Authorities in northwest China's Qinghai Province Friday clarified the purpose of a bilingual education reform plan after misunderstanding caused dissatisfaction among some local Tibetans.

Some middle school students in the Tibetan autonomous prefectures of Huangnan, Hainan, Haibei and Guoluo had expressed their dissatisfaction from Sunday to Wednesday, the provincial government confirmed Friday.

Wang Yubo, director of the provincial department of education, said the bilingual education reform plan required the boost of both the nation's standard and common language, putonghua, and the minorities' native languages.

The plan is aimed at strengthening whatever is weaker and the purpose is not using one language to weaken another, Wang told a press conference Friday in Xining, the capital city of Qinghai.

He also pledged to increase government spending to improve conditions and step up education of the minorities' mother tongue.

Qinghai released it mid- and long-term plan (2010-2020) for reform and development of education in September, aiming to help students from ethnic minorities have a good command of both putonghua and languages of their ethnic groups by having putonghua as the teaching language.

The plan was designed to bridge the education gap between different ethnic groups, increase their exchanges and promote the economic and social development in the regions predominantly inhabited by ethnic minorities, the provincial government said in an open letter to all teachers and students in Qinghai on Friday.

Wang stressed that putonghua and standard Chinese characters are a major language tool for communication among people from different ethnic groups in China, a nation of 56 ethnic groups.

It is China's long-term policy to vigorously develop ethnic minority education as well as bilingual education in the minority-concentrated regions, Wang said.

The education authorities will follow teaching rules and listen and respect viewpoints and advices from students and their parents before carrying out the reforms, Wang said.

In places where conditions are not ripe, the authorities won't forcefully push the reforms, he said.

None teachers and staff will be forced off their jobs because of their language abilities, neither will their salary and welfare be affected, Wang added.

(Xinhua News Agency October 23, 2010)