Greater efforts are to be made to appoint more officials from minority groups, the central government said in a guideline on Monday.

The document - Opinions on Strengthening and Improving Ethnic Work under the New Situations - says special attention should be paid to assisting the development of academics in ethnically diverse regions, especial those from minority backgrounds.

The guideline says the country should "vigorously foster, audaciously select, fully trust and use officials from ethnically diverse (backgrounds), and cultivate experienced Han officials in ethnically diverse regions".

The document was released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council.

It calls on ethnic minority officials to learn Mandarin, and urges Han officials, members of the dominant ethnic group in China, to learn the local dialect of the area where they work.

The guideline says there should be a greater emphasis on language education in ethnic regions. In addition, it calls for policies to support bilingual teachers who can teach students to "basically master" Mandarin while fully respecting and maintaining education in the local tongue.