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Discrimination in education

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Discrimination in education is the act of discriminating against people belonging to certain categories in enjoying full right to education. It is considered a violation of enunciated human rights.[1]

Like other forms of discrimination, education discrimination can also be based on ethnicity, nationality, age, sex, race, economic condition, disability and religion.

Education discrimination in different countries

Islamic Republic of Iran

In Iran, after the Islamic revolution in 1979, the Bahá'í students have been expelled from Iranian universities, and Iranian Bahá'ís face continuing discrimination in higher education.[2] According to a secret 1991 government memorandum, Baha'is "must be expelled from universities, either in the admission process or during the course of their studies, once it becomes known that they are Baha'is.".[3][4]

USA

Main article: Discrimination in education in USA

In the US, there was historical discrimination in education against minorities until the 1940s. This mostly affected aboriginal inhabitants, African Americans, Hispano and Filipino immigrants and also individuals with poor economic conditions.[5] Right now various federal laws prohibit discrimination in the realm of education on the basis of race, gender, age, national origin and other protected characteristics. Federal laws that ban education discrimination include Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.[6] In 2015, University of Massachusetts ban study of Iranians in certain fields however after protests and pressure of activists the decision was reversed.[7]

China

Main article: Discrimination in education in China
  • Even though everybody is entitled to 9 years of compulsory education in China, there are reports showing that minorities including people with disabilities are discriminated in basic education in China.[8] An example of such discrimination that is reflected in 2013 Human Rights Watch report is children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and intellectual disability who were denied enrollment in nearby schools due to their disabilities. Their parents were then to suffer traveling long distances from home in seek of finding a place for their disable children for basic education.
  • There are also policies for geographical allocation of available sits in higher education system which led to Regional Discrimination in Higher Education Entrance Examination. In China every person has a place of origin in connection to his/her birth place and moving or resettlement to provinces/zones other than the ones of origin are subject to receive permit from the authorities. The students subject to regional discrimination are those who managed to have a better record in the relevant exams but are denied studying at top universities due to their place of origin.

Cuba

Main article: Discrimination in education in Cuba
  • Cuba has a diverse and multicultural society and there is potentially an available arena for different racial discrimination to grow. There are thinkers believe that educational system in Cuba suffers from racial discrimination especially against Afro-Cubans,[9][10] the existence of counterparts who believe otherwise [11] can not be neglected however.
  • In the 1960s and 70s, when the sexual minority groups were sentenced to stay in rehabilitation camps, they automatically lost the opportunity for higher education and were bound to "re-education" by the state. In 2010 Fidel Castro has acknowledged such discrimination during his rule, regretting that he did not pay enough attention to the “great injustice” suffered.[12]

Netherlands

Main article: Discrimination in education in Netherlands

In 2010, the Dutch Immigration Service (the IND) sent out information about the consequences, due to the EU Council's new Regulation to implement enhanced sanctions against Iran, No. 267/2012 . The Dutch government has then decided to put every MVV- or residence permit application, from Iranian nationals, on hold.[13] It later became clear that the PhD students or applicants, students who had recently finished their Master degree programme in the Netherlands, and students whose discipline is considered to be “sensitive” were the most targeted group. During enrollment season, the Iranian students received several rejection letter from Halbe Zijlstra, the State Secretary of Education, Culture, and Science, which read, “My consideration is that allowing you to take this course of study would present an unacceptable risk of contributing to Iran’s proliferation-sensitive activities or to the development of nuclear weapon.

Iranian students,then, circulated a petition that labels the Dutch regulations as “arbitrary, discriminatory, unmerited, and unjustly punitive of Iranian people. In 2010, four Iranian students sued the dutch government over discrimination in District Court the Hague. The court heard the case on April 2010. The court decided that the 4 individual students were unlawfully discriminated against on the ground of nationality.[14]

Norway

Main article: Discrimination in education in Norway

In Norway the status of basic education is generally appropriate but there are issues regarded as educational discrimination in higher education.[15]

  • In 2013 the Norwegian Police Security Service started to tighten the regulations for transferring of the knowledge potentially usable in development of mass destruction weapons.[16] A strict, wide and ambiguous definition of sensitive field of study then led to expel several students from Norway, among them Hamideh Kaffash [17] with the justification of domestic export control law and also UN security council sanctions. Many academicians and public figures including Noam Chomsky [18] and May-Britt Moser[19] strongly disagreed with the practice and called upon reconsideration or withdrawal of the state discrimination in education.
  • In 2014 the Ministry of Education and Research proposed to the Norwegian Parliament that a tuition fee be introduced for foreign students in Norway. Student unions regarded this as discriminatory and also a disgraceful beginning to introduce tuition fee for local students and consequently a serious breach to free education principles in Norway.[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Convention against Discrimination in Education 1960, Paris, 14 December 1960. United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (unesco), definition". June 2015.
  2. ^ Kamali Dehghan, Saeed. Bahá'í student expelled from Iranian university 'on grounds of religion'.
  3. ^ Iranian Baha'is face continuing discrimination in higher education
  4. ^ Iran’s secret blueprint for the destruction of the Baha’i community
  5. ^ Tamura, Eileen H (March 2008). The History of Discrimination in U.S. Education. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9780230611030.
  6. ^ "US laws concerning discrimination in education, definition and explanations". June 2015.
  7. ^ Schuppe, Jon; Jarrett, Tracy. "University of Massachusetts Reverses Ban on Iranian Science Students". NBC News. NBC news. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  8. ^ "As Long as They Let Us Stay in Class" Barriers to Education for Persons with Disabilities in China (PDF). New York: Human Rights Watch. 2013. ISBN 9781623130343.
  9. ^ "Race as a Challenge to Cuba's Educational System- Havana times". October 2013.
  10. ^ "For Blacks in Cuba, the Revolution Hasn't Begun- The New York Times". March 2013.
  11. ^ "Cuba Has No Racial Discrimination- Havana times". April 2013.
  12. ^ "Fidel Castro regrets discrimination against gays in Cuba- The Telegraph". September 2010.
  13. ^ https://www.opendemocracy.net/pooyan-tamimi-arab/stop-sanctions-against-iranian-students-in-netherlands
  14. ^ http://www.non-discrimination.net/content/media/NL-29-Flash%20Report%20NL-07%20Iranian%20students.pdf
  15. ^ "Norway's shame: educational discrimination against Iranian students - open Democracy". September 2014.
  16. ^ "State Discrimination? - Studvest". November 2014.
  17. ^ "Iran students face expulsion from Norway over sanctions - BBC". July 2014.
  18. ^ "Chomsky: Norwegian discrimination is unjust and unacceptable - SEDAI". July 2014.
  19. ^ "Getting nausea and tears in eyes (title is English-translated) - universitetsavisa". June 2014.
  20. ^ "Tuition fees for international students: Here's what's happening - Student Union of Norway". November 2014.
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