Mother tongue and bilingual minority education in China

Abstract

Mother tongue education in separate schools has been in the norm for several of China's large minorities since 1949. In recent years, however, the shift in minority parental demand, media focus on low educational outcomes of mother tongue education combined with government concerns about separatism have led to the development of mixed schools for Chinese and minority students. In China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) the government plans to merge all minority mother tongue schools with Chinese schools by the end of 2008.This paper explores the reasons for this policy change and examines whether the mixed schools will address the unsatisfactory educational outcomes for minority students. It draws on data of case studies of two schools in XUAR, a rural minority primary school and an urban mixed minority/Chinese school. The study found mixed schooling does not address the disparity in educational outcomes. Minority ethnic children in both schools have insufficient access to adequate education in their mother tongue, in the national language as well as in the third language, English. It questions whether either school provides genuine bilingual education but provides an example of how bilingual education in one of the schools can address issues of educational outcomes.