A Chinese education official has stressed the importance of promoting education of both Mandarin and ethnic languages among ethnic minorities.

Zhang Qiang, deputy director of the ethnic education department at the Ministry of Education, told Monday's China Daily that Mandarin-learning programs are introduced in many schools in the regions inhabited by ethnic minorities.

"We hope to help enhance education quality, boost the local economy and improve communication among Chinese of different ethnic groups and with the outside world," said Zhang, himself an ethnic Hui, who has been promoting bilingual education for nearly 20 years.

But the education authorities encourage ethnic minorities to master their own ethnic languages first to preserve and develop their own cultures, he said.

China has 55 ethnic minorities, accounting for 8.4 percent of the population of 1.3 billion. More than 50 languages are used, but some have written characters and others exist only in oral form.

About 6 million students are taking bilingual courses at more than 10,000 schools in China, and 21 ethnic languages are taught.

During the national college entrance exams, test papers were translated into ethnic languages.

"We have never tried to weaken any ethnic language," he said. "Every ethnic group has the right to use and develop its language, according to the Constitution."

Most of the ethnic groups live in less developed western regions and border areas such as Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, the Xinjiang Uygur, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia autonomous regions.

"With more communication among the ethnic groups through Mandarin, the gap between the wealthy eastern region and the less developed western region will be bridged and social stability can be maintained in the country," he was quoted as saying.

Students from ethnic minority groups are free to choose whether to take Mandarin courses, Zhang said.

Source: Xinhua