Children have to go to school away from home because their place of residence is not taken into account – Omdudsman’s annual report

The Human Rights Defender received complaints in 2019 that there were a number of problems with the admission of children to a public educational institution near their place of residence. Although these issues have been partially resolved, in 2020 complaints continued to be addressed to the Human Rights Defender’s staff, the Human Rights Defender’s Office said in a statement.

Thus, according to the changes made in 2020, when organizing the admission of students, priority was given to the children of siblings studying in the given school, as well as to the children of the employees of the given school. The school admission procedure has been clarified, but changes could have been made to prioritize the admission of children living close to the place of residence. The Defender also receives complaints about attending a school closer to his place of residence in 2021. Parents say that taking their children to school far from their place of residence creates difficulties, especially when the child has a disability or mobility problems. Children and their parents face problems with vehicles and other environmental issues. The problem is urgent even if there are other children in the family in need of care. This creates difficulties, especially for working parents of elementary school children. They have to take their children to school because of problems at work. Failure to consider the place of residence as a criterion for admission to a public educational institution also causes financial difficulties for parents.

Given the urgency of the problem, the Human Rights Defender proposes to make appropriate changes, which will give priority to the students closest to the primary school among the criteria for admission to a secondary school.