Master thesis: Guidelines for a post-literacy curriculum for rural Khmer women, Tra Vinh province, Vietnam

The overall objective of the study is contributing to sustainable development for Khmer community through a set of guidelines for a post-literacy curriculum for Khmer women.

GUIDELINES FOR A POST-LITERACY CURRICULUM

FOR RURAL KHMER WOMEN, TRA VINH PROVINCE, VIETNAM

by

Nguyen Chi Doan Hanh

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science

Examination Committee: Dr Barbara Earth (Chairperson)

Dr Kyoko Kusakabe

Dr Nicholas J Dimmitt

Nationality: Vietnamese

Previous Degree: Bachelor of Arts

Hue College of Education

Scholarship Donor: ASEAN Foundation

Asian Institute of Technology School of Environment, Resources and Development

Thailand August 2002

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my profound gratitude to my Advisor, Dr Barbara Earth, for her

untiring guidance and suggestions throughout the process of preparing this thesis I am

indebted her constant supports as well as her stimulation in doing this research

I am extremely grateful for Dr Kyoko Kusakabe for her inspiration, her incalculable

comments and suggestions, which contributed to enhancing the quality of thesis work

I would like to give my special thanks to Dr Nicholas J Dimmitt for the valuable

knowledge in education that made me to do this research I am also indebted him for his

lasting encouragement and precious comments for the research

My thesis would not have been completed without the openness and hospitality offered by

Khmer women in Hoa Loi commune who were so kind to give their time to share their

stories with me during my field visits The hospitality, warm welcomes and logical support

of all members of Project VIE/96/025, the encouragement of the Board of Project

VIE/96/025, The Department of Planning and Investment of Tra Vinh, particularly the

untiring and constant support of Ms Nguyen Ngoc Tu, Ms Kien Thi Bi, facilitated the

research process Without their assistance, I would have faced a lot of difficulties during

my fieldwork

I would like to give sincere thanks to ASEAN Foundation for their financial support for

my study and research

Last but not least, I am so indebted to my parents, and to my brother for their support and

encoragement during my study I cannot help thinking of my friends, both in Vietnam, AIT

and overseas, Mr Nguyen Minh Dat, Ms Pham Thi Bich Hong, Ms Nguyen Hai Binh,

Mr Russell Parmenter and Ms Bui Minh Hue for their support, sympathy and

encouragement during my stay at AIT Without their friendship, my study at AIT would

have been very difficult I cannot express my depth of love and gratitude to my beloved

fiancé who has been the closest, encouraging and supporting me throughout my studies at

AIT

Abstract

After 17 years of transition from a centrally planned economy to a market oriented

economy, Vietnamese have enjoyed a huge development and improvement in

socio-economics However, the increasingly, widening gap between people in rural and urban

areas, unequal opportunities to participate in social development between men and women

and between majority women and ethnic women are the challenges facing Vietnam

At the same time, researchers, developmental organizations, policies makers and

governments worldwide, are paying increasing attention to improving the lives of poor,

rural people, especially for women through education They hope that education when

provided, to disempowered rural and ethnic women can improve their situation and

opportunities

This study aims to developing guidelines for a post-literacy curriculum for Khmer women,

using a poor, Khmer commune in Tra Vinh province, Vietnam as the study area The

specific objectives are to assess the current status of Khmer women in terms of education,

explain factors influencing their low level of education and to assess the needs of those

Khmer women and develop guidelines for a post –literacy curriculum to empower Khmer

women Qualitative research methods are applied to reach the most precise interpretation

of the study

The research not only lead to one or two major findings but also to a series of small but

significant findings, which the researcher hopes will help with the understanding of rural

women status in general, of Khmer women’s status in Tra Vinh province specifically and

might perhaps contribute to improved interventions by policies-makers and practitioners

At the end of the research, a set of guidelines for a post-literacy curriculum is suggested

This is followed by recommendations for further research

List of Case studies viii

3.1.3.1 Period After Liberation 30 April 1975 16

3.2.1.1 Formal and Non-Formal Education 21

3.2.1.2 Functional and Post-literacy 23

3.2.3 Women’s Participation in Non-formal Education has The

Same Effect as Formal Schooling on Demographic Change

3.2.3.1 Schooling that leads to Demographic Transition

3.2.3.2 Schooling that leads to Autonomy and

Empowerment 26 3.2.3.3 Non-formal Education leads to Autonomy and

Empowerment 27 3.2.3.4 Constraints of Women’s accessing to Education 28

3.2.4.1 Overview of Literacy in Vietnam 29 3.2.4.2 Eradication Illiteracy in Vietnam and Education

3.2.4.3 Education of Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam 30 3.3 Country Experiences in Literacy Education for Indigenous People 31

4.1.4 Department of Training and Education 35

4.2.3 Infrastructure of Chau Thanh District 37

4.3.3 Infrastructure, Education and Health 38

5.1 Reasons Leading to Current Low Level of Education of Khmer

Women 44 5.1.1 Historical Context: Government Policies and Programs 44

5.2 Results of Khmer women low education 48

5.2.2 Fear of going out leads to dependence and being outsider

6.2.1 Summary of the Current Literature Program 54 6.2.2 Drawbacks of Current Literature Program 56

6.3 Guidelines for a New Curriculum for Khmer Women 56

7.1.3 The needs for a post-literacy curriculum 63 7.1.4 Guidelines for a post- literacy curriculum 63

7.2.1 Research into Comparison Gender Relations among Khmer

7.2.2 Research into Content and Methods used in other Cases of

Post literacy Curriculum for Ethnic Women 64 7.2.3 Further Development of a Post literacy Curriculum for

7.2.4 Research into How to Implement and Manage Curriculum

7.2.5 Research into formative and summative evaluation of any

curriculum arising from these guidelines 65

List of Figures

5 Comparison of education level of group of 18 – 60 age in three villages of

6 Characteristics of illiteracy level in different villages by age 43

7 Low Educational Attainment is both a Result and a Cause of Khmer

List of Case studies

List of Tables

2 Overview of Indigenous People in South East Asia 14

4 Ideal-type Model of Formal and Non-Formal Education 22

5 Literacy Rate of Persons aged 5 and over of selected Ethnic Groups by

6 Current Education Situation by Sex in Tri Phong Village 39

7 Educational Level of Persons aged less than 18 by Sex in Tri Phong

Village 39

8 Educational Level of Persons aged 18-60 by Sex in Tri Phong Village 39

9 Educational Level of Persons aged over 60 by Sex in Tri Phong Village 39

10 Current Education Situation by Sex in Kinh Xang Village 40

11 Educational Level of Persons aged less than 18 by Sex in Kinh Xang

Village 40

12 Educational Level of Persons aged 18-60 by Sex in Kinh Xang Village 40

13 Educational Level of Persons aged over 60 by Sex in Kinh Xang Village 40

14 Current Education Situation by Sex in Qui Nong B Village 41

15 Educational Level of Persons aged less than 18 by Sex in Qui Nong B

Village 41

16 Educational Level of Persons aged 18-60 by Sex in Qui Nong B Village 41

17 Educational Level of Persons aged over 60 by Sex in Qui Nong B Village 41

20 Developing Guidelines for a Post-literacy Curriculum 61

List of Abbreviations

ACCU The Asia/Pacific Cultural Center for UNESCO

APPEAL Asia Pacific Program of Education for All

ATLP APPEAL Training Materials for Literacy Personnel

CED Continuing Education for Development

DKBA Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army

DKBO Democratic Kayin Buddhist Organization

EFA Education For All

EOL Eradication of Illiteracy

KNU Karen National Union

MoEYS Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth

MRDP Mountain Rural Development Program

NFED Non-formal Education Department

NGO(s) Non-Government Organization(s)

OHCHR Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

PROAP Principal Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific

PSE Pre-school Education

ULSE Universal (ization) of Lower Secondary Education

UNDP United Nations Development Program

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

UNICEF United Nations International Children Emergency’s Fund

UPE Universal (ization) Primary Education

USAID The United States Agency for International Development

USCR United States Committee for Refugees

WDEFA World Declaration on Education For All

WEF World Education Forum

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 Background

In recent years, there has been emerging, a global interest in the expansion of female

education In addition, education is being recognized as a human right amongst

international and developmental organizations, policy makers, and governments This is

the main reason the development of women’s education has achieved a greater status in our

community This development emphasizes education, promotes women’s rights and often

brings long-term benefits that are sustainable

Over the last few years, there have been a number of decisions taken to promote the

equality of women in society In 1977, the General Assembly of the United Nations

adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, a part of the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in 1980, this was strengthened with the

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women Between

1975 and 1985, the United Nations adopted “An Action Plan for the Decade for Women”

(Ballara, 1991)

Vietnam, which has experienced 17 years of transition from a centrally planned economy

to a market-oriented economy, has considered education as basic criteria to nurture and

develop human potential in the country (Hac, 1998) Women have had more opportunities

to study, to take part in social development and their status has increased However, for

rural women, especially women of ethnic minorities, such opportunities have come to them

in very small increments They have been marginalized and excluded from social

development Programs and projects have been set up only to support women’s parity in

employment and concerns in other areas of development have been ignored More

education is required and more support is required to empower those marginalized and

education is the best way to bridge that gap (Thi, 1997)

Non-formal education has been found suitable for those in Vietnam who have specific

learner needs According to Fordham (1993), non-formal education is the key to minority

education systems where the needs are specified by the students, and, curriculum planning

is a part of the learning process by the students themselves This satisfies both learners and

education planners who call this system, Bottom- Up

Therefore, by paying attention to non-formal education for ethnic rural women, all ethnic

minorities will have access to learning and by improving their own education; they will

improve the quality of national development for all the people

1.2 Problem Statement

During the transition period in Vietnam, which began in the 1980s, a large number of rural

households have become independent economic units due to land allocation policies Rural

women, particularly ethnic women, have encountered significant barriers in fulfilling their

combined reproduction and production roles The effects of agrarian change, social and

economic upheaval, low level of education as well as limited knowledge of science,

technology and management, leads women, particularly rural and ethnic women, to

become more confused with their dual roles in society In Vietnam, the woman has always

held the strings of daily life in the household and the idea of more and better education for

them has only slowly become a reality There are still major areas of concern that need to

be addressed

Taking the view of putting females into the central position in every socio-economic

development strategy, the Vietnam Government has had to identify factors which influence

women’s entry to education and have training programs with suitable curriculum and

forms of training in place to help them shape new attitude, behavior and skills to meet the

new challenge This is also the most humanitarian way to liberate and improve women’s

status

Being conscious of this problem, the Vietnam Government would like to improve ethnic

education standards At the recent Ninth National Party, “the issue of ethnicity in Vietnam”

and “National unity is of great importance to Vietnam's revolutionary cause,” have again

been affirmed The Congress also laid emphasis on the successful implementation of the

Party's policy on ethnic groups on the basis of equality, unity, mutual assistance, and

development (Nhandan, 2001)

At that conference, the Party leader called for more efforts to build a socio-economic

infrastructure, develop a commodity economy, improve education conditions, take care of

both material and spiritual lives, reduce poverty, and preserve cultural identities and

traditions of all Vietnamese ethnic groups But there has been little research on how these

goals might be best achieved, especially in the specific context of women

Therefore, this study will examine the problem of ethnic women’s education in Tra Vinh

province and identify the obstacles to upgrading their educational opportunities

1.3 Rationale of the Study

The United Nations has initiated a world movement to achieve the goal of “Education For

All”(WDEFA, 1990) The acquisition of knowledge is one of the pre-requisites for human

development Literacy and post-literacy activities, specifically for women, is a single

educational process that provides for women’s participation in sustainable development

under equal conditions and with equal benefits and responsibilities It must be available to

all women in order to enhance their individual economic, political, social and cultural

development 1990 was proclaimed as International Literacy Year and UNESCO proposed

a “Plan of Action for the Eradication of Illiteracy by the Year 2000” At the World

Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, in April 2000, the objective of Universal Primary

Education (UPE) implied that the elimination of all forms of disparity, including the

gender gap, are the most visible and inequitable signs of access to education in many

developing countries

Literacy for women is a common term in Vietnam Since the renovation period started in

the 1980s, “Education For All” (WDEFA, 1990) has been carried out simultaneously, all

over Vietnam However, programs and projects mostly focus on basic education or health

education or training for household economic management Basic education for women,

which is called a non-formal system, has not been recognized enough It receives decent

attention and investment from the government but, so far, it is not a complete answer for

education to enhance rural women’s status and development

Since the reforms of the 1980s, the forms of education for rural women in Vietnam have

been very diverse Apart from government efforts, non-government organizations (NGOs)

and multilateral organizations have contributed a great deal to raise the status of rural and

ethnic women There have been studies carried out in many parts of the developing world

to identify the constraints holding back the education of women and the need for rural

women to improve their status To date, these projects and studies have focused mainly on

education as a whole (i.e reading, writing and mathematics, or training programs for

income generation) rather than examining the over-all needs of rural women and supplying

systems that empower women to help themselves

The time has come to look at education issues for women, not only in terms of economic

development but also in the entire education system, increasing women’s status in general

and to women’s empowerment in particular In rural areas with larger ethnic populations,

this is most urgent

This research is a contribution to try to address the needs of ethnic women and improve the

status for all women in Vietnam The goal of the research is to gather a detailed picture of

education of Khmer women in the study area to explore the causes and effects of low

education of ethnic women and develop guidelines for a post-literacy curriculum to

promote women’s empowerment in this community

1.4 Objectives

The overall objective of the study is contributing to sustainable development for Khmer

community through a set of guidelines for a post-literacy curriculum for Khmer women

Specific objectives are as follow:

a) To assess current status of Khmer women with regard to education

b) To explain factors contributing to their low level of education and low social status

c) To assess Khmer women’s perceived education needs

d) To review the current literacy curriculum and

e) To develop guidelines for a post-literacy curriculum to improve Khmer women’s

status in Hoa Loi commune, Chau Thanh District, Tra Vinh province, Vietnam

1.5 Scope of the Study

The researcher was able to gather a detailed picture of the education situation of Khmer

women in the study area Three villages in Hoa Loi commune, with its own unique

characteristics, describe the ethnic situation with regard to education in the South of

Vietnam, as it is quite different from that in the North Thus, the results obtained from this

study must be used with care as they apply specifically to this situation

The scope of this study did not allow for a more in-depth examination of gender relations

and gender discrimination of Khmer people on the broader framework of Vietnam and

Cambodia The post-literacy curriculum was limited to a set of guidelines rather than a

complete curriculum

1.6 Organization of the Research

The research is divided into seven chapters After the introduction, Chapter 2 presents the

research design and methodology Following is the third chapter focusing on the

discussions of literature that is crucial for the study Profiles of the study, in Chapter 4,

which is a part of the finding of the fieldwork, will demonstrate the main features of the

areas studied Chapter 5 explains reason contributed to low level of education of Khmer

women The current literacy curriculum will then be examined and areas of concerns will

be discussed in the sixth chapter of this study Also in the sixth chapter, the needs

expressed by Khmer women are discussed and a set of guidelines is developed as the

outcome of the research Finally, chapter seven will summarize what has been studied and

discussed throughout the research

Chapter 2 Research Design And Methodology

2.1 Conceptual Framework

Much research in Vietnam and the entire world have shown that educational level of

indigenous people has been an obstacle to the community development and to human

development Khmer women’s oppressed status does not escape from this cycle; together

with low levels of education, it is also affected by ethnic discrimination, gender

discrimination, and poverty These factors have a close relationship with one another The

diagram below (Figure 1) is designed to demonstrate it Then, education is seen as an

antidote to the problem, a way out of the cycle, based on a depth understanding of the

women and the context

Figure 1: The diagram of Conceptual Framework 2.2 Type of Research

This is a study to develop a program It attempts to explain reasons contributing to the low

level of education in the study area, and then after reviewing the current literacy

Education to transform oppressed position

curriculum, it develops guidelines for a post-literacy curriculum for Khmer women in Tra

Vinh province, Vietnam

Type of research design: qualitative, interviews, observation, case study and documents

analysis combination

2.3 Selection of the Study Area

2.3.1 Study Area

Reasons for selecting Tra Vinh Province and Chau Thanh District as study area:

- Chau Thanh District is located on the outskirts of Tra Vinh Town in the northeast

of the province Even though Chau Thanh is one of the wealthiest districts of the

province, pockets of poverty and a low literacy rate still exist, especially among the

Khmer, who makes up 35 percent of the district population

- It is one of the districts, which a UNDP pilot project focused its effort to support

poor households in income generation by providing training courses in household

economic management and in household management to women It is expected that

the findings of this research can have some application, supporting the work for

provincial authorities to improve women’s status in that area

- The province is familiar to the researcher and this familiarity allows the researcher

to investigate further than could be envisaged under the current time and budget

constraints

Reasons for selecting Hoa Loi commune

- Located 5km from Tra Vinh town, Hoa Loi commune is the poorest in the district

with high number of landless people, 66.19 percent of the population is ethnic

Khmer (Hoa Loi commune statistic, 2001)

- UNDP has included this commune within its pilot program in the district

2.3.2 Target Groups

Khmer women in Hoa Loi commune, Tri Phong, Kinh Xang and Qui Nong B villages are

the target group of the study (Figure 2 and 3)

Figure 2: Study Area

Figure 3: Map of Hoa Loi Commune 2.4 Data Collection

2.4.1 Secondary Data

General information about Khmer women’s education in Tra Vinh was collected This

secondary data was researched in general libraries in Ho Chi Minh City Related

information was also found at Development Projects in TraVinh, Ethnic Minority Bureau

of TraVinh province, TraVinh libraries, Tra Vinh Statistic Office, Tra Vinh Department of

Education and Training and Institute of Social Sciences in Ho Chi Minh City

2.4.2 Primary Data

2.4.2.1 Key Informants Interviews

In order to know the community, the need for educational programs, semi-structured

interviews were conducted with local authorities, and also with educational officers and

previous trainers in the study area

Meeting and having semi-structured interviews with the community authorities concerned

helped the researcher learn in detail, the community characteristics, their viewpoint about

and social constraints and to promote education for Khmer women

Meeting and having semi-structured interviews with educational officers, organizations

providing training courses and teachers in the study area and from the provincial

organizations contributed useful information for the researcher to consider the real and

potential functional knowledge and the need for the curriculum content

2.4.2.2 Focus Group Discussions:

The meeting and discussions with 72 Khmer women, who joined in seven focused

discussion groups, with 7-15 women in each group, also contributed to the information

source of the research The information obtained from these group meetings will be used to

find solutions for the current low education situation and also their daily and potential

needs for an educational program

2.4.2.3 In-depth Interviews

From the focus group discussion, I was able to identify individual Khmer women who

want to talk, who are articulate, and who are representative of the majority and also those

who are exceptional cases in the community These provided case studies for the research

2.4.2.4 Observation

Observation was an important method throughout the research The researcher directly

visited and observed living conditions, and education environment in the study area

Observation from the daily life of Khmer women in the area was crucial to enhance the

understanding of the researcher to develop guidelines for an appropriate educational

curriculum

Methods of data collection are summarized in Table 1

Table 1: Data Collection

(20) Key Informant interview To know the community Community authorities (3)

Key Informant interview Consider real and potential

functional knowledge and needs for curriculum content

Educational officers, teachers, previous trainers

in this area (2) Focus group discussion - Identify the problems

- Solution for current low level

of education -Daily and potential needs for curriculum

Khmer women group (72)

Observation - Identify the problems

- Understanding of researcher to develop guideline for

2.5 Data Analysis

2.5.1 Daily Update

Information collected daily was updated after completing the interview sessions The

information was collected from structured questionnaires, unstructured interviews, focus

group interviews and in-depth interviews

2.5.2 Data Analysis

The data analysis will proceed in the following way: see Figure 4

Figure 4: The Flow Chart of Data Analysis

The data collected from in-depth interviews, focus group interviews, unstructured

interviews and observation, as well as Khmer women needs and preferences for the literacy

curriculum, will be used as qualitative information to analyse further factors influencing

Analyze/

Synthesize

Daily Up-date

Primary data

Books, Articles, Documents, Current literacy curriculum

Reveal the Themes, Constructs and Implications for Education

In-depth

interview

Key Informantinterview Focus group discussion

Observation

Secondary data

Data collection

Break down

Coding

Sorting into theme

their low level of education and as valuable sources to recommend a suitable literacy

program for disempowered women

Chapter 3 Literature Review

This chapter focuses on discussions of literature that are crucial to the study It is divided

into three parts The first part concentrates on the indigenous people The definition of

indigenous people and gender discrimination in some places in the world and Vietnamese

policies on indigenous people, are dealt with in it The second part is about education that

empowers women This part refers to definitions of some terminology used throughout the

study “Formal education”, “non-formal education”, “functional literacy”, “post-literacy”,

and “empowerment”; reveal and inform the important role of education to women It also

provides argument that women’s participation in non-formal education has the same effect

as formal schooling and influences women’s empowerment and it allows for demographic

changes The next part of the chapter looks at some country experiences in promoting

post-literacy and continuing education It is followed by a synopsis on the education and

literacy situation in Vietnam Vietnamese national policies, which relate to literacy and

non-formal education, are also presented here

3.1 Indigenous People

3.1.1 Definition

From the Indigenous Peoples Forum in August 1988 (Chiang Mai, Thailand) and the

Conference on Indigenous Peoples in October 1995 (Chiang Mai, Thailand),

The definition was spelled out: they have a common heritage, language and culture, are

generally indigenous to the land (but not necessarily), or at least inhabit and identify with

some territory, are only partly integrated into the dominant state, are usually discriminated

against or put at a distinct disadvantage with respect to the national identity of the majority

population and who share a common desire to affirm their identity and self-determination

Because in their words “ the indigenous people find themselves to be the most depressed

sector of the nation-state that they have now been incorporated into” (Kampe, 1997a)

3.1.2 Ethnic Discrimination

Ethnic discrimination is not a newly emerging issue but an issue that used to be has been

and will be, a heated topic and current event at any international conference as well as any

national meeting in Vietnam The UN has adopted a large number of other international

instruments designed to protect human rights in specific circumstances or to protect the

rights of people particularly vulnerable or the abuse of those rights One of the first of

these is the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial

Discrimination (OHCHR, 1965), which entered into force on 4th January 1969 after 27

Nation States had ratified or acceded to it.

The Convention provides a definition of racial discrimination, and seeks to rid the world of

the practice particularly in employment and education It says, “It will not allow any

distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, color, descent, or national or

ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition,

enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in

the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life"

(Part I, Article I of the Convention)

Presently more than three-quarters of the membership of the United Nations have ratified

this Convention

However, some places in the world, people have violated the rules, broken regulations that

have been acknowledged by those people

Overview of Indigenous People in South East Asia

The countries in Southeast Asia have experienced rapid economic growth over thirty-five

years but indigenous people in this region have not much benefited from that Over thirty

years of development, the gap between the rich and poor has continuously widened and the

indigenous people have continued suffering from poverty, inadequate health care and lack

of access to suitable education It is assumed that it will still be difficult for them to gain

much benefit from national development because they are still perceived as “backward”, as

“primitive” and “to be marginalized from the development initiatives” (Mc Caskill, 1997)

and they have not been allowed to have any input of ideas into these programs, in the

development of these policies that have been designed to improve their lives (Table 2)

There seems to be an assumption by developers that there is scientific evidence that

“developees” are ignorant, especially when they come from a minority population This

assumption allows developers to treat indigenous people as childlike and unable to make

decisions regarding their future Thus, developees are not allowed any voice in the policy

made to improve their living conditions (Mc Caskill, 1997) This “We know best” policy

has been tragic for many people

The lowland Thai farmer has increasingly penetrated into upland areas, which,

traditionally, have been inhabited by indigenous people Their illiteracy has made the

indigenous people vulnerable in terms of status to own land and hold citizenship and has

led to them being disempowered when negotiating with lowlanders and Thai government

officers (Mc Caskill, 1997)

Development policies that stress modernization frequently disregard environmental

concerns Environmental consciousness is low and western technology is frequently

adopted with little regard to its environmental impact Modernization and Westernization

have come unexpectedly to indigenous people all over the world and they are not well

prepared to face the future difficulties of surviving in such a world This puts much

pressure on their lives and their culture Mc Caskill (1997) feared that “in the rush to

modernize and join the global economy, the ‘Asian Way’ may become eroded”

Because they are considered as “backward” and “primitive” or even “insect”, indigenous

people are often blamed for unsavory ecological practices such as burning the forest and

causing severe land erosion and flooding in the lowlands as a result of their “slash and

burn” agricultural practices It seems that no one wants to accept or understand that the

rotational shifting cultivation method traditionally utilized by tribes such as the Karen,

have been proven to be an environmentally sound, natural resource conservation method

(Mc Caskill, 1997) Furthermore, it is estimated that 70% of the causes of deforestation in

Thailand between 1985 and 1988 were logging, compared to only 5% by the agricultural

practices of the tribal people (Leo Alting von Geusau, 1995 adopted by Mc Caskill, 1997)

Table 2: Overview of Indigenous People in South East Asia

During 40 years, policy has been more

at the defeat of Ind

people autonomy than

at their development Cambodia

Not differ greatly from majority Khmer

population Political, socio-economic status

of both groups is quite poor due to continuous fighting and conflicts over the past 30 years

No concrete development policy for lengthy period;

only recently formulate one

Lower than majority Lao population because national poverty

Top down approach, favoring physical over human development Thailand

at mid-level <1/3 has Thai citizenship

Far below the majority Thai population

Top-down, have no input into the formulation of policy until recently (but still very little)

on policy making

Significantly lower

than majority Kinh

due to their remote location and government

tendency to favor

Kinh (minor-ities

right and leges are guaranteed by 1992

imp-limit input of Ind

people into the des-ign

of program, policy

Note: Ind.: Indigenous; Pop.: population

Source: Kampe,1997)

Also, with the same perceived stereotypical thinking of the indigenous people, in Thailand,

Lao and Vietnam, no official persecution of indigenous people who live out their culture is

exercised, providing that the groups’ activities remain within the defined legal limits set

down by the state Informally, however, in many cases, the practice of many aspects of

traditional culture is discouraged For example, in Vietnam, freedom of religion is

guaranteed in the Constitution but indigenous people’s spiritual practices are classified as

“superstition” and therefore, are discouraged (Mc Caskill, 1997)

It can be concluded from the discussion that indigenous people are caught in the web of

assimilationist policies with no control over developmental practices and little interaction

with the dominant society (Mc Caskill, 1997) They need more insightful understanding to

assist them over their current disempowered positions

The problem is particularly acute in Burma and Cambodia, hostility toward ethnic

Vietnamese in Cambodia Nationalism, which is elements of “ethnic nationalism”, is

present in all of these countries continued during the year of 1996 According to Amnesty

International (1998) “In Cambodia, the ethnic Vietnamese are one of the most vulnerable

groups in the country There is widespread discrimination against them which is reflected

in government policies, and in recent years they have been attacked, forcibly exiled, and

denied equal protection under the law” In May Cambodian gunmen killed 14 ethnic

Vietnamese living in a floating village on Tonle Sap Lake On March 9, the Cambodian

authorities deported three Vietnamese who they claimed belonged to Vietnam Tudo

(Librated Vietnam), a group that opposes the Vietnamese government (USCR, 1997)

The Karen ethnic minority inhabits the Kayin State in the east of the country, and there are

also large numbers in the Ayeyarwady Delta area The Karen people are mostly Buddhist

or animist although much of their leadership is Christians The Karen National Union has

engaged in armed insurgency since 1949 but in recent years has lost almost all of the

territory it once controlled In December 1994 a Buddhist group of Karens broke away

from the KNU and formed the Democratic Buddhist Organization (DKBO, the armed wing

is known as the DKBA), allied itself with the government, and began to attack refugee

camps in Thailand

During a series of major offensives against the KNU in 1992, 1995 and 1997, the Burmese

army has taken thousands of ethnic Karens as porters, often mistreating them, and has also

displaced hundreds of villages Beginning in 1984, significant numbers of Karen civilians

fled to Thailand from widespread human rights violations, and were allowed to remain by

the Royal Thai Government There are now over 100,000 Karen civilians living in camps

along the Thai-Myanmar border, as the Burmese Army controls the vast majority of the

Kayin State and continues to forcibly relocate tens of thousands of people (Amnesty

International, 1998)

Culture is also an issue needs to be talked about Thailand is officially divided into central

Thailand, northern Thailand, northeastern Thailand, and southern Thailand Among the

peoples of these four regions there is great linguistic and cultural diversity, but the official

rhetoric has been that they are all “Thai” - where “Thai” is an ethnically and culturally

loaded term Indeed, from the turn of the century the Thai government has firmly

discouraged use of the ethnic labels “Lao”, “Khmer”, “Malay”, for Thailand’s peoples in

favor of the one category “Thai” Kandrum music, derived from the ethnic Khmer on

Thailand’s border with Cambodia, has undergone a similar transformation, and now there

has even been a revival of popular music sung in the dialect of the South (Jory, 2000)

The ethnic Lao of northeastern Thailand have found cultural empowerment through other

means as well Lao/Isan food is very popular all over the country In the traffic jams of

Bangkok, trucks sport bumper stickers saying, "I'm glad that the car driver behind me is

also “Lao” – “Lao” referring to the ethnic Lao of northeastern Thailand The mere fact that

the ethnic label “Lao” is being increasingly used as a label of self-identification is

significant; in the not-so-distant past, when social discrimination against northeasterners

was widespread, “Lao” was virtually a pejorative term (Jory, 2000)

3.1.3 Indigenous People in Vietnam

Six to seven million of Vietnam's 73 million population comprise an estimated 54 ethnic

groups divided into dozens of subgroups some with a mere hundred or so members, giving

Vietnam the richest and most complex ethnic make-up in the whole of southeast Asia

Ethnic minority groups with members numbering upwards of 500,000 include the Tay

(Tho), Tai (Thai), Hmong (Meo or Miao), Muong (Mol) and Nung Other large tribes (over

250,000) include the Jarai (Gia Rai) and Ede (Rhade), while groups like the Bahnar

(Ba-na), and Sedang (Xo-dang) have more than 100,000 members (Embassy of Vietnam in

USA, 2001)

Vietnam's ethnic minorities, who live mostly in remote rural areas, typically have lower

living standards than the ethnic majority This is because of differences in socioeconomic

characteristics (such as education levels and land) There is a self-reinforcing culture of

poverty in the minority groups, reflecting patterns of past discrimination during the French

domination, American war and the time after reunification before Đổi Mới (Renovation

period) Under French domination, with “chính sách ngu dân” (obscurantism), dominators

did not care if its dominatees were literate or not They wanted their Anamist (what they

called Kinh ethnic) and barbarians (what they called other ethnic minorities) to be stupid,

to be illiterate so that they could be ruled easily Thus, only could the rich or city people go

to school No one showed any attention to people living in upland or mountainous people

The period of the American war in South Vietnam was the period when the governor was

just interested in expanding the territory Minority people were considered a kind of

available source for fighting force For that reason, the rate of ethnic minority people

enrolled at schools during such time was too low

Van de Walle and Gunewardena (2001) find that differences in levels of living are due in

part to the fact that the minorities live in less productive areas characterized by difficult

terrain, poor infrastructure, less access to off-farm work and the market economy, and

inferior access to education In less access to education it was explained that could not be

the result of current discrimination; but more deeply rooted historical and cultural

processes- reflecting a history of past discrimination

3.1.3.1 Period After Liberation 30 April 1975

After the Liberation on 30 April 1975, the new government was busy with stabilizing

national economic, politic and security; and education for everybody and for ethnic people

was ignored for a quite long time, over ten years In addition, some reaction groups took

advantage of asking autonomy for ethnic people, opposed the new regime and contributed

to the hesitation or the willingness of governor when they thought of ways to help ethnic

people

The policy, which mostly influenced minority groups in Vietnam in this period, was the

program for resettlement of minorities The program was considered as an attempt by

government to reduce the practice of slash and burn agriculture that was considered

unsustainable and was claimed to be a major cause of hilltop deforestation, although it has

been used by ethnic minorities for centuries (Wandel, 1997)

3.1.3.2 Time of Transition-1989-1994

Political and Institutional Change

With a strong commitment to stability, the government has recognized the importance of

further integrating ethnic minorities to the government and legislature This was a

contributing factor in stressing the rights of ethnic minorities in the 1992 constitution and

follow-up through institutional changes

In the new 1992 Constitution, item 5, it is said that all races have their right to use their

languages, their writing system, to preserve their own identity and to promote customs,

habits, tradition, and good primitive culture With this contradictory statement, is there

anyone who can think the right mentioned here is real right when “have their right to use

their languages, their writing system, to preserve their own identity and to promote

customs, habits, tradition” and “good primitive culture” go together? Then, a question

of what kind of identity, what kind of customs, habit, and tradition is good or bad will be

raised? Who can decide what is good or bad to preserve? Government or indigenous

people themselves?

In the report at Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination - 59th session, 30

July - 17 August 2001, Mr Nguyen Quy Binh, Ambassador and Permanent Representative

of Viet Nam to the United Nations Office at Geneva reaffirms that Viet Nam is resolutely

determined to refute all forms of racial discrimination including ethnic discrimination,

apartheid and xenophobia The laws guarantee and respect the equality of the different

groups living within the Vietnamese territory in all fields, from political to economic,

cultural and social, and strictly prohibit any practices of racial and ethnic discrimination

and division The State also creates conditions for ethnic people to develop themselves and

improve their material and spiritual life

Doi moi brought a shift in policy in the early 1990s, marked by the establishment of a

central office responsible for the ethnic minorities Minority languages are now officially

recognized and can be taught in schools; scholarships enable minority people to attend

institutes of higher education For example, Thach Thi Dan, a teacher in TraVinh province

is the first master degree holder among the Khmer teachers’ community in Vietnam with

the mark of 94/100 She has become the first Khmer girl to win this title in the southern

province of Tra Vinh (Nhandan, 2001) It is easily recognized that the changes and rapid

transition in Vietnam were not led or driven by ethnic minorities However, there is now

greater representation of minorities at all levels of government For example, at the

commune and district level, there is often a minority leader or deputy leader In Vietnam,

the leader of the party is a person coming from ethnic Tay

The government’s ambitious investment plan supported by international assistance will

bring development to the “doorstep” of ethnic minority groups in the years to come

Significant and steady progress has been made in the social and cultural development of

ethnic and mountainous people over the last decade Impressive and steady improvements

have also been recorded in the overall cultural, material and spiritual life of the people

(Wandel, 1997) Wandel’s observation (1997) was perfectly correct when saying that

“bring development to the “doorstep” of ethnic minority groups” It proves that

development programs for indigenous people in Vietnam is top-down and indigenous

people are considered passive receivers of development, not an active member

Cash crops such as timber and fruit are being introduced as an alternative to illegal

hunting, logging and opium cultivation Other income-generating schemes are also being

promoted and health-care programs upgraded All this has been accompanied by moves to

preserve Vietnam's cultural diversity, driven in part by the realization that ethnic

differences have greater appeal to tourists Festivals, holidays of ethnic minorities have

been recognized and allowed to organize

When talking about why there has been widespread perception that such policies have been

largely unsuccessful in raising the levels of living of the minority groups, Jamieson (1996)

(cited in Van de Walle and Gunewardena, 2001) found that there has been frequent

resistance to participating in development program, that Kinh bureaucrats have tended to

argue that the minorities are the ignorance, superstition or irrationality Another example is

that district health official who was confused by why ethnic minorities visit shamans

instead of commune health care centres where they benefit from fee exemptions and free

medicines assumed minorities ill-health to superstition and backwardness (MRDP, 1999

cited in Van de Walle and Gunewardena, 2001)

Then, when policies are additionally infused with prejudice and majority group

ethnocentrism they further result in a fraying of indigenous customs and identity, and can

lead to greater marginalization Furthermore, as many of the policies are targeted to ‘ethnic

minority areas,’ not minority households, benefits may well be captured by Kinh

households living in these same areas Although members of some minority groups do not

know the national language, government services and outreach are rarely in minority

languages The education system follows a nationally set curriculum that, it has been

argued, is largely irrelevant to local realities and needs (Van de Walle and Gunewardena,

2001)

Thus, in many areas, the minorities' traditional lifestyles are fast being eroded when ethnic

people try to assimilate the life of majority Kinh to be accepted The social and economic

life of the ethnic people still faces many difficulties, which need urgent solutions

Vietnamese Government Policy on Indigenous peoples

Settlement issues

The government’s policy of resettlement of minority groups still continue and to be

welcomed by some ethnic minority groups

A Master plan for Northern highland where most ethnic minorities are residing is presented

in table 3

In Decision 656 QD/TTg issued on 13 September 1996 by Prime Minister about

developing socio-economic in Central Highlands in the period 1996 - 2000 and 2010

Table 3: Master Plan for Northern Highland Areas

(Objectives till year 2000)

Achieved fixed settlements and farming, land

and forest allocation and protection

Ministry of Forestry Solve issues of food shortages, development of

animal husbandry and fruit tree cultivation

Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries Achieve easy exchange of goods and promote

Substitute poppy with other cash crops and

eliminate opium addiction

Committee for Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Affairs

Supply adequate water for both agriculture and

people’s daily consumption

Ministry of Water Resources Develop transport, communications, and postal

Information exchange and culture Ministry of Culture, Information and Sports

Continue with the National Program of Health,

Education and Family planning Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education and Training

(Nhandan, 1992)

In Agriculture and Forestry:

- Forestry:

Preserve and develop forestry in Central Highlands to achieve diversification in the

forest, exploit and use effectively the advantages in forest, protect the environment,

preserve the sources of water, regulate the stream flows, restrain natural calamity,

resist erosion, stop firing the forests, preserve the current 3 millions hectares of

forest and replant new trees

- Industrial crops:

Create conditions to plant coffee trees, rubber, silk cotton trees, sugar cane trees,

and fruit trees and to raise silkworms

- In producing food:

Fast increase the area of cultivating rice is an essential do in the provision national

strategy, which helps to stabilize ethnic minorities in Central highlands area

- In vegetable, fruits and flowers:

Make use of the advantages of highland climate to produce different kinds of

vegetable to supply for Da Lat, Ho Chi Minh City and other cities in the South and

for export

- Animal breeding:

To the year 2010, increase the number of cows for food and milk cows with high

quality Strive to form a new industrial activity in Central Highlands from cows…

(Decision 656QD/TTg issued on 13 September 1996 by Prime Minister)

In education, health care and social issues

- Strive for reducing illiteracy among ethnic minorities All school-age children go to

school Expand and increase schools for ethnic minorities Develop different style

of vocational training for young ethnic minorities Form and develop teaching

curriculum in regular schools in both ethnic language and Kinh language

- Vary the form of medical service In the year 2000, all the communes in the area

have medical stations to check and cure the regular illness of people

- Promote the traditional culture of ethnic people, and eradicate superstitious

behaviors and customs

- Popularize other styles of cultural art for ethnic people to enjoy

- Strive for developing mass communications to everywhere in Northern Highland

Areas

Again with this part, awareness among policies makers of indigenous people is somewhat

conflicting Conflicting between “free to promote own identity, custom, tradition, habits”

(Page 17) and “ eradicate superstitious behavior and customs”

- Concentrate on building roads in poor communes, electricity connected to central

commune, classrooms health care stations, telephone boxes, local and

inter-commune markets, clean water to everyone

- Hunger elimination and poverty reduction must be on the priority of authority

agendas There will be no more hungry households and poor households must be

reduced

In human resources development

- Upgrade physical environment in training and attract human resources, good

specialists from other places to work in Northern Highland Areas

- Strengthen current education system, particularly to ethnic people; bring agriculture

and forestry to ethnic boarding schools

- Encourage and create places for children of ethnic people Give them the

opportunity to study at vocational schools, colleges and universities

- Build enough schools and provide special policies to teachers working in Northern

Highland Areas…

Law of universalized primary education, item 4 has stated: Every ethnic group has rights to

implement primary education by their own language And in item 6: Government

guarantees minimum condition to implement primary education in ethnic regions

In Decision 1252/GD-DT issued on 14 April 1997 by Minister of Training and Education

about regulations of attending and approving graduating examination in secondary, regular

high schools and specialized high schools, item 2 has stated: Students who are approved to

graduate are those who don’t have any grade less than 2 and

a) Obtain GPA 5/10 for each exam they take (to Kinh students): in Vietnam, grade

given to students is swung from 1 to 10 in which 0-4.9 is ranked unfair; 5-6.4 is

ranked fair; 6.5- 7.9 is good; 8-8.9 is very good and 9 – 10 is excellent

b) Obtain GPA 4.5/10 for each exam they take (to students who have mother or

father coming from ethnic groups, and at the time they must be residing and

studying in remote areas) (according to the stipulation of Central Committee of

Ethnic minorities)

In item 2, decision 70/1998/QD-TTg issued on 31 March 1998 by Prime Minister, it is said

that students, who have mother or father coming from ethnic groups, and at the time they

must be residing and studying in remote areas, are exempted from school fee

In Decision 1121/1997/QD-TTg issued on 23 December 1997 by Prime Minister, all ethnic

students and pupils who are studying at state schools are supported an monthly amount of

100,000 VND to 120,000VND to college students and to primary and high school students,

respectively

And in Decision 194/2001/QD-TTg issued on 21 December 2001 by Prime Minister, it is

said to increase the subsided monthly amount from 100,000 - 120,000VND to 140,000 -

160,000 VND to college students and to primary and high school students respectively

Policies, programs for minorities of Vietnamese government in recent years have proved

their willingness to help minorities to overcome their oppressed situation, to improve their

living standard However, it is questionable whether the policy will, even in medium term,

bring about positive changes in economy, health and education for them if they are still

considered primitive, backward and the policies designed, made for them but no input from

them, not coming from insight understanding about their culture, their real needs Further,

there is no concrete policy or item that specify women in these policies and programs

3.2 Education for Empowering Women

3.2.1 Concepts and Definitions

3.2.1.1 Formal and Non-Formal Education

Non-formal education became a part of the education discourse in the late 1960s and early

1970s and is seen to be related to the concepts of recurrent and lifelong learning Tight

(1996), suggested that while the latter concept goes with the extension of education and

learning throughout life, non-formal education is about “acknowledging the importance of

education, learning and training which takes place outside recognized educational

institutions” Fordham (1993) suggested that four characteristics are associated with

non-formal education:

- Relevance to the needs of disadvantaged groups

- Concern with specific categories of person

- A focus on clearly defined purposes

- Flexibility in organization and methods

And the work of Combs with Prosser and Ahmed (1973) is a best-known statement:

- Formal education: the hierarchically structured, chronologically graded “education

system”, running from primary school through the university and including, in

addition to general academic studies, a variety of specialized programs and

institutions for full-time technical and professional training

- Informal education: the truly lifelong process whereby every individual acquires

attitudes, values, skills and knowledge from daily experience and the educative

influences and resources in his or her environment-from family and neighbors,

from work and play, from the market place, the library and the mass media

- Non-formal education: any organized educational activity outside the established

formal system, whether operating separately or as an important feature of some

broader activity, and is intended to serve identifiable learning clientele and learning

objectives

The distinction made is largely administrative Formal education is attached to schools and

training institutions and non-formal to community groups and other organizations and

informal, covers what is left In fact, informal and non-formal may well be overlapped and

confused

Skimkins (1977) analyzed non-formal education program in term of purposes, timing,

content, delivery system and control, and contrasted these with formal educational

programs The resulting ideal-types provide a useful framework, bringing out the extent to

which non-formal education initiatives and emphasizing flexibility, localness and

responsiveness within a curriculum form of education

Ideal-type model of formal and non-formal education is indicated in table 4

Table 4: Ideal-type Model of Formal and Non-Formal Education

- Academic

- Entry requirements determine clientele

- Individualized / output centered

- Teacher-centered and resource intensive

- Environment-based, community related

- Flexible

- Learner-centered and resource saving

(Source: Fordham, 1993 in Skimkins, 1977)

As mentioned above, non-formal education proves itself specific benefits in a certain

situation It’s flexible, learner-centred and the practical characteristics are the advantages

that programmers often use to design a specific curriculum for some training courses And

for this research, in aiming to develop guidelines for a curriculum for Khmer women, non-

formal education is the first priority to have a look at

3.2.1.2 Functional and Post-literacy

Literacy has never been a fixed, stable concept In the very distant past, literacy meant the

capacity to speak and sing, to use spoken language eloquently for public purposes As

recently as 100 years ago in United States, the ability to sign one’s own name on a bank

check was the socially accepted mark of literacy Only being able to mark an “X” made

one illiterate (Hendrix, 1998)

Up to now, there have been, a number of definitions of literacy:

Gray (1956) defined Functional literacy as (1) A level of reading and writing sufficient for

everyday life but not for completely autonomous activity; (2) The application of the skills

and knowledge of reading and writing to adult or near-adult responsibilities in the

workplace, adult literacy and function, pragmatic literacy, required literacy; and (3) The

knowledge and skills in reading and writing which enable a person to engage in all those

activities in which literacy is normally assumed in his culture or group

Then following the Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media survey conducted in

1994 in Philippines, simple literacy is defined “ability of a person to read and write with

understanding a simple message in any language or dialect The simple literacy status of an

individual can be determined based on the respondent’s answer to the question “Can (he,

she, they) read and write a simple message in any language or dialect?

And Functional literacy “a significant higher level of literacy which includes not only

reading and writing skills but also numeracy skills The skills must be sufficiently

advanced to enable the individual to participate fully and efficiently in activities commonly

occurring in his life situation that require a reasonable capacity of communicating by

written language

Finally, the Quantitative Definition of Literacy

A person is considered to be literate when she or he can read at a certain grade level

(e.g 6th grade) This grade level literacy can theoretically be measured by

standardized tests

A limitation of this definition is that it does not count for a person’s function in

different social and human contexts or availability of standardized and culturally

appropriate testing

Qualitative Definitions of Literacy

Functional Literacy

A person is considered literate when she or he has the ability to function within a

predetermined context In many cases, the context is not selected by the learner

Socioeconomic, race, gender, and other factors may dictate the context of instruction For

example, it may be determined that learners need to complete specific tasks, write resumes,

fill out job applications, or operate a certain piece of equipment A problem with this

definition is that it considers learners as objects to absorb predetermined information

Liberatory (or Humanistic) Literacy

Building on the work of Paulo Friere, (Friere, 1972) this definition names a person literate

when she or he has become politicized A politicized person is able to manipulate language

(speaking, reading, writing, etc.) to comprehend his or her self-identity in the context in

which he or she functions The literate person does not learn to function in a

pre-determined context, but rather how to use language to function in different contexts The

learners, together with the educator, decides the content of the curriculum function, or at

least have some input regarding what is taught and what is learned This approach allows

the learners to determine what they feel a comfortable level of literacy is and if they are at

that level or not (Hendrix, 1998)

Referring to the “conscientization” (critical awareness or breaking through false

consciousness) and “mobilization”(implying liberation) Freire’s transformative pedagogy

enables learners to become conscious of the social and economic relations constricting

their lives The learners can no longer be told what to think and do; rather they are capable

of making their own “critical interventions in reality” (Earth, 2001)

The term 'post literacy' has come to have different meanings in various educational

systems In some countries, the term is used loosely to include all forms of education that

follow after the achievement of basic literacy In some other countries, post literacy is

defined more narrowly to simply consolidate basic literacy skills to a level equivalent to

the completion of formal primary school In this definition, post literacy is considered as a

'bridge' between primary schooling or its equivalent and further study

In the course of this study, functional literacy is defined as a person’s ability to read, write

and understand simple posters and announcements as well as simple mathematic skills and

applying those skills to their daily life Post-literacy is defined to an ability to not only

possess functional literacy to further study themselves but ability to be assertive,

self-reliant, capable of making their own “critical interventions in reality” like in Freire,

mentioned above, but to discuss daily events and to participate in family as well as in

society decision making

3.2.1.3 Empowerment

According to Chamberlin (1999), key elements of empowerment were identified,

including:

Having decision-making power

Having access to information and resources

Having a range of options from which to make choices

Assertiveness

A feeling that the individual can make a difference

Learning to think critically; unlearning the conditioning; seeing things differently

Learning about and expressing anger

Not feeling alone; feeling part of a group

Understanding that people have rights

Effecting change in one's life and one's community

Learning skills that the individual defines as important

Changing others' perceptions of one's competency and capacity to act

Growth and change that is never ending and self-initiated

Increasing one's positive self-image and overcoming stigma

The current oppressed position of ethnic women in general and specifically of Khmer

women leads to the thinking of the kind of training curriculum that may help them And

Chamberlin’s elements of empowerment are part of a guide for curriculum researchers, the

designers when carrying on their work

3.2.2 Importance of Education to Women

Women’s education plays an important role in their responsibilities in society, whether as

producers or reproducers They are mainly responsible for the care and well being of their

families; they play an important role as educators for future generations; they fulfill

economic functions that are vital for the survival of the family Since the important role of

women is in the development process, increasing literacy to women will enhance their

participation in development and at the same time improve their status

As part of individual’s development, education should be known as a right to everyone,

men as well as women Acquiring education enables women to increase their

self-confidence, improve their self-esteem, become aware of their civil rights, improve their

income capacities and play an active role in family and community decision-making

Education is a means for women to participate equally in the process of social development

and change, for sustainable development (World Forum Education, 2000)

3.2.3 Women’s Participation in Non-formal Education has The Same Effect as

Formal Schooling on Demographic Change and on Women’s Empowerment

3.2.3.1 Schooling that leads to Demographic Transition and Behavior Change

Cochrane (1979) reviewed and showed that higher rates of schooling are more likely

related to lower rates of fertility in the more developed countries and in urban areas and

that girls’ education is more inversely related to fertility than boys’ education

Jejeebhoy (1996) has synthesized the empirical studies-related behaviours that change in

relation to women’s schooling of the duration of breastfeeding, age at marriage,

contraception practice, and child-raising behaviours Overall, these studies show that

women who stay in school longer are more likely to marry later Women who have

attended school are more likely to practice contraception and to prefer smaller families

Women who have been to school also tend to stop breastfeeding sooner and practice

abstinence for shorter periods of time after childbirth, which accounts for the positive

relationship between schooling and reproducing behaviours

How do educated women behave in relation to the health and survival of their children?

They take up a range of health-improving behaviour: they use preventive health measures,

are quicker to react to health problems, follow instructions and report back to doctors the

progress of treatment Women with more years of schooling are more careful about

hygiene, recognize the need for rest and feed their children better (Caldwell and Caldwell,

1993)

Mothers who have been to school take better care of not only their children’s health but

also their children’s education In the Literacy and Civic Education Program for

Indigenous and Peasant Women, Peru, it is acknowledged that mothers' literacy and

education levels often greatly influence the health and achievements of the children (ILE,

1998)

Levine (Levine, 1980) found evidence from empirical studies that educated mothers

interact with their children in ways different from those of uneducated mothers In a study

of girls in Mexico, they found that mothers with more schooling were more verbally

responsive to children’s vocalizations and increasingly attentive to signs that their

youngsters initiated conversation

3.2.3.2 Schooling that leads to Autonomy and Empowerment

The initiation of National Literacy Campaign in Tanzania was supported by UNESCO and

UNDP had operated in North Tanzania for five years (1968-1972) Some participants of

the training program had dialogue with evaluators of the literacy program about their

attainment, about the impacts of literacy:

In 1996, Jejeebhoy accumulated empirical evidence to confirm that woman’s behavioural

changes are mediated by their acquisition of “autonomy” Whereas gender stratification

and patriarchal authority in the society in which they live, influence women’s autonomy

Education can also increase a woman’s autonomy

Jejeebhoy (1996) suggested five separate but interdependent capabilities affected by

education:

- Knowledge autonomy: Educated women have a wider worldview, a greater sense

of alternative lifestyles and a greater questioning of authority

- Decision-making autonomy: Education strengthens women’s say in family

decisions and decisions concerning their own lives and well-being This means that

the educated woman is more confident about her ability to make a decision or to

voice an idea or to require her participation in family discussions

- Physical autonomy: Educated women have more contact with outside world They

have more freedom of movement and more self-confidence in using available

services

- Emotional autonomy: Educated women shift their kin to conjugal family There are

more egalitarian relationships between spouse, parents and children and more

self-worth and less self-denial among these women

- Economic and social autonomy and self-reliance: Education increases a woman’s

self-reliance in economic matters and the self-reliance that is basic for social

acceptance and status; education enhances women economic independence, and

improve access to and control over economic resources as well as women’s ability

to rely on themselves, rather than on their children or husbands to attain social

status or acceptance

Jejeebhoy (1996) said that there are autonomy links between schooling and demographic

transition Her definition of autonomy resembles the concept of empowerment in the

non-formal education literature

Kindervatter (1979), defined empowerment as “gaining an understanding of and control

over social, economic, and/or political forces in order to improve [one’s] standing in

society” This definition resembles Jejeebhoy’s definition of autonomy as “the ability to

obtain information and use it as the basis for making decisions about one’s private

concerns and those of one’s intimates” (Jejeebhoy, 1996)

More recently, researchers have generated empirical definitions of empowerment for the

purpose of measuring this phenomenon In Nepal, a survey was carried out of researchers

for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID/Nepal, 1996) to

better understand how these women conceived empowerment and to what extent they felt

that they were empowered Women responding to empowerment means:

- Being literate, having knowledge, understanding issues, and sharing knowledge

with others;

- Being able to stand on your own, supporting yourself, having a job, making a

choice;

- Being able to help others, teach others, motivate others, help the village;

- Not tolerating domination, especially men’s domination;

- Being able to move around freely;

- Feeling confident, being articulate, feeling able to speak in public and with

government officials; and

- Being leader, getting along with others, and maintaining good relationships within

the village

3.2.3.3 Non-formal Education leads to Autonomy and Empowerment

Burchfield (1996) surveyed 400 women in Nepal who had completed literacy-training

programs at least a year earlier and a group of 100 who had not participated in such

programs Burchfield’s initial conclusions are that participation in literacy training

program had a positive effect on empowerment in some ways but not others Participation

increased:

- Respect for women’s opinions by family and community members;

- Women’s confidence in stating opinions;

- Participation in discussions about politics and about men’s drinking and beating

their wives;

- Participation in credit or loans programs; and

- Checking on their children’s attendance and progress in school

At the same year, Archer and Cottingham (1996) reported in an extensive evaluation of a

literacy training method call REFLECT, introduced by the British Action Aid, initially in

Bangladesh, El Salvador, and Uganda In all three countries, the authors found positive

effects of the programs on the self-realization of individuals, their participation in the

communities, and in “collective action,” resource management activities, gender roles,

health and children’s education Although the impact varied among countries, the authors

documented impressive results across all three For example, in terms of children’s

education in Uganda, the research team found that in the program areas, children’s

enrolment increased in government schools by 22 percent and in other schools by 4

percent There were also increases in participation of parents in parent teacher associations

In 1993, the Minority Women's Literacy and Basic Skills Project in Lao, implemented and

based on the Communities Learning Centers, the women participants not only gained

knowledge as the desired outcome of the program but also had opportunities to meet

women from other parts of their region and had the opportunity for intercultural exchange,

which enabled them to set up their social network and then they became empowered

(UNESCO-ILI (1999a)

3.2.3.4 Constraints of Women’s accessing to Education

According to Matabane’s discussion (Matabane, 1990) cited in Evans (1992) and Havely,

(Havely, 1998) national programs, campaigns and the policies of authorities, are much

influenced to the rate of literacy in a country ie The educational levels of the people

Matabane wrote, the rate of illiteracy has much improved and gained profit from adult

literacy campaigns in “revolutionary” countries such as Cuba, Tanzania and Nicaragua

Havely (Havely, 1998) a regional analyst of BBC online network, also agreed with this

idea while reporting the situation of Burma (Myanmar) In his article, he said that there is

will be lost their generation in Burma For much of the past decade, Myanmar schools and

universities have been silent An entire generation has missed out on education because the

Burma leaders who have been coming from military has long been suspicious campus

politics and they have strict control of what is taught

Que et al (1999) revealed in their research of the Kinh ethnic group in the Red Delta river

area, that whatever their economic situation, gender discrimination was apparent when

parents talked about their expectations of their children pursuing an education Most of the

parents interviewed said that they would let son go to school in case that could not support

all their children go t o schools (Que et al.,1999) Connel (1994), in one part of his report,

shared Que’s idea but, on the other hand, identified the importance of economic conditions

to the educational progress In his research, he discussed how poverty affects people’s life

in which poverty is one of the big constraints that block children from going to school

In term of marginalized position of ethnic people in North Vietnam, Van de Walle and

Gunewardena (2000) found that social mobility contributed to the opportunities of children

accessing to educational facilities

3.2.4 Education and Literacy in Vietnam

3.2.4.1 Overview of Literacy in Vietnam

In the struggle for economic development, one of Vietnamese greatest assets is the high

level of literacy of its population From Living standard survey 1997-1998, among today’s

elderly, fully 79,2 percent of men over 65 years old claim to be literate, but only 37.7

percent of women, we can conclude that males had much more access to education than

women did But among teenagers and those in their early twenties, 93.4 percent of males

and 93.6 percent of females report themselves or are reported by their household

respondents to be literate

As of 1997-1998, the level of literacy was far higher in the urban than in the rural

population Of the population age 10 and above, 94 percent of the urban population and 87

percent of the rural were literate The male-female disparity was greater in rural than urban

areas In the urban population age 10 and above, 97.1 percent of males but only 91.6

percent of female were literate In rural areas, 92.6 percent of males but only 83.7 percent

of females were literate

Though the level of literacy in Vietnam’s population compares well with that in most of

the world’s poor developing countries, the government is trying to further improve the

situation

3.2.4.2 Eradication Illiteracy in Vietnam and Education for All in Vietnam

Falling back into illiteracy is a common phenomenon all over the world According to

worldwide researchers of illiteracy, 50 percent of participants dropping out of classes after

a few weeks attending classes easily fall back into illiteracy Only 50 percent of

participants who were certified to be literate will not fall back into illiteracy And 25

percent of these will forget all the skills they gained within 1 year

Therefore, the problem arising is that everyone needs to be patient in fighting anti-illiteracy

and anti-falling back to illiteracy It might take some decades to achieve this mission The

main cause of participants falling back to illiteracy is a lack of self-discipline or a lack of

appropriate circumstances for them to apply their literacy

Therefore, Ministry of Education and Training and National Committee of Anti-Illiteracy

organized 2 conferences in March 1996 and March 1999 respectively to maintain, nurture

and develop the achievement of anti-illiteracy and to popularize primary education at

nationally standardized provinces in anti-illiteracy

In reality, taking up the previous work, deriving experience from neighboring provinces,

since 1998, the anti-illiteracy situation at uplands, Mekong river delta and coastal where

most illiterates center in, has been implemented In upland areas, 747,000 persons occupy

38 percent of the aggregation throughout the country whereas population of this area only

occupies 14 percent of that of the whole country There have been 650,639 illiterates in

Mekong river delta occupying 33 percent of literate in Vietnam Thus, 70 percent of

illiterates in Vietnam live in uplands and Mekong river delta

In early 1990, Vietnam launched a nationwide anti-illiteracy campaign in coordination

with UNDP and UNICEF as part of International Literacy Year-1990 The goal was to

eradicate illiteracy by the year 2000 The government allocated funds targeted for the basic

literacy education of about a million people under age 35 in the early 1990s This situation

shows a promising view for education development, Vietnam will definitely achieve its

desired outcome

3.2.4.3 Education of Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam

In Vietnam, about 10 million among 77 million (UNESCO, 2000) people are Ethnic

Minority people accounting for 13 percent of the total population There are 53 different

Ethnic Minority groups, varying in size from under 200 to over a million The typical

groups of Ethnic Minority are Muong, Thai, Dao, Tay, Nung, Hmong, Cham, and Khmer

They tend to live in remote areas, especially in northern and western parts of countries on

the borders with China, Cambodia and Laos Poverty, low level of education and high

illiteracy rate, low rate of enrollment and high dropout rates are serious problems for most

Ethnic groups

Although the Vietnam Government has made many efforts to improve literacy for ethnic

minorities for many years, the illiteracy rate among Ethnic Minorities is still high The

national illiteracy rate in 1990 was approximately 12 percent For some ethnic minorities

the illiteracy rate is much higher than the national illiteracy rate For instance, illiteracy

rates for the following indigenous groups are in table 5

Table 5: Literacy Rate of Persons aged 5 and over of selected Ethnic Groups by Sex,

895,000

914,000 705,000 556,000 474,000 242,000 137,000 114,000 99,000

90.2 87.1 72.5 85.8

60.0

85.3 78.5 17.7 43.6 29.6 50.6 27.1 75.8 62.8

84.1 79.4 48.4 77.7

43.9

86.4 64.6 2.6 25.5 12.1 33.6 12.4 65.4 46.2

Source: GSO (2000)

We can notice that the highest illiteracy rates among ethnic minorities are found among

girls and women Thus, they are in need of suitable literacy programs

Literacy education for ethnic minorities has faced many problems and issues, such as

poverty, remoteness and poor transportation, linguistic and cultural differences, different

customs and traditions, especially toward women’s and girls’ education, lack of

information on literacy by targeted learners, lack of trained local teachers or teachers who

know the ethnic minority language, lack of resources and limited community participation

and ownership due to long-time under the subsidized economic system