I.Introduction
1.At its seventy-fourth session, the Committee will examine the periodic reports of Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Pakistan and Seychelles.
2.As a specialized agency of the United Nations system, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) contributes to the building of peace, the alleviation of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture and communication and information. In accordance with the medium-term strategy for the period 2014–2021, gender equality was designated as one of the two global priorities for UNESCO. The priority is being pursued through a two-pronged approach: gender-specific programming and the mainstreaming of gender equality perspectives into all fields of competence of UNESCO.
3.UNESCO has a major role and responsibility within the United Nations system in implementing the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Article 10 of the Convention provides that “States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in order to ensure to them equal rights with men in the field of education”. The right to education lies at the very heart of the mission of UNESCO and is an integral part of its constitutional mandate.
4.Efforts by UNESCO to promote the empowerment of women, women’s rights and gender equality are guided by its medium-term strategy for the period 2014–2021; its biennial and quadrennial programme and budget documents; its organization-wide action plan on the gender equality priority for 2014–2021, which supports and guides the implementation of its global gender equality priority; the Convention; the Beijing Platform for Action; and resolutions and international and regional instruments relevant to the areas of action of UNESCO.
5.The commitment of UNESCO to pursuing its gender equality priority is facilitated by the Division for Gender Equality in the Office of the Director-General. As the UNESCO focal point for gender equality, the Division provides policy guidance and recommendations to senior management and the programme sectors on mainstreaming gender equality considerations into UNESCO policies, strategies and programmes; carries out capacity-building; monitors gender parity and work-life balance within the secretariat; and develops and establishes partnerships with other United Nations bodies, regional bodies, intergovernmental organizations, non‑governmental organizations, private foundations and private sector partners that support initiatives for the empowerment of women and gender equality.
II.Measures taken by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to implement the provisions of the Convention in the countries whose reports are to be considered at the seventy-fourth session
Andorra
6.Andorra has been a party to the Convention against Discrimination in Education of 1960 since 13 March 2018.
7.The Constitution of Andorra enshrines the right to education for all girls and women. Article 6 of the Constitution stipulates that all persons are equal before the law and that no one may be discriminated against on grounds of birth, race, sex, origin, religion, opinion or any other personal or social condition. Moreover, article 20 stipulates that all persons have the right to education. It further stipulates that parents have the right to decide the type of education for their children and that they also have the right to moral or religious instruction for their children in accordance with their own convictions.
8.The Andorran educational system is made up of three subsystems: Andorran, Spanish and French. The educational system is free and public. There is a single national curriculum for training on information and communications technology that is integrated into school curricula.
9.Education is compulsory for girls and boys between the ages of 6 and 16. In 2012, 3.1 per cent of the country’s gross national product was committed to education, 28.7 per cent of which was dedicated to primary education and 21.3 per cent to secondary education.
10.In secondary education, 25.87 per cent of girls were enrolled in technical and vocational education and training in 2018, compared with 37.79 per cent of boys. In 2016, 70.15 per cent of girls had completed the last grade of primary school, compared with 68.56 per cent of boys.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
11.Bosnia and Herzegovina has been a party to the Convention against Discrimination in Education since 12 July 1993.
12.The Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina enshrines the right to education for all within its territory without discrimination on the basis of sex. Article II of the Constitution stipulates that all persons within the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall enjoy the human rights and fundamental freedoms set forth in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and its Protocols, including the right to education. Moreover, it stipulates that the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms provided for in the article or in the international agreements listed in annex I to the Constitution shall be guaranteed to all persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina without discrimination on any grounds such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status.
13.The number of illiterate men and women has clearly decreased between 1990 and 2013, while the gap between men and women has also narrowed. The gap remains larger for young people between the ages of 15 and 24. A total of 755 young women between the ages of 15 and 24 were illiterate in 2013, compared with 821 young men. The gap between men and women in the literacy rate among the population aged 65 and older is the largest among the rest of the population, but has narrowed since the 1990s.
14.Education is compulsory for all girls and boys between the ages of 6 and 14. The school-age population was expected to decline by 20.8 per cent after 2012. In 2017, the primary to secondary transition rate was higher for girls (98.07 per cent) than for boys (97.75 per cent). In secondary education, 70 per cent of girls were enrolled in technical and vocational education and training courses in 2018, compared with 82 per cent of boys.
15.The gross graduation ratio in tertiary education is 37.56 per cent for women, compared with 26.25 per cent for men. The number of women students at the postgraduate level was 56.63 per cent in 2013, while 41.90 per cent of all doctoral students were women. Bosnia and Herzegovina has one of the highest percentages of women students enrolled in higher education in natural sciences, mathematics and statistics programmes, at more than 65 per cent, as well as in engineering, manufacturing and construction programmes.
16.In the 2012/13 school year, most (80 per cent) of Roma women had not completed primary school, and only 4.5 per cent of them had completed high school, compared with 9.2 per cent of Roma men. Only 47 per cent of Roma girls were enrolled in primary school. The literacy rate of young Roma women between the ages of 15 and 24 in Bosnia and Herzegovina was 68.9 per cent, compared with the 90.4 per cent literacy rate of their peers. While the rate of primary school attendance of Roma girls and boys was approximately the same, with 70.9 per cent for boys and 67.8 per cent for girls, the rate increased to 18 per cent for girls and 27 per cent for boys in secondary education.
Cambodia
17.Cambodia is not a party to the Convention against Discrimination in Education.
18.The Constitution of Cambodia of 1993, as amended through to 2008, provides that the State shall protect the right to education of children, but does not provide for that right for all ages. Pursuant to article 48 thereof, the State shall protect the rights of children as stipulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in particular, the rights to life, education, protection during wartime and protection from economic or sexual exploitation. The State shall protect children from any form of labour that is injurious to their educational opportunities, health and welfare. Article 45 stipulates that all forms of discrimination against women shall be abolished, the exploitation of women in employment is prohibited and men and women are equal in all fields especially with respect to marriage and family matters.
19.The Law on Education of 2007 does not enshrine the right to education without discrimination on the basis of sex or gender, but does provide for the right to have access to education. Article 31 stipulates that every citizen has the right to have access to quality education for at least nine years in public schools free of charge. The ministry in charge of education shall gradually prepare the policy and strategic plans to ensure that all citizens receive quality education as stipulated by the Law.
20.While it is implied in the Constitution that education is compulsory for nine years, this is not made explicit. According to article 68 of the Constitution, the State shall provide free primary and secondary education to all citizens in public schools; citizens shall receive education for at least nine years; and the State shall help to promote and develop Pali schools and Buddhist institutes. According to article 32 of the Law on Education, the enrolment of children in grade 1 of the formal general education programme shall be set at an age of 6 or at least 70 months on the date of the beginning of the school year. Although, as mentioned above, the Law on Education stipulates that every citizen has the right to have access to education for at least nine years free of charge, it does not provide for compulsory education.
21.No legal provision has been identified that provides for free or compulsory pre‑primary education. Article 16 of the Law on Education stipulates that the State shall support early childcare and childhood education from the age of 0 to the age at which children are eligible for kindergarten, generally provided at childcare centres in communities or at home. Kindergarten education shall be provided prior to primary education as a means to prepare children for primary school. The ministry in charge of education and other relevant ministries and institutions shall determine the meanings of early childcare and childhood education. No legal provision has been identified guaranteeing equal access to post-secondary education.
22.The minimum age of marriage is 18, but can be lowered to 16 with parental consent or consent of the guardian. Article 948 of the Civil Code of 2007 stipulates that neither men nor women may marry until they have reached the age of 18. However, if one of the parties has attained the age of majority and the other party is a minor at least 16 years of age, the parties may marry with the consent of the parents or the guardian of the minor. The minimum working age is 15, but the end of compulsory education is not explicitly defined.
23.The Law on Education prohibits physical and mental punishment. In addition, in directive No. 922 from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport to the Director of Provincial Education, Youth and Sport on the subject of punishments for students, it is stated that physical punishments such as hitting or requiring children to kneel down or stand under the sun, mental punishments such as imposing exercises involving the copying of lessons that are impossible to achieve and making students feel bad and humiliated, and punishments such as forcing students to do inappropriate tasks are banned in all educational institutions throughout the country.
24.More boys are out of school than girls. This number has increased significantly since 2015 and the gap between boys and girls continues to widen. In 2018, 91,265 girls were out of school, compared with 94,844 boys. In 2017, the numbers were 90,079 and 90,046, respectively. In the case of adolescents, the number of out-of-school boys and girls has decreased since 2015. In 2015, 62,832 adolescent girls were out of school, compared with 56,692 adolescent boys.
25.The number of girls in pre-primary education is slightly higher than that of boys. In 2018, the gross enrolment ratio in pre-primary education was 24.31 per cent for girls, compared with 23.35 per cent for boys. At the primary education level, the opposite situation exists, although the gap between girls and boys has narrowed in recent years. In 2018, the gross enrolment ratio was 106.08 per cent for girls, compared with 108.69 per cent for boys. A similar gap exists in tertiary education, where the gross enrolment ratio was 12.17 per cent for women and 14.06 per cent for men. In 2017, a total of 88.20 per cent of girls completed the last grade of primary education, compared with 79.18 per cent of boys. Also in that year, the primary to secondary transition rate was higher for girls (92.26 per cent) than for boys (87.41 per cent).
26.The number of illiterate young men and women between the ages of 15 and 24 has clearly decreased between 1990 and 2015. The gap between the two groups has drastically narrowed and has been reversed. A total of 116,047 young women between the ages of 15 and 24 were illiterate in 2015, compared with 133,054 young men. The gap between women and men and the number of illiterate people remain more significant for the entire population. A total of 1,383,856 women aged 15 and older were illiterate in 2015, compared with 683,263 men. The gap between men and women in the literacy rate among the population aged 65 and older has narrowed slightly since the 1990s, although 36.86 per cent of women aged 65 and older were literate in 2015 compared with 76.89 per cent of men. The gap has closed for young people between the ages of 15 and 24, with 92.57 per cent of young women in that age range reported as being literate in 2015 compared with 91.86 per cent of young men.
Iraq
27.Iraq has been a party to the Convention against Discrimination in Education since 28 June 1977.
28.The Constitution of Iraq of 2005 guarantees the right to education and has a non-discrimination provision in which discrimination is prohibited on the basis of gender, among others. The non-discrimination principle appears to apply only to citizens, and therefore it is not clear whether the right to education is guaranteed on a non-discriminatory basis for all. Article 14 of the Constitution stipulates that Iraqis are equal before the law without discrimination on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, origin, colour, religion, sect, belief or opinion, or economic or social status, while article 34 stipulates that education is a fundamental factor for the progress of society and is a right guaranteed by the State. Education is considered a right under the Compulsory Education Law No. 118 of 1976, but there is no special recognition of education as a right for girls, nor is there a non-discrimination clause.
29.The period of compulsory education is unclear. Iraq has reported that laws have been amended to extend the duration of compulsory education from the end of primary school to third grade intermediate school (for children 13 years of age), which would correspond to a total of seven years of compulsory education, but the law and provision are not specified and UNESCO has not had access to such documents. Article 1 of the Compulsory Education Law stipulates that primary education is free and compulsory for all children who have reached 6 years of age at the start of the school year or on 31 December of a given year.
30.Although the Constitution contains a provision for free education in all its stages and the Compulsory Education Law makes primary education explicitly free, neither instrument expressly stipulates the number of years of free education available. No legal provision has been identified that guarantees equal access to post-secondary education.
31.The minimum age for marriage is 18, but individuals may marry at 15 years of age with judicial consent. No legal provision has been identified relating to the right to education of pregnant girls and young mothers.
32.The minimum age for employment in Iraq is 15. While, as mentioned above, Iraq has reported that laws have been amended to extend the age of compulsory education from the end of primary school to third grade intermediate school, the minimum age of employment would not, in any case, align with the end of compulsory education.
33.The Constitution prohibits all forms of violence and abuse in the school, although there is no gender-based specificity. Contrary to the constitutional provision prohibiting violence, the Penal Code upholds corporal punishment as a “legal right” and has yet to be repealed.
34.The number of illiterate men and women has clearly increased between 2000 and 2018. The gender gap has remained constant to the detriment of women. In 2018, 6,616,324 women were illiterate, compared with 5,190,531 men. These trends are the same for young people between the ages of 15 and 24. A total of 1,773,339 young women between the ages of 15 and 24 were illiterate, compared with 1,579,419 young men. The gap between men and women in the literacy rate among the population aged 65 and older has narrowed slightly since the 2000s, but it remains significant for this age group and others. A total of 16.32 per cent of women aged 65 and older were literate in 2018, compared with 35.73 per cent of men. Moreover, the gap was smaller for young people between the ages of 15 and 24, with 52.71 per cent of young women between the ages of 15 and 24 reported as being literate in 2018 compared with 59.80 per cent of young men.
Kazakhstan
35.Kazakhstan is a party to the Convention against Discrimination in Education.
36.The Constitution of Kazakhstan of 1995, as amended through to 2007, does not enshrine the right to education. It does contain a provision in which discrimination is prohibited on the basis of sex, among others. According to article 14 of the Constitution, everyone shall be equal before the law and the courts and no one shall be subject to discrimination on the basis of origin, social or property status, occupation, sex, race, nationality, language, attitude towards religion, conviction, place of residence or any other circumstance.
37.Education for boys and girls is compulsory for a period of nine years, from ages 7 to 15. The number of girls in pre-primary education is slightly higher than that of boys. In 2018, the gross enrolment ratio in pre-primary education was 59.35 per cent for girls, compared with 58.20 per cent for boys. At the primary education level, the gross enrolment ratio was 106.77 per cent for girls in 2018, compared with 104.96 per cent for boys. At the secondary education level, the gross enrolment ratio was 114.72 per cent for girls, compared with 113.79 per cent for boys. This gap is even larger at the tertiary education level, where the gross enrolment ratio was 60.03 per cent for women compared with 48.21 per cent for men. There is essentially no difference between girls and boys with regard to the rate of completion of the last grade of primary school. In 2017, 98.77 per cent of girls and 99.57 per cent of boys completed the last grade of primary school. In 2017, the primary to secondary transition rate was essentially the same for girls (99.70 per cent) and boys (99.66 per cent). In secondary education, 34.99 per cent of girls were enrolled in technical and vocational education and training in 2018, compared with 45.39 per cent of boys.
38.The number of illiterate men and women decreased between 1990 and 2010. In 2010, the gender gap was still significant, with 9,963 illiterate men compared with 16,948 illiterate women. Among the population between the ages of 15 and 24, the gap is also significant, with 936 illiterate young men compared with 2,332 young women in 2011. The gap between men and women in the literacy rate among the population aged 65 and older has narrowed slightly since the 1990s and has even reversed for the benefit of women. The gender gap in the literacy rate has also closed for the young population between the ages of 15 and 24.
39.The gross graduation ratio in tertiary education is 59.74 per cent for women, compared with 43.48 per cent for men. Kazakhstan has one of the highest percentages of women students enrolled in higher education in natural sciences, mathematics and statistics programmes, at more than 65 per cent.
Lithuania
40.Lithuania is not a party to the Convention against Discrimination in Education and did not respond to the ninth consultation of member States on the implementation of the Convention.
41.The Constitution of Lithuania of 1992, as amended in 2006, does not enshrine comprehensively the right to education, but places an obligation on the State to provide free and compulsory education. According to article 29 of the Constitution, all persons shall be equal before the law, the courts and other State institutions and officials. Human rights may not be restricted, and no one may be granted privileges on the basis of gender, race, nationality, language, origin, social status, belief, conviction or views. Article 41 provides that education shall be compulsory for persons under the age of 16. Education shall be free of charge at State and municipal schools providing general education, vocational schools and schools providing further education. Higher education shall be accessible to everyone according to individual abilities. Citizens who do well in their studies shall be guaranteed education free of charge at State schools providing higher education. Education for boys and girls is compulsory for a period of 10 years.
42.In 2017, Lithuania had a total of 247 children and 9 adolescents out of school. There are no data disaggregated by sex for this information. The number of girls in pre-primary education is slightly smaller than that of boys. In 2017, the gross enrolment ratio in pre-primary education was 87.72 per cent for girls, compared with 88.63 per cent for boys. At the primary education level, the difference is almost non‑existent. There is essentially no difference between girls and boys with regard to the rate of completion of the last grade of primary school. In 2016, 98.54 per cent of girls and 98.35 per cent of boys completed the last grade of primary school. In secondary education, there is a bigger gap in the rate of enrolment between boys and girls, although the gap narrowed from 2009 to 2017. In 2018, the gross enrolment ratio was 106.04 per cent for girls, compared with 110.64 per cent for boys. A gap also exists in tertiary education, where the gross enrolment ratio was 84 per cent for women compared with 61 per cent for men. Girls were more successful than boys in 2013 in achieving computer and information literacy and self-efficacy in gaining advanced skills in information and communications technology during their eighth year of study.
43.The number of illiterate men and women decreased between 1990 and 2015. Among those between the ages of 15 and 24, there is a significant gender gap, with the difference in 2011 being 347 illiterate young men compared with 288 young women. Among the older population, the gap is not as significant, with 2,443 illiterate men in 2011 compared with 2,410 illiterate women.
44.Education is financed in the form of allocations from the State budget and municipal budgets, as well as from other financial means. Formal education programmes offered at State-funded, municipal and non-State-funded schools, with the exception of higher education institutions, and non-formal education programmes for children are financed out of the State and municipal budgets through the so-called “student’s basket”, which is a method of allocating financial means per individual learner. The student’s basket contains funds to, among other things, pay the salaries of teachers, buy textbooks and teaching material and provide in-service training for teachers.
45.The education system in Lithuania is mostly governed by the Law on Education, which establishes the goals and principles of the country’s education system and the framework of the educational institutions, activities and relationships, as well as the obligations of the State in the area of education. The education curriculum is approved by the Minister of Education, Science and Sport.
46.The Ministry of Education, Science and Sport has published a Code of Ethics for Educators, in which it promotes the recognition of human rights, stating that, “by following this principle, an educator observes a pupil’s rights and lawful interests, practices the principles of equal rights and non-discrimination, and ensures that social, racial, language, religious, and other factors do not impact his/her conduct in professional activities”.
Pakistan
47.Pakistan is not a party to the Convention against Discrimination in Education and did not respond to the ninth consultation of member States on the implementation of the Convention.
48.The Constitution of Pakistan of 1973, as amended in 2018, does not comprehensively enshrine the right to education. Instead, under the eighteenth amendment, approved in 2010, an obligation was placed on provincial governments to provide free and compulsory education for children between the ages of 5 and 16. Under article 25 of the Constitution, discrimination is prohibited on the basis of sex.
49.According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, disparities based on gender, socioeconomic status and geography are significant; in Sindh, 52 per cent of the poorest children (58 per cent of whom are girls) are out of school, and in Balochistan, 78 per cent of girls are out of school. Balochistan faces many challenges in the education sector, including a large number of out-of-school children, high dropout rates, wide gender disparities in education indicators and poor quality of teaching and learning in the classroom. The Balochistan education sector plan for the period 2013–2018 is focused on improving access and equity for girls and boys to school. Education outcomes remain weak in Sindh. There are inequalities in access to education among districts, between rural and urban areas, between the poor and the non-poor and between genders. In general, girls in rural areas and boys and girls from households in the lowest income quintiles are at the highest risk of being out of school. The Sindh education sector plan for the period 2014–2018 is focused on increasing access to education for the most marginalized children, including girls, and improving learning outcomes along with governance and accountability in the education sector.
50.Gaps in service provision at all education levels is a major constraint on access to education. Sociocultural barriers on the demand side, combined with economic factors and supply-related issues, such as the availability of school facilities, hamper access for and the retention of certain marginalized groups, in particular adolescent girls.
51.At the administrative level, inadequate financing, limited enforcement of policy commitments and challenges in equitable implementation impede efforts to reach the most disadvantaged. An encouraging increase in education budgets has been observed; however, at 2.8 per cent of the country’s total gross domestic product, it still falls well short of the 4 per cent target.
52.The number of out-of-school children has clearly decreased between 2009 and 2018. However, the gap between boys and girls remains significant. In 2018, 3.6 million girls were out of school, compared with 2.3 million boys. The decreasing trend is even more impressive regarding adolescents. In 2008, 7.5 million adolescents were out of school, compared with 4 million in 2018. The gap between adolescent girls and boys has declined, although it remains, with 2.1 million adolescent girls out of school in 2018 compared with 1.9 million adolescent boys. The number of children enrolled in primary education increased between 2009 and 2018, with a gross enrolment ratio of 94.14 per cent in 2018 for all children, or 85.86 per cent for girls and 101.85 per cent for boys.
53.The number of illiterate men and women increased between 1980 and 2015, and the gap between both sexes is significant. In 2017, 35 million women were illiterate, compared with 19.8 million men.
54.The UNESCO office in Islamabad has been working on the promotion of education for girls in the most marginalized areas of Pakistan through its multi-year flagship programme entitled “Girls’ right to education programme”. Funded by multiple donors, including the Government of Pakistan, the programme is aimed at improving access to and the quality of primary education for girls and the retention of girls in primary education in those areas.
55.In 2018, the Republic of Korea brought its support to the “Girls’ right to education programme” in Pakistan. The project, with a budget of $3.4 million, is supporting national capacity development to realize the right to education for girls in Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan through interventions targeting education officials, community leaders, teachers and parents.
Seychelles
56.Seychelles is a party to the Convention against Discrimination in Education.
57.The Constitution of Seychelles of 1993, as amended in 2011, enshrines the right to education for every citizen, but it does not apply to all within the territory. It contains a general but limited non-discrimination provision, which does not prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex or gender.
58.The Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development is responsible for early childhood, primary and secondary education. In that context, it is responsible for all matters related to schools, curricula, assessments, teachers and student support. Seychelles has 33 public schools spread across the three main populated islands. The Department of Tertiary Education, Policy Planning and Administration of the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development is responsible for the tertiary education that the island started to offer in 2009, following the setting up of the University of Seychelles.
59.The number of out-of-school children has increased from 2013 to 2018, with 269 children in 2018. However, Seychelles does not have data disaggregated by sex for this information. The number of girls in pre-primary education is slightly higher than that of boys. In 2018, the gross enrolment ratio in pre-primary education was 96.48 per cent for girls, compared with 94.31 per cent for boys. Similarly, the gross enrolment ratio in primary education was 103.32 per cent for girls in 2018, compared with 97.59 per cent for boys. In secondary education, the gap is larger, with the gross enrolment ratio being 84.20 per cent for girls in 2018 compared with 78.81 per cent for boys. A total of 95.83 per cent of girls and 96.71 per cent of boys completed the last grade of primary school in 2017. In that same year, the primary to secondary transition rate was almost the same for girls (97.24 per cent) and boys (97.48 per cent). In secondary education, 0.98 per cent of girls were enrolled in technical and vocational education and training in 2018, compared with 4.89 per cent of boys. Girls had a significantly higher score than boys in mathematics during their sixth year at school in 2007. In 2016, the gross graduation ratio in tertiary education was 12.34 per cent for women, compared with 3.31 per cent for men.
60.In 2018, 96.35 per cent of women aged 15 and older were literate, compared with 95.41 per cent of men. The gap in the literacy rate between men and women among the population aged 65 and older is the largest among the rest of the population, with 80.96 per cent of women compared with 76.37 per cent of men.