This online library provides resources from the Right to Education Initiative as well as from other partner organisations. You can filter relevant resources by topic, region, country, content type and language. Note that resources in other languages will be available soon.

See also our list of useful databases for information on the implementation of the right to education at national level.

This Resolution (A/HRC/RES/32/20) was presented by the United Arab Emirates and adopted by consensus. The resolution links back to the panel discussion held by the Council during its 29th session, on this topic and the OHCHR report on that panel discussion (A/HRC/30/23).

The resolution urges States to eliminate discrimination against girls in education and remove all obstacles such as discriminatory laws, custom, tradition or religious considerations, financial barriers, violence, child labour, harmful practices (eg: FGM), gender stereotypes, child, early and forced marriage and early pregnancy.  It also called on States to:

  • Ensure that educational institutions are safe and free from violence and abuse and girls can travel to and from and attend school safely
  • Address the school drop-out rate of girls and ensure that there are primary and secondary school places available for girls within a reasonable distance from home
  • Provide equal access to education for girls from marginalised and excluded groups, with disabilities, indigenous girls, ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, girls in rural areas and economically disadvantaged girls
  • Provide every primary and secondary school with professionally trained and qualified teachers, including female teachers and with full access to separate, adequate and safe water and sanitation services
  • Develop a non-discriminatory, inclusive, accessible and culturally sensitive, safe, supportive and secure environment conducive to providing a quality education, including human rights education….and financial literacy …. to enable girls to be proactive actors in society
  • Eliminate gender based stereotypes from all educational processes, practices and teaching materials
  • Prioritise education in State budgets, increase investments and international cooperation to allow all girls to complete free, equitable, inclusive and quality education and support developing countries through financial and technical resources for ‘country-led national education plans’
  • Support access to education for girls in emergency situations, migrant, internally displaced and refugee girls and those in humanitarian crises and conflict situations.

Finally, the resolution requests the OHCHR to prepare a report to be presented at the June 2017 session of the Human Rights Council on: ‘the realisation of the equal enjoyment of the right to education by every girl’, ‘obstacles limiting effective access’ and ‘recommendations on appropriate measures to eliminate gender disparities in education by 2030, taking into account Goal 4 of the SDGs’.

More than 300 participants representing 92 governments and 25 international organisations met in Salamanca in 1994 to further the objective of Education for All by considering the fundamental policy shifts required to promote the approach of inclusive education, namely enabling schools to serve all children, particularly those with special educational needs. Organised by the Government of Spain in co-operation with UNESCO, the Conference brought together senior education officials, administrators, policy-makers and specialists, as well as representatives of the United Nations and the Specialised Agencies, other international governmental organisations, non-governmental organisations and donor agencies. The Conference adopted the Salamanca Statement on Principles, Policy and Practice in Special Needs Education and a Framework for Action. These documents are informed by the principle of inclusion, by recognition of the need to work towards “schools for all” - institutions which include everybody, celebrate differences, support learning, and respond to individual needs. As such, they constitute an important contribution to the agenda for achieving Education for All and for making schools educationally more effective.

General comment No. 20: Non-discrimination in economic, social and cultural rights (art. 2, para. 2, of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights)

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Dans ce rapport, la Rapporteuse spéciale explique que les programmes d’enseignement non formel offrent des moyens souples et centrés sur l’apprenant pour améliorer les résultats dans le domaine de l’éducation. Ces programmes sont particulièrement utiles dans le cas des filles et des groupes vulnérables, notamment des enfants handicapés, des enfants issus de minorités, ainsi que des enfants vivant en milieu rural ou dans la pauvreté, qui sont surreprésentés dans la population non scolarisée. Lorsqu’ils font l’objet des dotations voulues, qu’ils sont accessibles, acceptables et adaptables, ces programmes aident les États à donner effet au droit à l’éducation des apprenants exclus du système formel. Ils contribuent en outre à la réalisation d’objectifs généraux d’apprentissage qui favorisent l’exercice des droits culturels et linguistiques.

Enfin, la Rapporteuse invite les États à reconnaître l’intérêt de l’éducation non formelle qui constitue un moyen souple et peu onéreux d’assurer un enseignement de qualité et peut à ce titre contribuer à permettre aux États de s’acquitter de leurs obligations relatives au droit à l’éducation.

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En este informe, la Relatora Especial explique que los programas de enseñanza no académica ofrecen fórmulas flexibles y centradas en los estudiantes para mejorar los resultados de la educación. Ello es particularmente importante para las niñas y los grupos que se hallan en situación vulnerable, como los niños con discapacidad, las minorías y los niños de las zonas rurales y empobrecidas, que constituyen un porcentaje excesivo de la población no escolarizada. Cuando se los formula para que sean asequibles, accesibles, aceptables y adaptables, esos programas permiten a los Estados hacer efectivo el derecho a la educación de los estudiantes que están excluidos del sistema académico. Además, esos programas pueden promover unos objetivos pedagógicos integrales que fomenten el ejercicio de los derechos culturales y lingüísticos.

Finalmente, la Relatora exhorta a los Estados a que reconozcan que la enseñanza no académica es un mecanismo flexible y eficaz en función de los costos que puede proporcionar una educación de calidad y ayudar a los Estados a cumplir las obligaciones que tienen respecto del derecho a la educación.

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In line with its mandate, the 2020 GEM Report assesses progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on education and its ten targets, as well as other related education targets in the SDG agenda. The Report also addresses inclusion in education, drawing attention to all those excluded from education, because of background or ability. The Report is motivated by the explicit reference to inclusion in the 2015 Incheon Declaration, and the call to ensure an inclusive and equitable quality education in the formulation of SDG 4, the global goal for education. It reminds us that, no matter what argument may be built to the contrary, we have a moral imperative to ensure every child has a right to an appropriate education of high quality.

The Report also explores the challenges holding us back from achieving this vision and demonstrates concrete policy examples from countries managing to tackle them with success. These include differing understandings of the word inclusion, lack of teacher support, absence of data on those excluded from education, inappropriate infrastructure, persistence of parallel systems and special schools, lack of political will and community support, untargeted finance, uncoordinated governance, multiple but inconsistent laws, and policies that are not being followed through.

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