‘Even studying higher, we just end up with earning a living by picking coffee cherries’: challenges to educational equity for ethnic minority students in Vietnam

One of the challenges to Vietnamese education has been the schooling inequality between students of the ethnic majority and those of ethnic minorities. This paper, therefore, reports on research that explored the challenges to educational equity for ethnic minority students in Vietnam from stakeholders at the lowest levels. Data were collected from interviews with teachers, school principals, an educational leader and the researchers’ notes of field trips to ethnic minority villages. The findings indicate the challenges lie in the inadequate preparation of teachers for teaching ethnic minority students and the students’ language barriers. Beyond the school setting, ethnic minority students’ schooling opportunities were hindered by the ethnocentric attitude of the ethnic majority towards their learning capacity. Political and economic constraints in local communities also prevented ethnic minority students from accessing high-level education. Recommendations for promoting educational equity for ethnic minority students in Vietnam and other similar contexts were discussed.