Education and the World’s Indigenous Peoples

Champagne, Duane (2009). “Chapter IV: Contemporary Education” in The State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (SOWIP). Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations, New York.

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/SOWIP_web.pdf

This chapter was written for the first UN publication on the State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples which includes statistics and information about issues of health, poverty, education and human rights.

The chapter begins with a review of international agreements that recognize education as a fundamental human right in general and specifically of indigenous peoples. Champagne then provides statistics and stories from indigenous communities worldwide to document the existing education gap, formal school experiences and barriers to education of indigenous young people. He ends with a discussion about the search for alternatives.

The chapter does not discuss the role of IT in education but does make references to teacher attributes, educational materials, curricula design, and teaching methods including the use of radio and mobile schools in remote rural communities.