{"id":93514,"date":"2019-10-02T15:02:52","date_gmt":"2019-10-02T22:02:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=93514"},"modified":"2019-10-02T15:02:52","modified_gmt":"2019-10-02T22:02:52","slug":"the-promotion-and-protection-of-the-rights-of-children-and-youth-through-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/10\/02\/the-promotion-and-protection-of-the-rights-of-children-and-youth-through-education\/","title":{"rendered":"The promotion and protection of the rights of children and youth through education"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEMENT BY H.E. A.L. ABDUL AZEEZ, <\/span><\/b>PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE FOR SRI LANKA T<\/span><\/b>HE SOCIAL FORUM <\/span><\/b>1 OCTOBER 2019, GENEVA<\/span><\/b><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Chairperson \u2013 Rapporteur of the Social Forum Director General of UN Office in Geneva
President of the Human Rights Council
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First of all, as the\nChairperson-Rapporteur of the Social Forum 2018, let me take this opportunity\nto congratulate you Madam Kadra Ahmed Hassan on your assumption of office as Chair\nof the 2019 edition of the Social Forum. I wish you and the Secretariat every\nsuccess. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Social Forum\ncreates the ideal space for an open, vibrant and interactive multi-stakeholder\ndialogue by bringing together Government representatives, intergovernmental\norganizations, civil society and other stakeholders including the academia. As\nwe celebrate the 30th<\/sup> Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of\nthe Child, the focus of this Forum on the promotion and protection of the\nrights of children and youth through education and the transformative power it\nentails, is most appropriate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The right to education\nis a fundamental human right that lies at the core of the 2030 Development\nAgenda. All children and youth have an equal right to an education in a safe\nand secure setting irrespective of their gender, family income levels,\nreligion, ethnicity, or geographical location. Conflict and violence, climate\nchange and natural disasters and irregular migration and displacement are among\ncontributing factors that deprive children of education. A hate-free atmosphere\nthat inculcates in children and youth the value of inclusivity and diversity\nand that leaves no room for stereotyping or the rejection of the other, is a\ncrucial element in education that helps build lasting peace and contributes to\nthe strengthening of the social fabric.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Access to quality\neducation that ensures that no child is left behind is essential to empower children\nand youth, provide access to gainful employment and earning potential,\nalleviate poverty, bring about upward mobility and achieve sustainable\ndevelopment goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further, while almost one\nbillion children attend school daily around the world, this does not always\nresult in learning due to the lack of security, dearth of trained teachers and\nlearning material, poor nutrition and inadequate health care.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 3rd<\/sup>\nInternational Conference on Safe Schools held in Spain in May this year discussed\nthe need for safety and protection at schools for an atmosphere conducive to\nlearning, while the International Youth Day in August 2019, focused on\ntransformative education to make education more relevant, equitable and\ninclusive to contribute towards achievement of the sustainable development\nagenda. This forum can take these discussions further forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me take this\nopportunity to share with you some of the experiences of Sri Lanka in providing\neducation for all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka\u2019s commitment\nto promote and protect right to education for all its citizens is enshrined in Article\n27 (2) of the Constitution, which pledges to establish a Democratic Socialist\nsociety the objectives of which, inter alia include the complete eradication\nof illiteracy and assurance to all persons of the right to universal and equal\naccess to education at all levels.\u201d This is further re-enforced by Education\nOrdinance No. 31 of 1939 which provides the legal basis for the system of\neducation and advocates for compulsory school attendance, under Regulation No.\n1 of 1997 which requires schooling for all children between the ages of five to\nfourteen years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to ensure the equal\nright to education for all social groups, Sri Lanka took the initiative in 1945\nto provide access to free education from kindergarten to university, including free\ntextbooks and student welfare facilities such as free health services, mid-day\nmeals, uniforms and financial assistance through scholarships at the secondary\nand higher education levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A significant step\ntaken by Sri Lanka in ensuring access to education for all was that those who\nmissed out on their schooling during the conflict period were facilitated to\ngain formal education, undergoing special education programmes under the Catch\nup Education Scheme\u201d. Hundreds have entered or qualified to enter universities\nover the years since the end of the conflict. Further, hundreds of child\ncombatants, once recruited by the LTTE, received vocational training in order\nto be gainfully employed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While only 66% of\ncountries have achieved gender parity in primary education, Sri Lanka has made\nprogress in achieving gender equality at all levels of education. The ratio of\ngirls to boys\u2019 enrolment has increased at all levels and has reached the target\nof 100% in secondary schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the fifteen public\nuniversities and five institutes attached to them, which provide free education\nto undergraduate students, females constitute 60.3% of the student population. Female\nstudents are a majority in most streams according to the university enrolment\nfigures of 2015 \u2013 Arts 76.7% ; Education 85.2%; Law 50.9%; Management and\nCommerce 55.1%; Science 58.5%; Agriculture 61.9%; Medicine 55.8%; Dental\nSurgery 63.5%; Veterinary Medicine 64.4%; Architecture 51.7%; Indigenous Medicine\n76.6%, totalling 64% women in these courses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The right to universal\nand equal access to education at all levels has also been upheld consistently\nby the Judiciary of Sri Lanka, in a number of cases pertaining to school and\nuniversity admissions. These rulings derived their strength and logic from Article\n12 providing for the right to equality and Article 27 referring to the complete eradication of illiteracy and the\nassurance to all persons of the right to universal and equal access to\nEducation at all levels. <\/em>The principle embodied in the Constitution that all are equal before the law <\/em>and are entitled to the equal protection of the\nlaw, <\/em>remains the bedrock upon which democratic governance rests.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By raising the minimum\nage of education from 14 to 16 and the minimum age of employment from 14 to 16,\nas per the \u2018National Policy on\nElimination of Child Labour in Sri Lanka\u2019, the right to education is\nre-enforced. Further reforms including a mandatory 13 years of education are\nalso being designed, intended to ensure that all children attend school ranging\nfrom the primary to secondary levels of education, thereby leaving no room for\ntheir exploitation in the social or cultural domains, or for labour.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To ensure the special education needs of children with disabilities, 714\nschools provide special education through designated units in government\nschools for disabled children. 25 special schools for severely disabled\nchildren are operated by the private sector and receive financial assistance by\nthe Government. A further 25 schools for disabled children which are operated\nby the private sector are partially funded by the government. A special scheme\nof university admissions for persons with disabilities also exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such measures have\nresulted in remarkable social indicators in recent years,\nsuch as high enrolment rates in education, reduction of school drop-outs and universal primary education\nreaching 99.7% (2014).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you          <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STATEMENT BY H.E. A.L. ABDUL AZEEZ, PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE FOR SRI LANKA THE SOCIAL FORUM 1 OCTOBER 2019, GENEVA Chairperson \u2013 Rapporteur of the Social Forum Director General of UN Office in GenevaPresident of the Human Rights CouncilUN High Commissioner for Human Rights Distinguished GuestsLadies and Gentlemen First of all, as the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Social […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93514\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}