In China approximately six million children are attending more than 10,000 bilingual schools using both Mandarin and ethnic languages.

 

More than 3,000 textbooks are compiled in 29 languages annually for the schools ranging from kindergartens to high schools.

 

"To meet the demands of social and economic development of ethnic minority regions, we advocate bilingual education for ethnic minorities," said Ding Wenlou, chairman of the Executive Council of the Research Association of Bilingual Education for Chinese Minorities.

 

"This way we can better guarantee the ethnic minorities' rights to receive education and cultivate more skills in both Mandarin and ethnic minority dialects," Ding said at a major human rights exhibition in Beijing designed to showcase the country's efforts to protect human rights.

 

The ten-day exhibition features more than 700 pictures, 250 legal documents, 330 books on human rights and 24 diagrams.

 

The event, at the Museum of Culture Palace of the Nationalities in downtown Beijing, has three sections: China's general human rights progress in the past century; freedom of speech and the media and the rights of women, children and ethnic minorities.

 

Besides the Han nationality, which constitutes the majority of the population, China has 55 ethnic minorities.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 21, 2006)