The first meeting of FUEN’s Education Working Group took place in Flensburg

There is a new working group inside the FUEN: the first meeting of the Education Working Group of the organisation took place in Flensburg between 28-29 May 2018. 14 organisations were represented at the meeting dealing with the right to education in mother language, the minority school systems and future strategies.

The event was hosted by FUEN Vice President Olga Martens, who reminded the participants that minority education has always been an important issue for FUEN, as the FUEN Charta for the autochthonous national minorities in Europe from 2006 and the Fundamental Right to Education from 2007 show. With the Minority SafePack Initiative, the focus was set again on education.

In the discussion following the presentation of the Charta and the Fundamental Right to Education by Prof. Dr. Jorgen Kühl, the participants discussed the importance of education in mother tongue as a way of preserving identity in a globalised world. Kühl stated that globalisation is a problem, but can also become an opportunity to get and stay in contact. The discussion made it very relevant that minorities without a kin-state and small language groups face totally different challenges than minorities with a kin-state, and thus a distinction has to be made within the working group.

On the second day of the event West Frisians from the Netherlands, the Turkish minority from Western Thrace, Germans from Russia, North Frisians from Germany, Croats from Austria, Germans from Denmark, Danish from Germany, Sorbs from Germany, Hungarians of Subcarpathia, and Russians from Estonia presented the situation of their educational systems, the problems they face, but also the strenghts of the system. The participants agreed that the majority of the problems their institutions are facing are caused by bureaucracy and the lack of the implementation of the right to education.

When dicussing a future strategy for the working group, the participants proposed the FUEN to organise a meeting for the representatives of educational institutions. Gathering data about the minority school systems from all over Europe was also considered to be essential, as well as gathering information from experts, scientific papers, documents and news. Participants agreed that the focus of the Education Working Group should be the exchange of experiences, sharing the problems and best practices.