Children's rights to claim their rights for education

Abstract

The United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children (UNGASSOC) in May 2002 and actions before after has reviewed the achievements of the goals set at the World Summit for Children in 1990 and is embarking with serious commitment to take forward the New Global Agenda for Children of the millennium. Twelve children and three NGO representatives from Malaysia participated at the UNGASSOC meeting in New York recently. One of the main topics / theme which was elaborately discussed was in education. Two young persons who participated in the children's forum at New York also touched on emerging issues in education in Malaysia. In the NGO Plenary session I had the opportunity to be on the panel and spoke about access to education and the need to look seriously at quality education. This paper will briefly report on our participation in New York in the context of quality education and children claiming their rights for education. It will also discuss the recent developments in Malaysia especially the partnership between Government Organisations (GOS) and Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) in an effort to target at a quality education, best interests of children and non-discrimination.