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Els Heijnen-Maathuis
I guess it is not easy to

I guess it is not easy to change especially attitudes, perceptions, etc. of adults. Integrating these issues in mainstream education are critical, but at the same time children copy what adults are doing (rather than what adults are saying). Part of the problem may also be that many teachers who should be role-models for children, never wanted to be teachers in the first place. That makes changing people's attitudes and behaviours also more difficult. Often people are not conscious of their hidden prejudices and stereotyping perceptions and it requires excellent "trainers" to help people to become aware of such and do something about it.
It is beautiful to have all the international agreements/declarations etc. that we have, but translating such into (for example) quality education that goes beyond passing standard exams of memorized cognitive learning is a completely different story. Contextualizing rights, discrimination etc. is also very important. There is some beautiful material in Tamil Nadu developed by an Indian Human Rights network only using examples and activities that are very close to children's lives. Here in Uganda, in one of the districts where I am working the district (education is in principle decentralized) has identified human rights education as an important area to integrate into education, but it will be important how and who and with what expected outcomes.
Giving children a voice in for example discussing issues around discrimination is good, but if nobody listens to those voices and takes them into account when policies and practices are discussed and decided, it is better not to giver children such an opportunity. Tokenism mostly leads to frustration and children not wanting to participate anymore.
Legal frameworks and policies are often quite good. Understanding the implications for education and non-discrimination is much more difficult. Inclusion in education is one of such issues difficult to understand for many. Inclusion is in fact the operationalisation of the right to non-discrimination, and although Uganda claims to do inclusive education, its EMIS has no possibility of making all school-age children visible in data collection, so how can the system/schools reach out to something they do not know.
Exposing marginalisation/discrimination/exclusion must imply that we look at these issues from the perspectives of different actors and stakeholders, and take their views and feelings serious.

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