Providing Equal Educational Opportunity

Providing Equal Educational Opportunity

By: Estanislao Mejia

To protect and promote the right of every Filipino to quality, equitable, culture based, and complete basic education…(DepEd)

Despite the almost universal recognition of State obligations to provide universal primary education and fair access to secondary and higher education through all appropriate means, education is not fully accessible for many people around the world. Developing countries face particularly acute challenges with regard to great social and economic inequalities, but developed countries also encounter challenges when attempting to ensure equal educational opportunities for all.

Concerns relating to equality of opportunity in education are understood as relating both to guaranteeing equal opportunities in access to different levels of education as established by human rights norms, as well as equal opportunities to evolve within education systems.

Free and compulsory primary education is an inalienable right of every child, and a core obligation of States under international human rights treaties. The Education for All process has furthered the global recognition of the duty to ensure every child receives free primary and basic education without discrimination or exclusion.

UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education

The UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education is a key instrument addressing the fundamental principles of non-discrimination and equality of opportunity in education. Equality of opportunity and equal access to education are guaranteed in the constitutions of many countries in all regions. Constitutional provisions are noteworthy in several countries.

Key factors affecting equality of opportunity in education

-          Physical barriers

Persons with disabilities, children living in the street or without parental care, migrant workers and their families, refugees, internally displaced persons and those affected by natural disasters or conflict. Moreover, nomad populations, including pastoral populations who remain deprived of equal opportunities in education, deserve special attention. . .

Inadequate public transportation and inadequate school facilities can be determinant factors in excluding students from the education system. Persons living in poverty are particularly affected; the concentration of communities living in poverty in remote areas or in areas that are poorly served by transportation is a key factor limiting their access to education institutions. This is particularly acute in rural areas where schools are not present.

These obstacles are commonly addressed through support for transportation of students, and by bringing schools closer to communities, often through improvements in transport infrastructure and the construction and expansion of education establishments in poorly served locations. Strategies also include the establishment of boarding schools.

Threat of violence against girls on the way to and from schools limits their education opportunities: household surveys in many countries identify distance as a major factor in parents’ decisions to keep daughters out of school, and concerns over security figure prominently.

The lack of support for transportation and inadequate facilities can also be a determinant factor in the exclusion of students with disabilities from education systems. Inadequate public transportation and poor infrastructure in rural and urban areas still impede access to schools for persons with mobility restrictions and those who have impaired vision. Within schools, inadequately built classrooms and toilets can also restrict their use by students with disabilities.

-          Financial barriers

Direct and indirect costs of schooling – as a central reason for children being out of school or dropping out. Tuition fees appear as the most obvious financial obstacle, and the accumulation of indirect costs, such as those related to transportation, school materials, uniform and other indirect

contributions, undermine access to education opportunities. Besides, disparities in the provisions for public education contribute to unequal opportunities for many students receiving education in poorly resourced schools, as compared to well-resourced ones.

Even if primary or basic education were to be accessible free of cost, such access cannot be universalized effectively unless financial support in the form of grants and bursaries is provided to the children who are excluded, in particular those who are victims of extreme poverty.

While significant efforts have been undertaken to improve access to free primary schooling, less efforts have been made in relation to higher levels of education. Students with limited resources therefore have very limited prospects to progress to secondary education and beyond. States have the responsibility to alleviate this financial burden and ensure that secondary education is generally available and accessible to all, as well as ensure equal access to higher education on the basis of merit or capacity.

A number of in-kind incentives, such as school meal programmes, especially in poverty-stricken areas, are implemented in order to ensure that income deprivation or poverty in general does not result in exclusion from schools. In broad terms, State investment in social-protection policies and its contribution to alleviating the burden on families and child poverty plays an important role in the promotion of education.

-          Linguistic and cultural barriers

The lack of education in mother-tongue or native languages is often a source of exclusion. This is particularly relevant for minorities and migrants. Estimates indicate that around 221 million children speak a different language at home from the language of instruction in school, limiting their ability to develop foundations for later learning

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, establishes in article 4(3) that States should take appropriate measures so that, wherever possible, persons belonging to minorities may have adequate opportunities to learn their mother tongue or to have instruction in their mother tongue. Moreover, available experience shows that a child learns better in his or her mother tongue in the formative stages and initial period of education.

Countries with numerous local languages where the official language is not the same as that used at home face particular challenges in establishing educational policies and language rights. The Forum on Minority Issues recommended that States take appropriate measures, wherever possible, to ensure that persons belonging to minorities may have adequate opportunities to learn their mother tongue or to have instruction in their mother tongue. These measures are deemed to be most critical at the preschool and primary school levels, but may extend to subsequent stages of education. Respecting the richness of linguistic and cultural diversity, education policies in today's globalized world should give high consideration to mother-tongue-based, multilingual education.

Conclusions and recommendations

It is clear that normative action aimed at achieving equality of opportunities in education, both in law and in fact, needs to be intensified. The application of the principle of equality of opportunity in education, which is common to various international human rights treaties, calls for greater emphasis on the fulfilment of State obligations.

(a) Ensure adequate legal protection to the right to education and its equal enjoyment in all its inclusive dimensions.

(b) Address multiple forms of inequality and discrimination through comprehensive policies.

(c) Ensure adequate resource allocation.

(d) Support mechanisms promoting the enforcement of the right to education

(e) Take a human-rights perspective for moving forward the Education For All (EFA) agenda.

(g) Enhance international assistance and cooperation.

(h) Strengthen collaboration with academic institutions and civil society organizations

Reference:

Human Rights Council, Seventeenth session

Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development,

United Nations A/HRC/17/29

General Assembly Distr.: General

18 April 2011

Original: English