Minutes:
(i) At item 14(2) the Council received a Motion in the names of Councillors Graham Henson and Ben Wealthy in the following terms:
“Council notes that the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights states that:
Article 19
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
This Council wishes to put on record its thanks to the Borough’s teachers and Council staff in the Children, Families & Schools Directorate who have worked relentlessly to ensure that high quality education is available to all children in Harrow regardless of gender. This Council notes that this right to education is not available everywhere.
With the support of the Council and in particular Officers from the Children, Families & Schools Directorate, fifty seven of our schools, including some academies, are working together as full or associate partners of the leading edge Harrow Schools’ Improvement Partnership to collaborate and secure continuing improvement.
The value of partnership and community will continue to work with all our schools to secure an education system that does continuously improve and provide the best possible start for all of Harrow’s young people.
This Council deplores the shooting and maiming of many children around the world, with the most recent being Malala Yousafzai and her friends, because they publicly fought for the right of every girl to go to school.
Council resolves to join the international call on all countries to fully implement the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, in particular, by outlawing discrimination against girls and in line with this fully supports the international campaign to ensure that the world’s 61 million out of school children are in education by the end of 2015
This Council instructs the Chief Executive to send messages of support to Malala Yousafzai, one of many amazing young women for their courage and bravery in fighting for the cause which they have championed, Harrow Schools and through the Council’s e-bulletins and other means to publicise the 10th November, which will be when the international petition will be handed to the United Nations to ensure international support for the push for girls education and the right of every child to go to school and will build on the momentum of the UN Secretary General's Education First initiative to show that for the first time in history, the world will no longer let education be for the privileged few, but instead a right for all.”
(ii) There was a tabled amendment in the names of Councillors Barry Macleod-Cullinane and Susan Hall, which sought to amend the Motion as follows:
“This Council notes that:
· Education is key in the fight against extremism and that there can be no excuse for limiting the freedom and rights of all children.
· The words of Pakistan’s Prime Minister that Malala Yousafzai is ‘our’ daughter, who believes, like so many of us, in change.
· That Malala is only 1 of 32 million girls worldwide who are denied the right to go to school every day, and that only a third of girls globally are enrolled in secondary school.
· That education of girls is not just a moral issue but makes sense both socially and economically. Noting that it can; Reduce the rate of child marriage: A girl who has 7 years of education will typically marry four years later and have fewer children, Reduce disease: A girl who has basic education is three times less likely to contract HIV, Strengthen the economy: Only a year of extra school can increase a girl’s future earnings by 10% to 20%, Promote health: Children born to educated mothers are twice as likely to survive beyond the age of 5.
Council notes that the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights states that:
Article 19
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 26
(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
This Council wishes to put on record its thanks to the Borough’s teachers and Council staff in the Children, Families & Schools Directorate who have worked relentlessly to ensure that high quality education is available to all children in Harrow regardless of gender. This Council notes that this right to education is not available everywhere.
With the support of the Council and in particular Officers from the Children, Families & Schools Directorate, fifty seven of our schools, including some academies, are working together as full or associate partners of the leading edge Harrow Schools’ Improvement Partnership to collaborate and secure continuing improvement.
The value of partnership and community will continue to work with all our schools to secure an education system that does continuously improve and provide the best possible start for all of Harrow’s young people.
This Council deplores the shooting and maiming of many children around the world, with the most recent being Malala Yousafzai and her friends, because they publicly fought for the right of every girl to go to school.
Council resolves to join the international call on all countries to fully implement the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, in particular, by outlawing discrimination against girls and in line with this fully supports the international campaign to ensure that the world’s 61 million out of school children are in education by the end of 2015
This Council instructs the Chief Executive to send messages of support to Malala Yousafzai, one of many amazing young women for their courage and bravery in fighting for the cause which they have championed, Harrow Schools and through the Council’s e-bulletins and other means to publicise the 10th November, which will be when the international petition will be handed to the United Nations to ensure international support for the push for girls education and the right of every child to go to school and will build on the momentum of the UN Secretary General's Education First initiative to show that for the first time in history, the world will no longer let education be for the privileged few, but instead a right for all.”
(iii) Upon a vote, the amendment at (ii) was lost.
(iv) Upon a further vote the substantive Motion at (i) was agreed.
RESOLVED: That the substantive Motion, as set out at (i) above, be adopted.