Religious Extremist Ideologies 25. There are reports of unregistered marriages encouraged by some religious scholars claiming that registering marriages with the Courts are un‐Islamic and unnecessary.40 41 State institutions acknowledge this information and raised concerns that children born to such marriages could face serious legal issues. Similarly women in such marriages are bound to face social and legal consequences.42 Conservative beliefs that promote women as inferior to men are being spread at an alarming level. Many women believe that their role in society is to be submissive wives and in raising children.43 There are roughly 400 children being withheld from attending school by their parents due to religious beliefs.44 Take appropriate measures to deal with ideologies and practices that lead to cultural and societal problems. Disability 26. Disability rights are not mainstreamed into government policies and action plans. Many public buildings including HRCM are not accessible for PwDs. The level of education among PwDs remains significantly low, and a high percentage of them are unemployed. The state has so far failed to take effective systemic action to provide employment opportunities to PwDs. 27. For children with severe and multiple disabilities, right to education is yet to be realized in the school system. Children with disabilities do not have equal opportunities, facilities, resources and treatment in educational and healthcare systems compared with those without disabilities and they face ill treatment at schools as well as in the community.45 Mainstream disability rights into government policies and action plans. Ensure that PwDs have equal access to education, employment and healthcare without any discrimination. Education 28. Despite policy initiatives by MoE to establish compulsory education till grade 10, legislative framework on education needs to take effect. Corporal punishment is prohibited in schools, yet 8 percent of students attending secondary schools experienced violence perpetrated by teachers.46 The education system lacks capacity to provide psychosocial support for child abuse victims and deal with children with challenging behaviors. There are inconsistencies in availability of educational services. Moreover, opportunities and focus on vocational training remains low. An effective system to improve the performance of teachers needs to be in place. Many schools focus on brighter students and neglect to provide additional support for low performers.47 Learning outcomes for primary and secondary levels are modest and examination pass rates are generally poor.48 There is no proper system in place to measure indicators such as low attendance and drop‐out rates. Lack of financial support to pursue higher education is also a challenge. Right to education is not provided for children in conflict with the law, in pretrial detention and in prison. Enact Education bill. Take concrete efforts to eradicate the disparities in the availability of educational services. Improve the quality of education progressively. Drug Abuse 29. Drug abuse remains a serious concern and studies show that it is predominantly a male phenomenon.49 Knowledge of drug use among females remains limited. Prevalence of drug abuse along with increase in crime rate places youth at high risk of deviant behavior.50 Minors are targeted and exploited in trafficking of drugs.51. There are no drug treatment services available during the period of remand and detention. Establishment of a halfway house, drug offender remand center and rehabilitation center for children do not exist although specified in the recent Drugs Act. It is impractical to accommodate the increasing demand for rehabilitation and detoxification services as state has not taken concrete efforts to improve client capacity and services. Concurrently many remain pessimistic about effectiveness of the treatment. Budgetary and human resource 8 Human Rights Commission of the Maldives – UPR submission 2014