E/CN.4/2005/88 page 15 57. In the 1960s in Mexico the Office of the Secretary of Education launched an indigenous education programme in State primary schools that was ultimately staffed by thousands of bilingual teachers. Curriculum content and teaching methods adapted to indigenous cultures were designed, and readers were produced in most indigenous languages, but the training of bilingual teachers was inadequate. The programme in fact never received the support and resources from the authorities needed to make it a real educational option for indigenous children. Despite the efforts made, 25 per cent of the indigenous population over the age of 15 is illiterate, and of this group a higher proportion are women. Thirty-nine per cent of the indigenous population between the ages of 5 and 24 does not attend school. Three indigenous universities and a National Institute of Indigenous Languages have been established. 58. For many years indigenous tribes in Tripura, India, have worked to have Kokborok used in their primary schools, where only English and Bengali had been taught. However, the school dropout rate is high at the secondary level, where Kokborok has yet to be used as a language of instruction. Moreover, while Kokborok speakers want to use Latin script to facilitate the transition to higher education, the Bengali script predominates in the region, which has led to protests and social unrest. 59. In Ladakh in northern India the Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) has succeeded in radically changing the traditional assimilationist education system and has enjoyed noteworthy success, with support from the authorities, in reverting to the use of their indigenous language (which is spoken by a quarter of a million persons) in schools and creating a local community-based education system that meets the needs of the people. 60. New Zealand began using Maori in pre-school education in 1982, an initiative that was subsequently extended to primary, secondary and higher education; however, it was not until 1987 that Maori was declared an official language of the country. Despite these efforts, statistics pertaining to Maori students continue to show a wide disparity between these students and the rest of the population. 61. The 1997 education reform in Norway included a directive on the curriculum in Sami schools in 6 municipalities that applied to 1,500 students receiving instruction in that language. The programme objective is to teach traditional Sami cultural values and knowledge. 62. Major efforts to promote indigenous languages in the education system have been made in South Africa and Namibia. The Department of Education in Northern Cape Province is preparing teaching materials for primary schools in indigenous San and Nama communities. There is an awareness of the need to promote multilingualism and adult literacy as part of the official policy of recognizing South Africa’s indigenous peoples. Dictionaries have been prepared in some local languages and the Department of Education has produced supporting materials for use in schools. As use of the San language is also being promoted in Botswana, a network for the sharing of educational materials and strategies has been developed in the region. 63. The Ifugao of the Cordillera in northern Philippines are endeavouring to reform the formal education provided by the State since the era of United States colonialism to incorporate indigenous systems of learning in school programmes, thereby increasing the empowerment of the indigenous people and ensuring authentic cultural development.