STATE OF THE WORLD's INDIGENOUs PEOpLEs - CINU

More documents

Recommendations

Info

EMBARGOED UNTIL 14 January 2010STATE OF THE WORLD’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLESNot for distributionof their indigenous culture, lack of support and, in some cases, even physical and sexual exploitation. Sometimesindigenous children are not allowed to follow their cultural practices, such as wearing traditional dress andhairstyles. Indigenous children are often discouraged from speaking their native languages if not forbiddenaltogether. Students often feel unwelcome in the school towns; they long for their own village schools and oftenface emotional difficulties in a foreign learning environment that offers little support. 35 The very idea of separatingparents and children is foreign to many indigenous peoples. If separation happens, indigenous children are oftenunable to adjust, suffer from alienation and drop out.Boarding schools and other practices have often been aimed at assimilating indigenous children into the dominantculture and society. These policies were partly based on a racist notion that indigenous cultures were inferiorand that indigenous children would benefit from being assimilated into the dominant culture, language andsociety. These assimilationist policies uprooted children from their heritage, tore families apart and decimatedwhole communities. The victims of these policies were left without a sense of belonging; otsiders in both thedominant society and their own indigenous societies. In recent years, the damage boarding schools have doneto indigenous peoples’ cultures has been recognized, including by the governments of Canada, the United Statesand Australia. 36On the positive side, formal education has made it possible for some indigenous leaders and civil societyorganizations representing indigenous peoples to gain access to the state. Formal education has also helpedto improve the status of indigenous women, enabling them to become more active participants in decisionmaking that affects their lives.Education in boarding schools may also work in some countries and not in others. If students are separatedfrom their communities in order to attend boarding schools, vocational schools or universities, then emphasis onaffirming identity and cultural community with other indigenous students may help to ameliorate the conditions ofisolation. Community centres, active student organizations and cultural events, as well as indigenous issue policydiscussions and curricula, can foster student leadership, knowledge, retention and training. 37Barriers to education for indigenous childrenMost indigenous communities see education as very important, even crucial, for improving their overall situation. 38However, indigenous children face a number of obstacles to participating in formal education systems. Some ofthese obstacles have to do with their marginalized situation; others are the direct result of national policies.Poverty, discrimination and marginalization are the leading causes of low educational performance which furtherexacerbate indigenous children’s vulnerable status. From the moment they are born and throughout their lives,indigenous children are particularly exposed to the effects of marginalization. They are less likely to receiveadequate health care because they are often not registered at birth or, in some cases, are denied citizenshipby the national state in which they live; they may thus have problems accessing education and other publicservices.35Hays and Siegruhn (2005), 31-32.36Official apologies have recently been made by the Government of Australia (February 2008) and by the Government of Canada(June 2008).37Champagne (2001), 21-28; Champagne and Stauss (eds.) (2002).38Vinding (ed.) (2006), 16.CONTEMPORARY EDUCATION | 141
EMBARGOED UNTIL 14 January 2010STATE OF THE WORLD’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLESNot for distributionIndigenous children and the right to birth registrationand nationalityArticle 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child requires that a childbe registered immediately after birth. It also recognizes the child’s rightto acquire a nationality. Many indigenous people have neither. “When achild’s birth goes unregistered, that child is less likely to enjoy his or herrights and to benefit from the protection accorded by the state in whichhe or she was born. Furthermore, the unregistered child may go unnoticedwhen his or her rights are violated. Later in life, he or she will be unableto vote or stand for election…” These children are also at risk of fallingvictim to child trafficking and are often easy prey for those who exploittheir vulnerability recruiting them as street beggars, domestic servants inslave-like arrangements, or as child soldiers.Source: UNICEF (2003), 9.Lack of public funding, too few primary schools, too few teachers, inadequatecurricula and high costs for parents all contribute to an insurmountable obstaclefor many indigenous students. These problems are particularly acute in ruralareas that suffer from poor infrastructure and where schools are often locatedat considerable distances from the community centres and are poorly equippedand understaffed. 39bilingual education iswidely recognized as asuperior alternative forindigenous students,and bilingual and multilingualstudents havefrequently been shownto perform better thanmonolingual indigenousstudentsDespite increasing awareness and efforts on the part of governments and civilsociety, indigenous students and their parents often have to face deeply-rooteddiscrimination and prejudice, making the school environment unfriendly anduncomfortable. School children also often have to cope with abuse at the handsof school authorities and other students; mainstream cultures frequently havelittle understanding of the values, cultures and histories of indigenous peoples.In many countries, the issue of the school uniform versus traditional dress isoften a contentious one; 40 other issues may have to do with cultural practices (forexample, hunting trips or religious rites), which are not taken into considerationby school authorities.Many indigenous peoples’ economies are based on modes of subsistencewhereby the whole family is required to work at certain times of the year, makingchildren’s labour contributions essential. This, too, is seldom recognized byeducational authorities, leading to yet another clash of interests that contributesto dropout rates.One of the most common requests from indigenous parents is that their childrenbe taught in their own language. 41 Bilingual education is widely recognized as a39Lasimbang (2005), 43.40Vinding (ed.) (2006), 14.41ILO/PRO169/IPEC (2006), 16.142 | CHAPTER IV
Page 1 and 2:
EMBARGOED UNTIL 14 January 2010Not
Page 3 and 4:
EMBARGOED UNTIL 14 January 2010STAT
Page 5 and 6:
Page 7 and 8:
Page 9 and 10:
Page 11 and 12:
Page 13 and 14:
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19 and 20:
Page 21 and 22:
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 33 and 34:
Page 35 and 36:
Page 37 and 38:
Page 39 and 40:
Bolivia Ecuador Guatemala Mexico Pe
Page 41 and 42:
Page 43 and 44:
Page 45 and 46:
Page 47 and 48:
Page 49 and 50:
Page 51 and 52:
Page 53 and 54:
Page 55 and 56:
Page 57 and 58:
Page 59 and 60:
Page 61 and 62:
Page 63 and 64:
Page 65 and 66:
Page 67 and 68:
Page 69 and 70:
Page 71 and 72:
Page 73 and 74:
Page 75 and 76:
Page 77 and 78:
Page 79 and 80:
Page 81 and 82:
Page 83 and 84:
Page 85 and 86:
Page 87 and 88:
Page 89 and 90:
Page 91:
Page 94 and 95:
Page 96 and 97:
Page 98 and 99:
Page 100 and 101:
Page 102 and 103: EMBARGOED UNTIL 14 January 2010STAT
Page 202 and 203:
Page 204 and 205:
Page 206 and 207:
Page 208 and 209:
Page 210 and 211:
Page 212 and 213:
Page 214 and 215:
Page 216 and 217:
Page 218 and 219:
Page 220 and 221:
Page 222 and 223:
Page 224 and 225:
Page 226 and 227:
Page 228 and 229:
Page 230 and 231:
Page 232 and 233:
Page 234 and 235:
Page 236 and 237:
Page 238 and 239:
Page 240 and 241:
Page 242 and 243:
Page 244 and 245:
Page 246 and 247:
Page 248 and 249:
Page 250:
show all

STATE OF THE WORLD's INDIGENOUs PEOpLEs - CINU

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?