Indigenous Children ’s Education and Indigenous Languages (fwd link)

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UN FORUM TO CONSIDER IMPACT ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF MILLENNIUM
DEVELOPMENT GOAL IMPLEMENTATION, 16 - 27 MAY
http://i-newswire.com/pr20360.html

Indigenous Children’s Education and Indigenous Languages

An expert paper on Indigenous children’s education and indigenous
languages( document E/C.19/2005/7 ) shows that educational models for
indigenous and minority children that use mainly dominant languages as
languages of instruction have extremely negative consequences on the
right to education and perpetuate poverty.  Education through the
dominant language prevents access to education, since it creates
linguistic, pedagogical and psychological barriers.  Without education
mainly in the mother tongue in public schools, with good teaching of a
dominant language as a second language, most indigenous peoples have to
accept education through a dominant/majority language, at the cost of
the mother tongue which is displaced, and often replaced, by the
dominant language.

Research on results of indigenous and minority education shows that the
length of education in the mother tongue is more important than any
other factor -- including socio-economic status -- in predicting the
educational success of bilingual students.  The worst results are with
students in programmes where the students’ mother tongues are not
supported at all.  Education in the dominant language curtails the
development of capabilities in indigenous children and perpetuates
poverty.  The report presents recommendations to address these
problems.