A/HRC/15/37/Add.5 and 0.5 per cent for all of Russia.12 In many communities, only between 15 and 50 per cent study their native language. 67. Given the remoteness of indigenous settlements, most indigenous children are taught in boarding schools. However, in conversations with the Special Rapporteur, teachers shared the view that boarding schools are not an ideal model for indigenous education since they uproot indigenous children, physically and culturally, from their traditional environments and families. Some regional governments have explored educational opportunities that are better suited to indigenous communities than the boarding school model, such as itinerant schools, which travel with reindeer herders. 68. More generally, the quality and relevance to the indigenous communities of the schools that serve them would be improved if those communities, especially the parents among them, had more control over the curriculum and administrative decisions. The school curriculum is determined by regional administrators who are required to follow a core federally defined curriculum for each grade. Indigenous children follow this curriculum, with an added indigenous language course. Regional administrators have some flexibility, and some schools try to recreate traditional rituals and teach traditional activities, but parents and local communities have very limited input into curriculum decisions. 69. Article 14 of the Declaration states that indigenous people have the right to establish and control their own educational institutions, teach children in their native language and choose the manner of education that is appropriate to their cultures and communities. While there may be multiple obstacles to providing education to small and remote settlements, and communities that practise a nomadic way of life, there should be determined efforts to foster a flexible educational framework, allowing for stronger control by indigenous communities. 70. Several non-governmental sources have pointed out that certain federal policies have had a negative effect on indigenous educational institutions. For example, the federal policy of “optimization”, which aims to consolidate certain municipal services in concert with the local self-government reform under the federal law “On general principles of local selfgovernment in Russia”13 have resulted in school closings in many small settlements. The Special Rapporteur heard testimony about Baklaniha village in Krasnoyarsky Krai, and a Shor village in the Kemerovski Region, which remain without schools due to school closings. Concerned individuals and NGOs argue that such school closings leave no option for families with children but to relocate and abandon their communities. While the extent of this problem is unclear, school closings should be carefully considered in light of their potential disparate impact on indigenous communities. 71. Additionally, in recent years, on the basis of the federal law “On Education”, many regions have started financing schools on a per capita basis, resulting in disproportionate disadvantages to schools in small settlements, and the elimination of positions for school psychologists, social pedagogical workers, or special needs teachers. In many institutions, extracurricular arts, crafts and performance courses have also been eliminated, and for certain courses, children in first through fourth grades are taught together. 12 13 GE.10-14779 “On Federal Targeted Program Economic and Social Development of Numerically Small Indigenous Peoples of the North until 2011” (with changes and amendments as of 6 June 2002), N 564, 2001. Federal law “On General Principles of Local Self-government in Russia” N 131, 2003. 17