In what countries for examples minority languages have their own language-medium primary or high schools?
How about universities?
Minority movements often want this but I cannot think of a terribly great number of countries where this would be actually implemented (ie. Serbian in schools in Germany).
I am not sure if you would consider Maori, in New Zealand a minority language for these purposes. It is the indigenous language, and an official language. But if you consider that English is by and large the main language spoken the I suppose you would consider Maori to be a minority language?
If so, then certainly. We have Kura Kaupapa Schools which are defined by this site. A kura kaupapa Māori school is a State school where teaching is in the Māori language and the school's aims, purposes and objectives reflect the Te Aho Matua philosophy. There are also schools which are called Kura Teina (not as common - same info on the above link) which are aiming to become Kura Kaupapa but are not there yet. Also full immersion Maori classes in schools which otherwise teach in English aren't uncommon in certain areas either.
A big reason for these schools existing is the Kohanga Reo movement from the early 80s. This is a wiki page but there is a lot about it on the internet. It was based around the idea of starting them young to keep them interested – and also recognition that the language wasn’t be taught to the younger generations. Put simply, my grandmother’s generation learned it, my parents didn’t. If the parents didn’t teach it and didn’t encourage it then who would. There is also a Maori expression called "Ahi kaa" (‘Keeping the Homefires Burning’) which has a few different interpretations but one common one– securing or keeping safe the area where the people come from but more metaphorical interpretation than a physical place. The idea is that you do this by keeping the culture, the language, the politics and the history alive.
There are tertiary institutes which focus on Maori - culture, languages customs etc but I am not aware of any where the instructional language is in Maori and only Maori. The Wananga o Raukawa is one (waa nung aa) which offers up to doctorate level qualifications. AFAIK, these classes aren't actually in Maori (although some might be) but are more focused on the culture and learning the language. I suppose the logic is that they wish to include a wider range of people than solely Maori students who happened to grow up speaking Maori - the target market would still be small.
Like I said though, I suppose it depends on whether you would consider the language a minority language.
Edited by: sneaker_fish
Very interesting, sneaker.
I know of at least one Alaskan school system that offers immersion in the local Eskimo language.
(Just thought I'd mention that the preferred term in Alaska is Eskimo. It's different in Canada and Greenland.)
In the U.K, there are three languages besides English which enjoy, to some extent or another, minority-language medium education.
In Wales, there are Welsh medium schools throughout the country where all education (besides English classes perhaps) is through Welsh. In some areas, children have to travel a very long distance to attend English-medium schools. Many (most?) students at Welsh-speaking schools have English-speaking parents and don't necessarily speak Welsh as a first language, but by the time they leave school they are fully bilingual. Welsh is the language of administration and social activities at most Welsh-medium schools, but I believe there may be a few bilingual schools which provide both Welsh and English medium education. At post-secondary (16-18) level, there are AFAIK no 'Welsh-only' colleges, but at some colleges most subjects can be taken through the medium of Welsh. At university level, Bangor and Aberystwyth universities offer a range of subjects which can be taken entirely through Welsh, and both languages can be used with the university administration. However, the majority (but not all) social activities take place through English, as this is the first language of the majority of students.
In Scotland, there are some schools which provide GME (Gaelic Medium Education). This usually means that the first 2 years of education are entirely through Gaelic, and then English is gradually introduced until half of subjects are taught in English and half in Gaelic. However, with a very small number of exceptions, GME is provided in 'units' within bilingual schools which also provide English medium education. So, as a result, the language used on the playground is English. The range of subjects available through GME depends entirely on the teachers the school is able to hire- at some schools the range is very limited, at others it includes a number of subjects. There are only a tiny number of Gaelic-only schools in Scotland- only two that I know of (one in Glasgow, one in Inverness) and another tiny primary school which is technically bilingual but all students opted for GME, so is currently de-facto Gaelic-only. Providing Gaelic-only schools is difficult as most Gaelic-speaking areas are remote, rural communities which wouldn't necessarily be able to support two schools, one English and one Gaelic, and so GME is a compromise. However, GME units don't provide the same immersion experience as a Gaelic-only school. At post-secondary and university level, only a small number of courses are available through Gaelic. There is a Gaelic-speaking university institution called Sabhal Mor Ostaig which teaches a small number of degree courses through Gaelic.
In Northern Ireland, there are a tiny number of Irish-medium schools at primary and secondary level where everything functions in Irish. There is no Irish-medium university education AFAIK, but this is available in the Republic of Ireland, where Northern Irish students can study without restriction.
In Malaysia where the official language is Bahasa Malaysia and where the medium of teaching in national schools is Bahasa Malaysia, there are still schools where the teaching medium is Chinese or Tamil,
English is normally the second language at all national schools in Malaysia, while Bahasa is the second language in Chinese-medium or Tamil-medium schools.
In Singapore, the medium of teaching is English, while students will have to take a second language, normally their mother-tongues, e.g. Chinese (Mandarin), Malay or Indian (Tamil).
If I understand your question correctly then in the US we have many such schools at the primary through high school level. We have Charter Schools, immersion schools and private schools any of which can be held in one of many different languages. Also, native languages are taught on Native American reservation schools. I'm not sure about universities that hold all their classes in a language other than English though (that's not to say there aren't any).
in finland swedo-finns have schools in finnish plus universities are required to have a quota for swedish speaking students and there are some courses in swedish and they can pass exams in swedish. regretfully, finnish speakers are also obliged to learn swedish, but this is slowly changing due to the fact that finns dont want to be forced to learn swedish because of 6% of the population. there are also some higher education schools only in swedish.
samis have their own schools as well, but university education in sami is not possible.
btw, in western finland and the capital signs are in two languages, swedish and finnish. this is not the case with eastern finland. there signs are only in finnish. nowdays finnish speaking pupils are not obliged anymore to take some i think finishing test in swedish in high school.
in serbia every nationality can have schooling in their own language. i dont know whether hungarians (the biggest non-serbian vojvodina..i say that because serbs are the biggest ethnicity in the province of vojvodina followed by hungarians) can study in hungarian.
im sorry to say but i find it silly to call irish a minority language in ireland. it is in a way but in reality its the TRUE language of the irish. english is the language of the former occupator (i will never understand how the irish neglected the language so much. other nations like serbs, finns etc were occupied for hundred of years as well and havent forgotten their languages considering how important a language is in the building the national identity).
btw, in finland every foreign child has the right to weekly classes of their mother tongue. they usually take it until the end of 9.class (ends with 16, school starts at the age of 7), some even longer and with 12 children can choose whether they will continue it till 16 and its part of their official school curriculum. some schools include it even earlier. these classes often include religion as well.
for example somali kids have somali mothertongue classes (they learn about the customs, culture, literature, history, etc) and islam.
serbian kids beside serbian as mother tongue learn about orthodoxy and the serbian orthodox church, etc.
