50 signatures reached
To: Justice Minister Helen McEntee and Education Minister Norma Foley
Post Pandemic Education Fund for Children and Young People
Create a Post-pandemic Education and the Arts Fund for all children and young people in Ireland who lost their right to accessing a full education as per UN convention on the rights of the child for which Ireland is signed up to. In particular, providing adequate additional education supports to vulnerable children, children with special needs and children living in poverty so they can reach their fullest education potential
Why is this important?
Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, across the globe, children and young people have made huge sacrifices with their education. Article 28 of UN convention on the rights of the child states in relation to Education, the child has the right to education; the State has a duty to make primary education compulsory and free to all; to take measures to develop different forms of secondary education and to make this accessible to all children. School discipline should be administered in a manner consistent with the child’s human dignity.
School closures in 2020 from mid March to end of June and now from January until April, May or perhaps longer could mean Irish children and young people missing between 8 and possibly 9 months of their education. That is 1 years academic term that all children and young people have sacrificed during this pandemic. They have missed out on important rights of passage, transitions to primary, secondary and third level. Early childhood education states the years 0 to 6 in education are the building blocks of education and these early experiences form a crucial foundation of their education life into the future
We are all aware of the emergency of Covid-19 but now we want to talk about recovery afterwards, recovery of full education experience for our children and young people. We want a fund to be accessible to all children and young people to support the education experiences they have lost.
Its not just education rights but recreational rights that children have sacrificed. Article 31 of UN rights of child states in relation to leisure, recreation and cultural activities that the child has the right to rest and to engage in leisure, play and recreational activities and to
participate in cultural and artistic activities. These too they have sacrificed.
We are calling on the Justice minister and the Education minister to do what is a fundamental right of children and young people in Ireland and immediately give back the full education experience that has been taken from them.