Anchoring Education for Indigenous Youth in Context of Time-tested Customs Better than Assimilating Them into Mainstream System, Permanent Forum Told

http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2013/hr5132.doc.htm

From May 2013 from the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, a proposal is made to Establish World Cultural Heritage Day to give indigenous people  a chance to ‘Showcase their Culture’.

Some interesting statements from this article:

Government representatives focused on indigenous peoples’ basic right to culture, education and health, described the ways in which they were responding to those calls by being attuned to the cultural sensitivities and variant contextual complexities of the often remote communities.  The delegate of Guyana, for one, said that, as part of an effort to uphold cultural identities, discussions were ongoing about how to incorporate indigenous languages into school curriculums.

“Education is a national priority, especially for remote areas,” she declared, adding that that some 30,000 indigenous children received school uniforms and transportation to enable their attendance at school, and a growing number of secondary schools were being established in remote regions, as were programs enabling children to attend classes elsewhere if necessary.

The Namibian Government heavily subsidized schools in indigenous communities, said its representative.  It covered school-related costs, such as transport, toiletries and books, and sponsored back-to-school campaigns for dropouts.  It had installed mobile schools and school-feeding programmes to aid children from nomadic communities, and it had set up training programmes and developmental projects to give women and girls the skills to start businesses.  It supported initiatives in needlework, tailoring, beekeeping, coffin making and aquaculture.

A second panel discussion focused on culture, which was one of the six mandated areas of the Forum.  Panelists described culture as a “driver” of development and creator of jobs.  Women were perceived as “custodians of culture”, passing traditional knowledge from one generation to another, including through story reading and songs.  One panelist proposed that the United Nations establish a world cultural heritage day to allow indigenous people to “showcase our culture”.