Report of the situation of children's rights in the field of education

5. Conclusions and recommendationsThe first survey was conducted during September- October 2009 when the project “Promotionof children rights in the education field” had finalized the monitoring framework and wascontinuing with the stage of drafting the work plan with the Committees for Children Rightsat the targeted schools. However, the second monitoring was conducted during March-April2010, during the period when the trainings for the members of these committees were stillongoing. So the monitoring was done during the period when the project was still on its initialstage and did not yet start their work in the schools, and this could be one of the reasons thatthere is no significant difference between the targeted schools and the schools used forcomparison, as it would be expected. Moreover there is a possibility that the perception onchildren rights in the schools used for comparison who have never been exposed to capacitybuilding programs on protection of children rights, differs from the perceptions of the targetschools, in terms of having lower expectations. Previous experience from trainings on humanrights shows that before the trainings participants have rated their personal competences onhuman rights higher than after the trainings, when they have discovered their gaps and theneeds for further development in this field.Analysis of the answers has been done by comparing differences between the target schoolsand those used for comparison, as well as by comparing differences between two cycles of themonitoring process. Meanwhile for internal purposes, the situation in different schools wascompared where discrepancies have been noted in their answers. These issues will bediscussed with schools to contribute in this way in advancement of children rights.Since the research is in a way an opinion poll, it is more a reflection of perceptions of thecategories of people involved in different issues rather than it is an objective analysis of theoverall situation. There is a risk in these cases that the participants will express their opinionsdepending on their culture and environment where the opinion poll has been conducted.However there are no significant differences between the perceptions of the target group andthe group for comparison. Moreover, there are no significant differences in the opinions ofchildren and their parents, but we can notice differences in children and parents opinions fromone side and teacher’s opinion on the other side. In fact teacher’s answers are alwaysaffirmative when answering on the respect of children rights at school which isunderstandable, because they are the ones who carry the biggest responsibility for thesituation.Finally we can draw the following conclusions:• Pupils have the freedom to express their opinion during classes as well as during leisureactivities in the targeted schools and schools for comparison, while they are alsoencouraged by teachers to do so. Their opinions are taken into considerations whichenables the pupils to feel good at schools. However, there is still room for improvementon the freedom of association, particularly on the functioning of the pupil’s representationorgans.• High percentage of poverty affects children as well which has an impact on theireducation. School cannot do much to eliminate these kinds of difficulties neither onimproving the safety of the road from home to school and vice versa, so the economicsituation and safety are few of the factors that can have a negative impact for continuationof education, especially within those specific pupil categories. On the other side, schoolsmakes maximal efforts to ensure regular attendance at school from children side, byshowing maximal understanding for pupils with disabilities.• Pupils are satisfied with the treatment they get at school from their teachers as well asfrom their peers, and with the measures that the school is ready to undertake in case ofviolation of pupils dignity. However it is visible that the schools are more prone to take115