A/CONF.189/PC.2/22 page 28 B. Discrimination by omission 93. Discrimination may sometimes appear in its passive form, i.e. when it results from an omission, in one of three ways: non-prevention, a refusal to take affirmative action and a lack or shortage of adequate resources. 1. Non-prevention 94. Non-prevention here means an attitude on the part of the State which consists in not taking the necessary measures to prevent situations of discrimination in the school setting. This is an omission upstream of a racial and/or ethnic situation likely to give rise to discriminatory behaviour. 95. The same applies to the training of teaching staff entrusted with multicultural or multi-denominational classes. Such training is all the more necessary since, aside from the fact that such staff may themselves be the source of discriminatory behaviour, the very composition of a multicultural class may lead to the propagation of racist stereotypes. The teachers’ role here is to dispel such myths and stereotypes and help to foster in the children a culture of respect for others as much as for themselves. Wherever possible, teachers must, as we have already said, be sensitized to and trained in addressing the problems of multiculturalism and in suitable means for combating discrimination. This is certainly a key element for balanced education in a multicultural setting. While any deficiency here cannot in itself be considered as discrimination, it is bound to maintain, if not develop, discriminatory ideas and conduct. States have a fundamental role to play here in stemming, through organizational measures, one of the most frequent causes of discrimination (see chapter III below). 2. Refusal to take affirmative action 96. The second aspect of discrimination by omission results sometimes from ill will and sometimes from selective attitudes, and is reflected in the refusal to take special measures for the benefit of a group. This is what happens, for example, when teaching programmes are not adapted to the needs of minorities. There is discrimination when the omission gives rise to exclusion, a restriction or a preference based on race and likely to deny the child of a minority group the enjoyment of a fundamental right. Such acts of omission may, depending on the circumstances, mean that there are no bilingual classes or remedial classes in the official language when children have difficulties because of that language, or else that there is a lack of diversity in school curricula or teacher training. 97. In some cases, the minorities not only call for their specific characteristics to be taken into account but also ask to participate in the formulation and implementation of educational policies. Thus, denouncing a political party’s discriminatory policy in the field of education, some indigenous representatives in one country drew a distinction “between education for Aborigines and Aboriginal education, with a view to highlighting the role that Aborigines should have in both designing and implementing educational policies”.107 98. On the question of language teaching more specifically, the examples which may be cited are both very numerous and very diverse owing to the complexity of the socio-political problems