Education is a key component of the protection of minority identity. Issues of particular concern are access to education, the language of educational instruction and the cultural content of education.

Minorities often lack equal access to education. This may be seen by lower levels of educational attainment, fewer resources to schools in areas where minorities live, and segregation of minority children from mainstream schools. Both direct and indirect discrimination play a role. The curriculum and textbooks used might perpetuate discriminatory attitudes towards minorities. Minorities with low incomes could suffer indirect discrimination where school fees are required or tax revenue to fund schools is lower in their areas of residence. The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) calls upon States to prohibit and eliminate discrimination in access to education (article 5(e)(v). States are required not only to ensure equal access for all to education, but to ensure non-discrimination in the quality of education provided as well. Where financial obstacles to accessing education disproportionately affect minorities, States are required to take special measures to overcome this barrier.

Minorities have a right to educational instruction in their mother tongue. Minorities may be disadvantaged because they do not speak the language of instruction in state schools. The UN Declaration on the Rights of National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities says “States should take appropriate measures so that, wherever possible, persons belonging to minorities may have adequate opportunities to learn their mother tongue or to have instruction in their mother tongue” (article 4.3). Minority groups could establish their own educational facilities for providing instruction in their language (the State may also require these facilities to teach the state language). The State may also provide mother tongue education in public schools. States may be supported in providing courses and/or instruction in the minority language at the secondary and tertiary levels, in particular where the minority group has expressed a need for it and is sizeable enough to justify the provision. Even where minority languages are not written languages, there is potential to integrate them into the education system by engaging community members in classroom activities to share cultural knowledge, skills and arts.

The cultural content of education is a key concern for minorities. Minority cultures, history and contributions do not necessarily reflected in the national curriculum and textbooks. For religious minorities, the manner in which religion is taught is very important, including whether there is compulsory religious instruction in the religion of the dominant group or whether there is an option for minorities to be instructed in their own religion. According to the UN Declaration on the Rights of National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, “States should, where appropriate, take measures in the field of education, in order to encourage knowledge of the history, traditions, language and culture of the minorities existing within their territory” (article 4.4). The Convention on the Rights of the Child states that education of the child shall be directed, inter alia, to the child’s “own cultural identity, language and values, for the national values of the country in which the child is living, the country from which he or she may originate, and for civilizations different from his or her own” (article 29.1 (c)). Similarly, the ICCPR holds that States should respect the freedom of parents “to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own
convictions” (article 18.4).

If the content or practice of education perceived to be discriminatory towards minorities, this may make minority parents less willing to send their children to school. The inclusion of cultural instruction also influences a parent’s willingness to send their children to school. Parents may find little benefit, for example, in an education that does not teach traditional livelihoods or culture or which stigmatizes their identity. In particular, minority girls are frequently perceived as the bearers of minority culture. Therefore, where schools are not culturally relevant, parents may not send girls to school, fearing that they will lose their culture.

Some of these policies have resource implications for States, since not all minority groups will have access to positive measures on the part of States. Provision of mother-tongue education for immigrant groups may be a lower priority than, for example, for larger and/or long established minorities. At a minimum, States are expected to ensure non-discrimination in access to and provision of education and not prevent minorities from providing private instruction in their languages, cultures or religions in conformity with domestic law. States should be supported to invest resources in inclusive education with the understanding that it is in the best interests of the child and of society at large to facilitate inter-cultural understanding and multiple language skills.

Concerns have been raised regarding separate schools for minority children. Some argue that such schools encourage segregation and undermine the integration of minorities. Minority rights standards state clearly that the minority child must also be given opportunities to learn about other cultures and are encouraged strongly to learn the state language. The UN Declaration on the Rights of National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities states, “Persons belonging to minorities should have adequate opportunities to gain knowledge of the society as a whole” (article 4.4). The Convention on the Rights of the Child requires education to prepare the child for “responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin” (article 29.1 (d)). Parents do have the right to educate their children in independent institutions if they wish but the State has an obligation to ensure that both minority and majority children also have access to inter-cultural education.

Education is a key component of protecting minority cultural identities. Education can promote non-discrimination, inter-cultural understanding and poverty reduction for minorities. Education can be a pathway to more engagement of minority communities in the curriculum and wider civic participation.

	Policy Responses on Education: Affirmative action in various forms is an option for addressing discrimination in access to education. This may be in the form of reserved places in educational institutions for minorities, designated scholarships for minorities, or investment of additional resources into education in regions where minorities reside. Affirmative action policies have been in place since 2001 in Brazil to increase the enrollment of Afro-Brazilians in tertiary education. The provision of minority culture education may take many forms. While long-established minorities with large populations may have a greater claim to public resources for minority education, there are benefits to providing similar services to new minority groups. In Sweden, children are legally entitled to tuition in their mother-tongue (Migration Policy Group (MPG) 2006, paragraph 437). Such courses are provided in over 60 languages and a little over half of the eligible students pursue this option. This helps to ease immigrant children into the Swedish education system and language, and builds a multi-lingual constituency in Sweden. Financial assistance through inter-state cooperation for the provision of education is also encouraged by international standards (e.g. OSCE Lund Recommendations). In France, bilateral agreements with Algeria, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Serbia, Spain, Tunisia, and Turkey have been entered into in order to provide instruction in foreign languages and cultures; teachers are paid by the country of origin (MPG 2006, paragraph 439). Overcoming inequality in access to education might require the provision of culturally-adapted education. For example, in Vietnam, some minority fishing communities have been provided with floating primary schools that enable their children to access regular education without compromising the ability of families to maintain their traditional livelihoods.

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