Office of the Ombudsman, Samoa‘s National Human Rights Institution Submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child – September 2015 umbrella of the SSFGS, meaning that the Samoan Government‘s current reasoning for the reservation under Article 28 is redundant. Recommendation 4: That the Samoan Government withdraws its current reservation under Article 28 of the Convention. 31. While the NHRI commends the Samoan Government for working with its regional neighbours in introducing the SSFGS and attempting to ensure primary education is compulsory for all, access to primary education is still restricted for some Samoan children as primary education cannot be said to be completely free. 32. While the SSFGS goes a long way in making primary education free by removing the need for parents and guardians of compulsory school aged children to pay school fees, the SSFGS does not address the government‘s responsibility of meeting the incidental costs of education. The grant scheme only provides for fee-free education, which covers tuition fees, books and stationary costs.16 It is the incidental costs of education such as uniforms, registration fees, transportation and lunches that prevent some children from attending school, especially in rural areas. 33. The Committee has previously made clear its dissatisfaction when states do not meet their obligation of providing all the costs for primary education, including incidental costs.17 34. Furthermore, in its General Comment Number 11: Plan of Action for Primary Education, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights stated: Fees imposed by the Government, the local authorities or the school, and other direct costs, constitute disincentives to the enjoyment of the right and may jeopardize its realization. They are also often highly regressive in effect. Their elimination is a matter which must be addressed by the required plan of action. Indirect costs, such as compulsory levies on parents (sometimes portrayed as being voluntary, when in fact they are not), or the obligation to wear a relatively expensive school uniform, can also fall into the same category. 18 16 The SSFGS is currently funded by the Australian and New Zealand governments. The Samoan government is making efforts to fund the SSFGS in its national budgets in the future. 17 See UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Concluding Observations, Colombia, 8 June 2006, CRC/C/COL/CO/3, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/45377ee30.html [accessed 27 August 2015] at 76; UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Concluding Observations: Myanmar, 30 June 2004, CRC/C/15/Add.237, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/42d3c0b24.html [accessed 27 August 2015] at 62; UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Concluding Observations: Nicaragua, 21 September 2005, CRC/C/15/Add.265, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/45377ea7e.html [accessed 27 August 2015] at 57 18 UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), General Comment No. 11: Plans of Action for Primary Education (Art. 14 of the Covenant), 10 May 1999, E/1992/23, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4538838c0.html [accessed 2 September 2015] at [7] 12