A/HRC/21/47/Add.2 61. Despite these problems, according to data reported by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which in turn is based on official data, the vast majority (94.6 per cent) of indigenous children between 5 and 14 years of age attend school. However, school attendance for this age group is much lower among certain indigenous groups, such as the Mbyá Guaraní, Pilagá, Toba, Mocoví and Wichí peoples, and generally speaking indigenous people tend not to complete their mandatory schooling (up to high school), let alone attend university. (b) Bilingual intercultural education 62. As previously mentioned (see paragraph 11 above), there is a high level of legal recognition of the right to bilingual and intercultural education in Argentina, under combined federal and provincial jurisdiction. At the national level, INAI has launched the Support Programme for Intercultural Indigenous Education, which includes the following components: grants for indigenous students; intercultural instruction (arranged by the communities themselves); literacy training; revival and consolidation of indigenous communities’ ancestral knowledge; and support for indigenous students at the higher levels of education. 63. Many of the provinces are in the process of developing their own programmes and policies on intercultural bilingual education. The Special Rapporteur was informed, for example, about: initiatives in Formosa province to incorporate intercultural bilingual education in primary, secondary and higher education; the establishment of institutes to train intercultural teachers; and support for the development of intercultural curricula. 64. Despite these important initiatives, in all the places the Special Rapporteur visited he was informed that bilingual intercultural education was not being properly implemented and that sufficient resources had not been allocated to it. There is still a lack of teacher training in this area, especially for teachers from the indigenous communities themselves. In addition, concern was expressed about the lack of curricular guidelines on bilingual intercultural education, and it is reported that teaching materials still do not adequately reflect the realities of indigenous peoples; some materials still include misleading information about them (for example identifying the Mapuche as an indigenous people that only exists in Chile). One promising INAI programme in this area involves publishing materials developed by members of the communities. 65. Bilingual education is provided only in language classes; the other core subjects are not taught in indigenous languages. According to UNICEF, this problem is most serious in areas where indigenous peoples still use their own languages and do not speak much Spanish, such as in the Mbyá Guaraní communities in Misiones province and the Wichí communities in Chaco, Formosa and Salta provinces. The illiteracy rate in Spanish of Mbyá Guaraní and Wichí people over the age of 10 in these provinces is 9 or 10 times higher than the national average of 2.6 per cent (29.4 per cent and 23.4 per cent respectively). (c) The situation of indigenous women and girls 66. Indigenous women and girls face particular challenges with regard to access to education. Girls are frequently deprived of the opportunity to study, because they often abandon their studies to fulfil family obligations or because indigenous families give priority to boys. The Ministry of Health has concluded that indigenous women have a lower level of education than either indigenous men or non-indigenous women. 67. Another specific problem identified was the vulnerability of female students who migrate to towns or cities in order to gain access to education. Such students have to stay in hostels during the week, sometimes in the same room as male students and under male supervision. This leaves them extremely vulnerable to sexual abuse, and some of them have 14 GE.12-14947