Bilingual education on the rise

More students in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region are being educated in both their native tongue and Mandarin than in 2010, according to the latest statistics from the regional education department.

By the end of last year, the number of primary and secondary students receiving bilingual education in Xinjiang had risen from 999,000 to 2 million, 480,000 of them in kindergartens. Also, 69 percent of children from ethnic groups received bilingual education in elementary and secondary schools, up from 34 percent in 2010.

In Xinjiang, ethnic groups are guaranteed the right to use and develop their own spoken and written languages. There are 10 major languages in the region.

In addition, the autonomous region encourages people from ethnic groups to study Mandarin, China's official language, which is based on the dialect spoken in and around Beijing. The promotion of Mandarin is intended to improve mutual understanding and open up a wider range of career opportunities to people from ethnic groups.

A number of measures, including the construction of 2,500 bilingual kindergartens and government subsidies in rural areas and southern Xinjiang, have led to the expansion of bilingual education.

Teacher training is also a priority. More than 96,000 teachers have received government-sponsored training. Among those teachers, 44,900 come from southern Xinjiang, where bilingual education is in short supply.

Since 2010, 19 provincial and municipal governments have donated more than 9.9 billion yuan ($1.55 billion) to improve the general level of education in Xinjiang. The funding has allowed 313 schools to be built or expanded in the south of the region, which lags behind the rest of Xinjiang in education and facilities.