Opinion – The comitee of the Rights of Child

Rapporteur: Egypt
The Committee on the Rights of the Child,
Taking under consideration the Articles 28 and 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), Recognizing the great value of the educational process for the integration of students into their societies,
Considering that refugees and internally displaced populations who have left their country of origin, have indeed learning difficulties and therefore they struggle to adapt and integrate into the educational system of the country of reception,
Emphasizing on the need to respect diversity and eliminate prejudices and stereotypes,
Underlining the importance of respecting the right of parents and legal guardians to educate their children in accordance with their religious, philosophical beliefs and ideologies,

1. Promotes the construction of new and the maintenance or the adaptation of existing infrastructure, in order to facilitate the accessibility for children with physical disabilities, for example by installing ramps,
2. Encourages the promotion of anti-racist exemplars through campaigns held by the media of the States-Parties to the Convention,
3. Encourages States Parties to create and promote websites aimed at raising funds designated to the integration of students belonging to vulnerable social groups into the educational process,
4. Proposes the placement of permanent psychologists, or regular visits of such experts, in educational institutions in order to provide psychological support and counseling to children coming from vulnerable social groups and students who have been victims or perpetrators of bullying,
5. Supports that the States Parties should make the appropriate changes in the school textbooks of humanitarian courses in order to raise awareness about the difficulties that people coming from vulnerable social groups face
6. Encourages the competent authorities of the States Parties to make the necessary adjustments to their curriculum so that refugees and linguistic and cultural minority students receive part or all of their education in their mother tongue
7. Urges the relevant Committees of the States Parties of the Convention to ensure the continuous training of teaching staff, parents and guardians, through open workshops and training seminars with the assistance of experts such as psychologists and sociologists
8. Stresses the need for continuous training of the teaching staff as well as the introduction of new specialized staff,
9. Proposes that the States Parties of the Convention adopt a cirriculm that allow joint conduct of the educational process both for students of the host country and the students of refugees and immigrants, in parallel with the creation of special integration departments or other special educational structures that will operate either simultaneously with the main educational process or after its completion,
10. Supports the creation of educational websites aiming to support students with learning difficulties
11. Proposes the use of the latest electronic means of communication to enhance the conduction of the educational process, aimed at students with physical disabilities and students located in remote areas
12. Recommends the division of the course of Religion into three sub-categories, from which, one can selected by each student, and more specifically: a) a purely religious course, focusing on the dominant religion of the country; b) a course of a religious, historical and multicultural nature, and c) a course of philosophy and ethics,
13. Emphasizes the importance of informing all students, in the context of the above course, that they have the right to abstain from a particular religious community
14. Promotes the organization of activities within the school curriculum,
    such as excursions, student exchanges and educational visits, aimed at eliminating religious stereotypes as well as the promotion of intercultural education
15. Supports the free emergence of a children’s religious consciousness without
    fanaticism,
16. Recommends that the States Parties promote religious neutrality in schools
    by avoiding placing religious symbols inside the educational institutions,
17. Promotes the creation of a specific common space where students can pray- individually or collectively- at any time of the school day,
18. Encourages the possibility of absolve students from the process of praying for personal, mental or moral reasons,
19. Emphasizes the importance of the active role of relevant experts of the United Nations in order to better coordinate the above actions and provide relevant remarks.