19 lead to high dropout or failure rates, and could even lead to low levels of literacy in both the minority and the official language. If a minority language is to be used as the medium of instruction only in the initial years of education, where practicable the amount of teaching carried out in the non-minority language should be increased gradually. This leads to better pedagogical results.32 Where a minority language is used as the main medium of instruction throughout education in public schools, the final exams must also be in that language. Admission exams or entrance requirements to public universities and other state educational institutions must take account of the use of minority languages as a medium of instruction in the educational system. Exams in minority languages or, when this is not feasible, some other arrangement must be put in place to accommodate minorities so that they are not unreasonably disadvantaged or excluded disproportionately from access to higher education. Language differences must not be used as an excuse to segregate students along ethnic or racial lines in education.33 When open to all who share the same language, regardless of ethnicity or race, the use of minority languages as a medium of instruction is neither discriminatory nor impermissible segregation.34 To promote tolerance and inclusion, all students should learn about each other: minorities must not be prevented from understanding the culture and language of the national community as a whole or from participating in its activities, and the majority must also be given similar opportunities in relation to minority cultures and languages. Funding for all public educational activities, including for those in minority languages, must be accessible and disbursed in a non-discriminatory manner, including on the ground of language. Public education in minority languages must in addition seek to achieve bilingualism. Students should be provided with sufficient opportunities to achieve fluency in the official language, although not at the expense of education in their own language. Where the number of children who speak a minority language is quite small, flexibility in the implementation of a proportional approach can be adopted. Transportation can be provided for example to take students from surrounding areas to a more centrally located school teaching in a minority language. Where a minority language is mainly oral, or there are no professionally trained teachers or little printed teaching material in a particular language, teaching assistants from the local community and modest translation programmes produced locally have been shown to be effective at improving the overall level of school performance among minority children. Financial and other support can be provided for private educational facilities where a minority is numerically too small for the operation of public schools. Authorities must ensure appropriate curriculum development and teacher training in the minority language, and bilingual education must be developed to be responsive to specific contexts. In addition, authorities should include the teaching of the histories, cultures and traditions of their minorities in the mainstream curriculum. 32 33 34 Dooly, M. and Vallejo, C., Educational Policies that Address Social Inequality: Thematic Report, Linguistic Minorities (Faculty of Education, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona: Barcelona, 2009). D.H. and Others v. the Czech Republic, European Court of Human Rights, 57325/00, Grand Chamber Final Judgement, European Court of Human Rights, 13 November 2007. Minorities and the right to education: Recommendations of the first session of the UN Forum on Minority Issues (2008), Recommendations 10 and 27.