• Traditional knowledge practices and schools have long marginalized indigenous ways of knowing and being.
• Example: Indigenous students have faced significant harm due to Western education systems. The Canadian residential school system and Thomas Babington Macaulay's policies in British India serve as glaring examples.
• Even today, the educational success rate of Indigenous students in mainstream systems is less.
• International educational programs, including the IB Diploma Programme, have failed to adequately represent and include non-Western knowledge.
• "Decolonizing education" involves decentering Western knowledges and fostering a system that actively works towards decolonization.

Real-World Example: Imagine you're in a school where all your textbooks and the way of teaching are dominated by a single perspective, say Western. That's what we're trying to change with decolonizing education - we want to include perspectives from all around the world, including Indigenous and non-Western ones.

• The curriculum reflects values associated with knowledge - what is taught and how it is taught.
• A key question: Who decides which knowledge is prioritized and who gets excluded?
• These decisions have immense power to shape societal values and worldviews.

Real-World Example: Suppose there's a school where only classical music is taught, neglecting all other genres. This decision limits students' exposure to other music forms and creates a biased understanding of music. This is why it's important to question who decides what's valued and taught.

• "Schooling the World" is a documentary on the global drive for universal education, particularly focusing on Ladakh in Northern India.
• Ladakh witnessed massive socio-political changes over a single generation due to the application of mainstream development policies.
• Example: In the 1990s, Ladakh had the highest rate of exam failure globally. Schools taught in foreign languages, and education didn't respect local culture.
• The Students Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) was founded to address these issues, making it a case study of culturally sensitive education.

Real-World Example: Think of SECMOL as a school where students who were struggling elsewhere come to learn in an environment respectful of their culture. Imagine studying in a school where you feel represented and heard - that's what SECMOL aimed to provide.