A/HRC/23/35 monitoring of the right to education could have an important potential role in developments in this respect. 43 VIII. Examples of jurisprudence on the right to education 44. A selection of cases illustrates how courts have interpreted the right to education worldwide. A. Equality of opportunity in education 45. Rich jurisprudence exists regarding State obligations to respect the fundamental principle of equality of opportunity in education. In his 2011 report to the Human Rights Council on the promotion of equality of opportunity in education, the Special Rapporteur highlighted a number of leading cases. 44 The fair and equal right of access to education has been widely adjudicated. The United States Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education, that separate educational facilities for white and black children are “inherently unequal”. Even where physical facilities and other objective factors are equal, a segregated school system denies equal educational opportunities to the minority group. 46. The Supreme Court of India has interpreted the provisions on equality before the law in article 14 of India’s Constitution to promote equality in both law and fact. A Constitutional Bench of the Indian Supreme Court held that “What is fundamental, as an enduring value of our polity, is guarantee to each of equal opportunity to unfold the full potential of his personality”.45 Several other cases show how equality of opportunity in education can be safeguarded by courts.46 B. Protecting marginalized and vulnerable groups 47. A number of decisions by judicial and quasi-judicial mechanisms show how the right to education of marginalized and vulnerable groups can be protected. 48. In a “collective complaint” by Autism-Europe to defend the rights of people with disabilities in Europe, 47 the European Committee on Social Rights ruled that the French Government's overall lack of progress in this area constituted a violation of the European Social Charter. The French National Consultative Commission for Human Rights has also defended the right to education for children with disabilities by a number of its advisory opinions. 48 43 44 45 46 47 48 Report on the fourth meeting of the Joint Expert Group UNESCO (CR)/ECOSOC (CESCR) on the monitoring of the right to education (2006), 175 EX/28, UNESCO, Paris. A/HRC/17/29, para. 66-68. Km. Chitra Ghosh and Another vs. Union of India and Others (1969) 2 SCC 228. See S. Tengur v. the Minister of Education and Anor. See also judgment of the Constitutional Court of Moldova of 4 November 2004 - Case 72/1995 published in Romanian Official Gazette, 167/31.07.1995; Judgment of the Constitutional Court of Romania of 18 July 1997 (Case 72/1995) Published in Romanian Official Gazette, 167/31.07.1995. International Association Autism Europe vs. France, Complaint No. 13/2002. European Committee on Social Rights, 4 November 2003. Available at http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/socialcharter/complaints/CC13Merits_en.pdf. See http://www.cncdh.fr/fr/publications/avis-sur-la-scolarisation-des-enfants-handicapes. 13