compulsory education rights of children and punish teachers who push children out of
school because of extra charges.
Gender disparity is still eminent in schools; showing girls school enrolment rate at 33%
compared to the boys (98%) at the primary level. Gender based violence in schools
including sexual harassment by teachers is a grave concern for girl child education. The
State Party should increase efforts to improve on access of girls to education. This
includes special initiatives that can motivate girls and their parents towards education.
The State Party need also to finance teacher trainings and ensure provision of adequate
training, including child rights, gender based violence and other emerging issues that
teachers need to know how to deal with; ensure that all schools have effective child
protection mechanisms including children’s access to safe reporting points without any
fear of repercussion.
The State should investigate thoroughly all complaints on violence in schools, and
ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice and punished accordingly.
There is still high number of out of school children which accounts to 63%. Furthermore,
there is lack of adequate facilities including public pre-schools for holistic early
childhood development. The Committee urge the State Party to create motivating and
child-friendly educational programs for children dropping school and for those who
never attended schools so as to decrease the number of illiterate children.
H. Special protection measures
On Refugee, returnee and displaced children
The Committee acknowledges the State Party for its commitment towards providing
protection and necessary services for and facilitate reunification of refugee children
including unaccompanied children under Article XII, section 5.1 and 5.2 of the Children’s
Law. It also appreciates the establishment of inter-agency Child Protection Working
Group (CPWG) to address the issues of refugee children and their families from Côte
d’Ivoire. However, there is a concern on regularization of the status of refugee children,
in particular unaccompanied and separated children seeking asylum. The Committee
recommends for additional strategies that can provide more assistance to refugee
children in full compliance with international refugee and human rights law with focus
being given to unaccompanied and separated children seeking asylum in order to
ensure that their statuses are regularized and they can enjoy equal rights and
opportunities as the Liberian children
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