STATE OF THE WORLD's INDIGENOUs PEOpLEs - CINU

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EMBARGOED UNTIL 14 January 2010STATE OF THE WORLD’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLESNot for distributionsuperior alternative for indigenous students, and bilingual and multi-lingual students have frequently been shownto perform better than monolingual indigenous students. Nevertheless, limited resources are devoted to buildingand expanding existing bilingual and intercultural programmes. 42The lack of mother-tongue education, cultural differences between home and school, and work obligations areall factors that keep students away from school. The situation is further exacerbated by monolingual educationsystems, educational materials that are inadequate to the needs and realities of indigenous children, and teachingthat is conducted by non-indigenous teachers.Even under some of the best circumstances, in which physical isolation, school funding and language are notobstacles, there still often remain challenges. Indigenous students frequently find that the education they areoffered by the state promotes individualism and a competitive atmosphere, rather than communal ways of lifeand cooperation. They are not taught relevant survival and work skills suitable for indigenous economies, andthey often return to their communities with a formal education that is irrelevant or unsuitable for their needs.They therefore have limited employment prospects in the indigenous economies; instead, they are forced toseek employment in the national economy, leading to a vicious cycle of social fragmentation, brain drain anda lack of development, 43 especially because the jobs and salaries available to them often will not match theireducational achievements. In most countries with indigenous populations, there persists a gap in education andlabour market earnings between indigenous and non-indigenous people. The earning gap tends to increase at thehigher education levels. This inequality in earnings threatens to discourage indigenous peoples from investing ineducation and reduces their chances of escaping the cycle of poverty.Education and gaps in labour earningsThe highest gap in earnings for each additional year of schooling between indigenous and non-indigenouspeople in Latin America exists in Bolivia. In México, the returns from schooling were higher for nonindigenousthan for indigenous peoples at every level except post-secondary—the gap being driven bya decline in the relative earnings of the three population groups that are the most likely to benefit fromeducation gains: young workers, those who have completed secondary education, and those who areemployed in the non-agricultural sector. According to the Living Conditions Survey conducted in Ecuadorin 1998, the gap in labour earnings increased with education, affecting mostly indigenous skilled workersand professionals. Indigenous people received an earnings gain of 9 per cent from completed highereducation, compared to an earnings gain of 15 per cent for non-indigenous people.Source: Hall and Patrinos (2005)Culture, community and indigenous education:searching for alternativesThroughout the world, formal school systems have not provided educational opportunities to indigenousstudents that adequately prepare them for a life in the wider national society while at the same time fosteringand strengthening indigenous cultures, community, interests and goals. Recognizing this, many indigenous42Bando et al. (2005), 1, 24.43Kaunga (2005), 38-40; Larsen (2003). vii, 14-15.CONTEMPORARY EDUCATION | 143
EMBARGOED UNTIL 14 January 2010STATE OF THE WORLD’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLESNot for distributioncommunities have demanded greater access and control over their education. Indigenous communities,education scholars and state education policymakers are seeking solutions to provide indigenous students withthe skills and knowledge they need to confront the issues of the twenty-first century.Rural Development Program of the University of Alaska FairbanksIndigenous people constitute 100 per cent of the M.A. graduates and over 90 per cent of the B.A. graduatesof University of Alaska Fairbanks Rural Development Program, which allows students to pursue theirdegrees while living and working in their home villages. The program is designed to educate a newgeneration of community leaders for rural Alaska. Graduates typically take positions with tribal andmunicipal governments, Native corporations, fisheries, tourism and other private businesses, regionalhealth corporations or non-profits, and state/federal agencies. Students gain understanding of Alaska'srelationship to the global economy and an appreciation for sustainable development strategies. Theyalso learn specific tools essential for community leadership, including business plan and grant proposalwriting, cultural documentation, project management and evaluation techniques. They learn about land/renewable resources, rural health, community visioning and planning processes, and tribal and localgovernment administration. Graduate students gain a broader theoretical understanding of developmentprocesses in Alaska and the circumpolar north.Source: Rural Development News (2006).The goal for indigenous education is not only to recover culture and strengthen communities and identities, butalso to acquire economic and political skills to successfully manage local indigenous affairs and economieswithin national and international contexts. 44 The burden of providing an array of multicultural skills and knowledgeis heavy and will challenge contemporary conceptions and understanding of both state education systems andindigenous communities.Language renewalOne way in which indigenous communities have started to recover education and culture is through languagerenewal and teaching in the mother tongue. Preserving the indigenous language is a means of preserving cultureand strengthening identity. 45 In indigenous communities, where most children speak their mother tongue, manyprefer school education to be taught in that language, preferably from kindergarten through grade 12. Fewcommunities, however, have the resources to achieve this goal. 46 A major obstacle is the lack of bilingual teachers.The importance of capacity building thus cannot be overstated. The only way to provide adequate education forindigenous children in a bilingual environment is to prepare indigenous and non-indigenous teachers for thechallenge of working in such an indigenous bilingual school environment.National languages should not be ignored, but indigenous languages must be encouraged and preserved. Studentsshould be given the opportunity of bilingual or multilingual capability and not made to choose one language over44Glover, Anne (1994), 13, 16-17.45See Assembly of First Nations (Canada) (2006); Larsen (2003), 29-33.46Hays and Siegruhn (2005), 27-29; Hicks (2005), 9.144 | CHAPTER IV
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STATE OF THE WORLD's INDIGENOUs PEOpLEs - CINU

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