Social Policy in Education in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas after 40 Years of Vietnam’s Renovation: Successful Lessons and a Vision for a New Era

Abstract

Education and training play a huge role in social development, contributing to improving people’s knowledge, shaping personality, and creating a new system of social values in each country and nation in the process of development and integration. In recent decades, Vietnam has successfully implemented social policies in education in mountainous ethnic minority areas. However, new limitations and challenges in education in mountainous ethnic minority areas are arising in the new context. The research question is what successes and limitations Vietnam has had in implementing social policies in developing education in mountainous ethnic minority areas. Based on secondary sources, using the policy overview method, the article explores scholarship support policies, tuition exemptions, social subsidies, priority admission policies to universities and colleges, and gender equality policies. It analyzes successes and limitations, and proposes policy implications to improve and enhance the effectiveness of social policies in education for ethnic minority mountainous areas in Vietnam in the new era—the era of national development.