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UNESCO is releasing a new report on “” to mark the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development on 21 May, which celebrates the richness of the world’s cultures and the essential role of intercultural dialogue for achieving peace and sustainable development.

Diversity in education is an asset and has a great role to play for better cohesion, cultural diversity, inclusive societies, and economic benefit.  Yet, minorities are often at risk of having their human rights violated and can experience multiple forms of discrimination. Access to inclusive and quality education and lifelong learning opportunities is central to their full inclusion in society, but this is far from reality for many minorities. Language of instruction and curriculum may exclude minorities, while there are other barriers that impact them, such as physical accessibility that can be restricted if schools are far away from home, and additional costs such as uniforms and textbooks that can be prohibitive. Millions of learners globally cannot access education in a language they speak nor understand.

These barriers and their impact on vulnerable learners, including minorities, have been exacerbated by the school closures caused by the COVID-19 crisis. In addition, other obstacles took on new significance, such as a lack of electronic devices and connectivity, or the difficulties some parents faced in supporting their children’s learning due to insufficient digital skills or language barriers, for instance.

The protection of the rights of minorities requires particular attention and goes hand in hand with efforts to build intercultural education - which aims to go beyond the passive coexistence to achieve a developing and sustainable way of living together in multicultural societies through the creation of understanding of, respect for and dialogue between the different cultural groups. Education is one of the most important means by which the inherent characteristics of a minority - its culture, language or religion - can be passed on and preserved for future generations.

As highlighted in the during the Transforming Education Summit in 2022, in the ongoing education crisis, the marginalized or disadvantaged ones are being systematically left behind. As social tensions rise, minorities become more and more excluded from society because of persistent discrimination and exclusion, including exclusion from education.

UNESCO’s new report presents the international legal framework protecting the right to education for minorities and pursues with an analysis of measures concerning the right to education for minorities, reported by Member States in the framework of the 10^th Consultation on the implementation of the UNESCO Convention against discrimination in education. It provides policy guidance for consideration by Member States, civil society organizations and international organizations to ensure the right to education of minorities in all contexts.

The conclusions of the report will inform the ongoing work under the Initiative on the Evolving Right to Education, which is also considering how minority rights could be further protected in today's world.

• Read the new
• UNESCO’s work on the right to education
• World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development