The Vanuatu government has lately executed a policy of vernacular literacy. Children are now to receive the first three years of schooling in a vernacular language. In a country with less than 300,000 people and more than 100 indigenous languages, some classrooms have more than one L1. In such cases, the language policy advocates that the variety with the most native speakers should be fostered. This is a good solution for those speakers of the larger language, but what effect does such a policy have on the children whose L1 is not covered in the curriculum, and who are educated in a vernacular language that is not their own? To reply to this question, intelligibility tests were conducted across closely linked varieties of northern and central Vanuatu. It is concluded that in villages where children already receive a good deal of exposition to other language varieties in their daily lives, execution of the government’s language policy is a feasible option. However, what is practical and advantageous for literacy education is not essentially optimal for the maintenance of small endangered language varieties.