The strategic initiative aims to institutionalize the Co Tu language into the national education system starting in 2026, preserving a vital cultural heritage along the Truong Son mountain range.
Low literacy in Co Tu script spurs preservation drive
The planned curriculum marks a strategic effort by the Ministry of Education and Training to implement government policies on preserving ethnic cultural identity, officials and experts said.
The Co Tu ethnic group, numbering more than 74,000 people, lives mainly along the Truong Son mountain range in the areas of Tay Giang, Nam Giang and Dong Giang in Da Nang, as well as Nam Dong and A Luoi in Hue.
Field surveys show that the Co Tu language remains widely spoken, with virtually all members of the community continuing to use it in daily life. However, literacy in the ethnic script remains low, with only 42 percent able to read and 38.7 percent able to write the language, according to survey data.
Bh’riu Liec, former Party secretary of Tay Giang in the former Quang Nam Province, said the Co Tu writing system which is often referred to as the “Revolutionary script”, had played an important historical role since 1956 in spreading education and mobilizing ethnic communities during wartime.
After 1975, however, the script gradually fell out of use as schools adopted the national curriculum, he said. Attempts to revive Co Tu language instruction in 1986 were unsuccessful, leading to decades of decline.
In recent years, local efforts to reintroduce the traditional script have emerged, but the absence of a unified writing system and limited compatibility with modern digital technology have hindered preservation efforts, Liec added.
Nguyen Van Hiep, former director of the Institute of Linguistics, said the survival of spoken Co Tu alone was insufficient to guarantee the long-term survival of the language without a standardized script.
He said one of the main obstacles was the coexistence of two competing writing systems used in Da Nang and Hue. The Hue version, developed by the Institute of Linguistics, was considered scientifically rigorous in its phonetic structure, while the Quang Nam version carried strong historical and emotional significance for the community.
Deputy principal Poloong Nhui of Lang Primary School in Tay Giang said Co Tu language teaching currently depended largely on teachers’ personal experience because there were no standardized teaching materials.
Students can speak their mother tongue, but they can hardly read or write their own ethnic script, Deputy principal Poloong Nhui said.
MoET plans to train teachers, rolling out unified Co Tu script in schools
To address those challenges, the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) has begun developing a primary school curriculum for the Co Tu language, scheduled for introduction in 2026.
Thai Van Tai, director general of the Ministry’s Primary Education Department, said the curriculum must meet scientific and pedagogical standards while remaining suitable for primary school students.
He said policymakers needed to balance the preservation of ethnic linguistic identity with strengthening Vietnamese language proficiency, promoting bilingual skills that complement rather than compete with one another.
Authorities also stressed the importance of standardizing the script to ensure broad consensus and long-term stability.
Head Vo Van Khanh of primary education at the Da Nang Department of Education and Training, said schools should be equipped with teaching materials, cultural spaces and libraries containing Co Tu-language books and newspapers to give students opportunities for regular practice.
He called on the ministry to quickly issue official textbooks and curriculum guidelines. Da Nang education authorities are expected to organize training sessions on the unified script for teachers in Tay Giang in June or July 2026.
Former director Nguyen Van Hiep described the adoption of a unified Co Tu script in 2025 as a key breakthrough, combining the scientific foundation developed by linguists with the practical experience and cultural legacy championed by Bh’riu Liec, former Party secretary of the former Tay Giang District, Quang Nam Province (now part of Da Nang City).
