PROTECTING MINORITY RIGHTS – A Practical Guide to Developing Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Legislation 2. UNESCO supports bilingual and/or multilingual education at all levels of education as a means of promoting both social and gender equality and as a key element of linguistically diverse societies. 3. UNESCO supports language as an essential component of inter-cultural education in order to encourage understanding between different population groups and ensure respect for fundamental rights.1068 The High Commissioner on National Minorities of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in considering education in minority languages, has called for a balanced approach involving both protected minority rights and access to State or official languages.1069 The High Commissioner has further held in this regard: “Multilingualism, and especially learning the language of persons with whom one interacts regularly, is collectively enriching and a tool for enhancing mutual understanding and tolerance.”1070 In particular, in the field of education, the High Commissioner recommends: States should respect the right of persons belonging to minorities to be taught their language or to receive instruction in this language, as appropriate, especially in areas inhabited by them traditionally or in substantial numbers. States should complement this by developing integrated and multilingual education systems at all levels designed to provide equal access, opportunities and educational outcomes for all pupils, regardless of their majority or minority background. Such integrated education should also include teaching all pupils about the diversity in their society.1071 Good practices include the establishment of multilingual teaching environments in which all children – including children from majority communities – receive education in both minority and majority languages.1072 TEACHING AND LEARNING IN AND OF MINORITY LANGUAGES IN SLOVENIA In its fourth opinion on the situation of minorities in Slovenia, the Council of Europe’s Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities noted the following issues as concerns teaching and learning in and of minority languages, which elaborate some of the challenges in this area: 80. The languages of the Italian and Hungarian national minorities continue to be taught in the current framework of the education system. Concerns were expressed by the minority representatives, and acknowledged by the government, that, in practice, teachers lack the language skills needed for teaching in the minority language, due to inadequate training. According to the state report, several training projects to improve language knowledge and teaching methodology have been funded by the Ministry for Education, Science and Sport, with the support of European funds, with a view to remedying this problem. The self-governing communities have been in charge of the projects, which are meant to involve 150 teachers for the period 2016–2020. In addition, draft amendments to the legislation on education for the Italian and Hungarian minorities … include the obligation for teachers to pass professional examinations also in the minority language. Finally, teachers from neighbouring countries can 156 1068 UNESCO, “Education in a multilingual world: UNESCO education position paper” (Paris, 2003), p. 30. Available at https://unesdoc. unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000129728. 1069 “While States have an obligation to protect and promote minority languages and the right of persons belonging to minorities to learn and use them, minorities share with the majorities the responsibility to participate in the cultural, social and economic life and in the public affairs of their wider society. This participation implies, for instance, that persons belonging to minorities should acquire adequate knowledge of the State or official language(s).” See High Commissioner on National Minorities of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, The Ljubljana Guidelines on Integration of Diverse Societies (The Hague, 2021), p. 52. Available at www.osce.org/ files/f/documents/0/9/96883.pdf. 1070 Ibid., p. 54. 1071 Ibid., p. 55. 1072 For example, the Komşu (neighbour) kindergarten, a private initiative enjoying State-funding in Kreuzberg, Berlin, had, as of the late 2000s, 125 children enrolled. Approximately, one third were Turkish, one third German and one third children from mixed relationships or marriages. In addition, approximately, half of the staff were Turkish-speakers. Each class/group included one Turkishspeaking and one German-speaking staff member. The Komşu was reportedly popular among various segments of the local community and places were much sought after. See Lucy Hottmann, “Turkish language provision in Berlin”, dissertation submitted to the University of Manchester (unpublished), 2008, p. 33.