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In many cases national constitutions and legislation (as well as the international human rights framework) are already strong when it comes to addressing discrimination - so legislation is often not the priority. The obstacles lie more in getting people to use the existing legislation to enforce their rights. One of the biggest obstacles probably lies in the fear that people have of the judicial system and legal language.

Almost by definition those who are most likely to be discriminated against in the field of education are those who have least access to (or voice in) education. Of course this group are also likely to have the least familiarity with (and least confidence in) the legal system. Indeed, in many contexts there is a direct connection between illiteracy and illegalisation. Children born to parents who are not literate are less likely to have their birth registered and are more likely to remain “invisible” in government statistics (and thus less likely to benefit from government programmes designed based on those statistics). There are often high rates of illiteracy in “illegal” urban settlements or slums, where securing basic rights to education becomes particularly challenging. Migrant workers who are often denied basic education, often lack the citizenship status that would give them confidence to challenge this.

Key to addressing discrimination is the building of awareness, of grassroots organisation, as well as of wider movements and coalitions. Unless there is an initial level of mobilisation and of organisation of the groups that suffer from discrimination it is hard to secure change. Adult literacy programmes inspired by the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, such as those using the Reflect approach, can play a key role in building that initial awareness and catalysing local action. This is a foundation from which broader organisations and movements can be built – as has happened for example in Nepal where national movements of dalits, landless people and bonded labourers have each emerged from systematic grassroots work with the Reflect approach.

There is still a journey though from building movements to building alliances or coalitions. In the past ten years national education coalitions have emerged in at least 65 countries around the world - coalitions that link NGOs, teacher unions, social movements and other actors who are concerned with education (see www.campaignforeducation.org). These have played a fundamental role in putting education higher up domestic political agendas, in demystifying and tracking education budgets and in advocating for changes to policy and practice.

Yet up until now few of these coalitions have made really strong connections with human rights activists or lawyers and almost none have taken legal action to challenge discrimination in education systems. This is indeed the next challenge – to build bridges between different constituencies so that social mobilisation by rights holders and legal action can go hand in hand. This is what I see the right to education project promoting and this is why discussions like this are so important! Thank you.