A/HRC/37/73 the long term by reducing dropout and repetition rates, improving academic results and the levels of literacy in both the minorities’ mother tongue and the official or majority language. That would eventually lead to greater family and community engagement in education. 31. The preservation of linguistic and cultural heritage and the promotion of diversity and tolerance of various communities was also a recurring concern that a number of participants suggested could be addressed by designing multicultural school curricula. They also expressed concerns about the tendency of certain Governments to use school curricula to assimilate young people into the majority culture. A number of participants raised concerns about the negative impact of highly centralized educational systems in certain countries, which negatively affected the access of marginalized communities to education and resulted in a low level of minority enrolment. 32. Finally, the participants explored the importance of ensuring human rights education from a young age for both majority and minority youth, in order to further awareness and understanding of minority rights. B. Recommendations Access to quality education 33. States should take legislative and policy measures to guarantee that minority youth have equal access to education of equal quality, delivered in an inclusive environment that fosters greater achievement for all. This includes the use of minority languages at all levels, as much, and for as long, as possible. Schools and universities should ensure that minority students who enter their institution receive adequate support to achieve academic success equal to that of non-minority students. Educational institutions must be sensitive to minority, gender and other issues, including through the collection of data disaggregated by ethnicity or national origin, religion and language, as well as gender, sexual orientation and physical abilities. Measures such as scholarships, fee waivers or quotas should be considered as special measures that can contribute to increasing educational opportunities for persons belonging to minorities. Delivering education in an inclusive environment 34. States need to play a proactive role to foster inclusive learning environments in their education systems. Teachers and professors should receive training on using inclusive teaching strategies that address the needs of students with a variety of ethnic, religious and linguistic backgrounds, learning styles and abilities. Inclusive learning environments are essential to contribute to minority students’ feeling equally valued. Additionally, adequate teaching and learning materials, including textbooks, which provide information about minorities and facilitate the learning of minority languages should be accessible to students. 35. States should recognize in their constitutions the diversity of their populations and the right of members of minorities to be taught in their mother tongue. States should develop programmes that offer teaching in minority languages, while ensuring that minorities also have access to instruction in other languages, including the official languages. The quality of instruction should not differ between programmes taught in different languages. States should take measures to ensure that members of minorities are able in practice to use their own language at school. 36. States should ensure that persons belonging to minorities are able to access the justice system to pursue collective claims for linguistically and culturally appropriate education, and that the justice system can ensure effective remedies when minority education rights are not respected. Minorities should be able to access support, including from civil society organizations, to ensure effective access to such legal procedures. 37. States should ensure that multicultural education is part of the school curriculum. Minority communities, including youth, should be consulted and 7

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