Recalling paragraph 86 of its report on its eighth session (E/2009/43-E/C.19/2009/14), the Permanent Forum urges public and private education institutions to provide permanent positions for indigenous teachers and to establish scholarships designated exclusively for indigenous students.
The Permanent Forum acknowledges the efforts and initiatives of States and United Nations agencies to promote mother-tongue based multilingual education, develop health programmes and provide skills to indigenous children and youth. In this regard, the Forum encourages States and United Nations agencies to increase their efforts in a targeted and wide-scale manner to respond to the needs and priorities of indigenous children and youth, especially in the areas of education and health, in a manner that is culturally sensitive and ensures their overall well-being consistent with articles 11, 14, 41 and 42 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Permanent Forum urges Member States to make significant investments in bilingual and culturally appropriate primary, secondary and higher education programmes, including mobile education initiatives for nomadic, semi-nomadic and mobile communities. Furthermore, the Forum calls upon Member States to establish effective mechanisms to ensure Indigenous youth occupy central roles in policy and political arenas and to break down barriers to their full political participation and leadership.
The Permanent Forum recommends, on the basis of articles 14 and 15 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, that States support indigenous peoples in establishing their own educational systems and institutions, including universities. Specific measures should be put in place to support indigenous, intercultural and community higher education institutions and programmes in their academic, organizational, financial and accreditation processes. An excellent example of best practices in this regard is the inclusion of compulsory indigenous studies in the curricula of higher education institutions. The Forum urges States to recognize the importance of the Higher Education Sustainability Initiative, launched during the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development of 2012, and to incorporate the knowledge, history and proposals of indigenous peoples into the activities to be undertaken.
In approaching Millennium Development Goal 2, "Achieve universal primary education: ensure that all boys and girls complete primary school", especially for indigenous children, the Forum recalls the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions, the International Charter of Traditional Games and Sports and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention against Discrimination in Education