6. Parent/Teacher Discussion Outcomes “Even though we have come here to have a little listen, we don’t believe that there is any such thing called human rights here [in the Maldives]. This is the truth.” - Parent On the same day as the focus group discussions with children, 1 November 2011, teachers and parents from various primary and secondary schools in Male’ and its surrounding districts accepted the invitation from the Human Rights Commission to participate in a round of discussions related to children’s right to participation. The discussions began with a very brief introduction to Article 12 of the UNCRC. Like the children themselves, parents and teachers said they were largely unaware of the children’s rights to participation and only vaguely knew of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. They requested that more detailed presentations be made available to them on the Convention. This was, however, not possible on the date; and parents and teachers were—as previously planned—guided through discussions on the various focus areas to assess how much children’s right to participation figured in their daily interactions with children. Education Many parents and teachers were unaware of the children’s right to participation as enshrined in the UNCRC. Several were of the opinion that children cannot make any meaningful contribution at the policy level until they were in higher secondary school (Grades 10, 11 and 12). Asked about seeking children’s participation in the process of developing the national curriculum, for example, one parent said there was no point in asking a child their opinion until after they have completed a given school year year: [I]f you are seeking children’s views [on the curriculum] then it should only be this: once they completed a year, they can be asked how it was for them. […] Even this, in my opinion, can only be asked of students who are, at the minimum, in Grade 10. When the same syllabus in being continued in Grade Eight, Nine and Ten, it is only when the child is finishing Grade 10 that she will even begin to feel that ‘had this been this way, we would have been able to get a better score. In other words, the only valuable contribution that a child can make in decisions that affect their lives would be in the form of a critique or review after adults have made and implemented the decision. The principle of seeking children’s views and involving them at a level appropriate to their age and development is absent from the thinking of many adults. Asked about consultation with children in this manner, the same parent replied: 42