Right to education: letter to Minister and UN submission

Date: 10th August 2026
Category: Education, including vocational education

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Together has continued to raise members' concerns about barriers to children's right to education at both national and international level. This article provides an update on our recent letter to Scottish Government and related submission to the United Nations on the development of a fourth Optional Protocol to the UNCRC.

Letter to the Minister

On 27th July 2026, Together wrote to Siobhian Brown MSP, Minister for Children, Young People and the Promise, encouraging Scottish Government to engage constructively in the development of a Fourth Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The letter was supported by 23 of our member organisations. The proposed Optional Protocol aims to strengthen the right to education across early-years, pre-primary and secondary education.

Read Together’s letter to the Minister.

Submission to the UN

Together also responded to the UN’s call for views on a set of Draft Principles which have been developed to help negotiations on the Protocol. The Draft Principles outline the need for a new instrument and what it might include.

Together’s response emphasised that the right to education begins at birth, and that any new developments must deliver for babies and young children. Our response highlighted the need to dismantle barriers to ensure that disabled children, care experienced children, migrant children, and children from Gypsy/Traveller and Roma communities can access the same educational opportunities and outcomes as their peers.

We would like to thank the members who submitted their views and evidence to inform our response.

Read Together’s response on the Draft Principles for a new Optional Protocol on the right to education.

Read the Draft Principles.