NOTICIAS
Colombia demanda de Gratuidad sentencia de la Corte Constitucional
Regístrese ahora para la Semana de Acción Mundial 2010
Decisión del tribunal de la CEDEAO (ECOWAS) punto de referencia para el derecho a la educación
Los derechos del niño y de la niña despues de 20 años
CONFINTEA diciembre, Brasil. El analfabetismo de adultos constituye una doble violación de derechos humanos
CONFINTEA "La educación en un contexto de crisis múltiples", por D. Archer
Actualización de las Normas de Emergencia Mínimas para la Educación
El portal de las Naciones Unidas sobre enfoques de desarrollo basados en derechos
Abolición de las tasas escolares: Etiopía, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique
Páginas de Movilización: con quién trabajar en su país link
Discriminación: Tanzania, Guatemala, República Checa, Rep. Dominicana
legislation
I think legislation is a good idea and is one way forward. But enforcemnet of this legislation is what is lacking in many developing countries. In many developing countries CRC has been ratified and even made into local law but parents and communiities continue to keep children from school without any consequences. Even where education has been made compulsory for a certain age group there is no enforcement to make this happen. One village headman( local leader) in Malawi imposed a goat fine for parents that did not send their children to school for no reason in his village, the result was fantastic children were attending school and attendnace was 98-100% in that village. But this could not be applied in all villages so that did not go further.
In a similar manner there are no specific consequences for national governments or international donors that make it impossible for children to attend school, so efforts to have legislation that can not be followed through are futile. legislation msut be able to protect and punish misconduct.
attitudes and teaching methods
These can also be deterrent for children attending schools. One of the major reasons cited by the Ministry of Education in Malawi for children droping out of school is lack of interest in school, teaching methods that do not motivate children to learning are in themselves a push factor for children to drop out. Children need to feel safe in the school environment and some attitudes towards children of ethnic minorities and children affected and infected with HIV and AIDS make them leave school and loothe learning rather than make them feel that they are welcome to be part of the school communities. Teachers and administrative staff need to sensitized to these issues especially even being senitive to the needs of children that need to take medication (in the case of those affected by HIV) during school time by giving them a space to do so.
I think one other issue that affects children's right to education is the school environment for example the lack of water and poor sanitation makes it difficult for girls to attend school during menstruation and unsafe water make boys and girls un healthy and therefore not able to attend classes and this is in violation of the same rights we would like them to have. Making the school environment safe is one way of ensuring that children enjoy their right to education.