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MESSAGE FROM THE OMBUDSMAN ON THE OCCASION OF THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR

02.09.2024, SKOPJE

At the beginning of the school year, the Ombudsman wishes all students a successful school year, filled with good health and happiness, which, in addition to acquiring new knowledge, skills and abilities and expanding the acquired ones, will be a year filled with the acquisition of friendships that will are based on mutual understanding and respect. On this occasion, the Ombudsman appeals to all stakeholders in the educational process, as well as to parents, to make a maximum contribution to the upbringing and education of children, by providing the necessary support, attention and care, while always starting from the best interest of the child, respecting children as holders of rights and involving them in decision-making processes that concern them, the children.

The ombudsman reminds the policymakers in education that primary and secondary education is compulsory and free, and the provision of textbooks, teaching aids and didactic materials and free transportation of students are only part of the prerequisites for the smooth running of a quality educational process for all children. While also making a maximum effort to include children from vulnerable and marginalized groups in education, by providing conditions for regularity in teaching.

Monitoring the situation with inclusive education for students with disabilities remains the focus of the Ombudsman in the 2024/2025 school year as well. Consequently, the Ombudsman appreciates the commitment of the Ministry of Education and Science to define new solutions in the laws on primary, secondary and vocational education, emphasizing that any changes and additions to the regulation should be aimed at respecting the principle of the best interest of the child and the rights arising from the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

In this context, starting from the importance of education for the development of the child's personality, the Ombudsman recalls the obligation to ensure the right to education of every child without discrimination, and based on equal opportunities, in an inclusive educational system at all levels. In contrast, children with disabilities are not excluded from free and compulsory primary or secondary education based on disability. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure reasonable adaptation for children with disabilities, as well as obtaining the necessary support, that is, individualized support measures, within the general education system for the purpose for their effective education and maximization of academic and social development. The Ombudsman emphasizes the position of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the United Nations that "Inclusive education should be understood as a basic human right of all students. Education is the right of the individual student/child, not the right of the parent. Parental rights and responsibilities in this regard are subordinated to the rights of the child. All measures to support students with disabilities should be by inclusion, aimed at strengthening the opportunities of these students to participate in the classroom and outside it, in the school, together with their peers, instead of being segregated in separate schools In this context, the Ombudsman appeals for the fulfillment of the obligation to take measures towards the promotion of inclusive education, pointing out that any retrograde measure in that regard is impermissible and to the detriment of the child. The Ombudsman, wishing them luck and a successful school year, appeals to the children/students, primarily to inform themselves and know what their rights are, and to resolve any possible misunderstanding with classmates/peers through conversation/dialogue, with the help and support of professional services in the school. At the same time, it appeals to parents/guardians and teachers to be a constant support to children/students in the direction of recognizing cases when their rights are not respected, introducing them to the mechanisms for the protection of children's rights, including the Ombudsman, as an institution, in which they can turn at any time to report possible violations of rights, and the Ombudsman, per his powers, will take measures to solve them, overcome and promote the rights of every child, on an equal basis.

OMBUDSMAN