World Yearbook of Education 1981

Book excerpt: First Published in 2005. The phrase 'education of minorities' raises a variety of questions. As a World Yearbook theme it demands clarification. We are using the word 'minority' to refer not to relative numbers but to 'the condition of being inferior or subordinate'. This could be taken to include students with a variety of handicaps - physical, intellectual, socioeconomic, cultural; pupils with low literacy or language problems; and victims of race or sex discrimination. However, this book concentrates on the problems of students who are disadvantaged by differences of culture and language, especially ethnic minorities who do not possess the background, attributes and skills of the dominant group and are thus distanced from the sources of power and status in the country they inhabit.