VI. CONTENT AND DELIVERY OF THE CURRICULUM 54. The form and substance of education, including curricula and teaching methods, must be acceptable to parents and children as relevant, culturally appropriate and of a quality equal to national standards. 55. The liberty of parents or legal guardians to choose educational institutions for their children other than those established by the authorities of the State and to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions must be recognized. Such alternative institutions must comply, however, with the “minimum education standards as may be laid down or approved by the State”.2 Any State financing of non-State schools must be provided to all such schools on an equal basis. States should ensure that all parents are informed about the right to choose alternative educational institutions. 56. With regard to the right to manifest religion in schools or educational institutions, forums for continuous dialogue should be developed where necessary between members of religious minorities and educational institutions that serve them with the view to better understanding and accommodating their religious needs within schools. 57. In cases where members of minorities establish their own educational institutions, their right to do so should not be exercised in a manner that prevents them from understanding the culture and language of the national community as a whole and from participating in its activities. 58. States should provide adequate opportunities to persons belonging to minorities to learn their mother tongue or to learn through the medium of the mother tongue, alternatives which should not be understood as mutually exclusive. Specific forms of such opportunities should be chosen in consultation with persons belonging to minorities and taking into account their freely expressed wishes. 59. School language regimes for the initial stages of education in State schools should ideally employ the language of the child as the predominant medium of instruction, with a gradual introduction of the State language or dominant local language, if different from that of the child, at a later stage, where possible by bilingual teachers sensitive to the cultural backgrounds of minority children. 60. Education should be able to adapt to the situation of changing societies and communities and be responsive to the needs of students in diverse social and cultural settings. A diversity of learning systems should be considered so that quality formal and non-formal education that is contextualized, culture specific and relevant within an integrated system of education may be delivered. 2 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 13., para 3. Compilation of Recommendations of the First Four Sessions 2008 to 2011 11 EDUCATION I • Minorities and the right to education