasis for formal education was removed and all materials and subjects taught in the school were based around the highlander culture and traditions, this inclusive education program was founded on bilingual principles rather than the simple translation and promotion of Khmer, as the government had originally favored. The results of this program and others like it have been favorable; the government’s formal education was failing these minority groups due to their remote location, their lack of Khmer skills and the irrelevant nature of the curriculum to their own cultural identities. It appears due to international pressure and involvement that the future for Cambodia is looking up, the government has given full support to future bilingual education efforts that will provide children with other language options to Khmer.

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