A/HRC/42/59/Add.3 each pupil or student can enrol in the school or other educational institution of his/her choice. These legal obligations imply among others that schools and other educational institutions are not allowed to select their students or to refuse access to certain students. The free choice has to be guaranteed under all circumstances. Most of the Belgian schools are publicly funded. Each child or youngster between 2 ½ until 18 years old can enrol free of charge, starting with pre-primary until higher secondary education. Also higher education and adult education are freely accessible with choice of institution and programme for a modest enrolment fee. There are no systemic barriers for pupils or students on the basis of ethnic origin or social economical background. 23. The Flemish government actively implements a policy on Equal Opportunities in Education, with a lot of specific measures (on the restriction of educational costs, measures to reach young children to attend pre-primary education, on early school leaving, on teaching the language of instruction to newcomers, etc). All these measures are targeted at disadvantaged groups in society. 24. The freedom of education does not imply that individual schools and teachers have the discretion to teach what is in their own interest. Of course they have to apply to the core curriculum (attainment targets) as set by the Flemish government. In primary education, there are plenty of opportunities to work on topics such as racism and discrimination (but also on inequalities in society, on colonization…) in the subject area ‘world orientationman and society’. In secondary education new attainment targets for Grade 1 (12- 13 year olds) are developed and will be implemented on 1 September 2019. These new attainment targets are in the process of being implemented for the following years for Grade 2 and 3 as well. More emphasis will be laid on ‘Historical awareness’ and ‘civic competences’ since these are 2 of the 16 (European) key competences the new curriculum is based on. 25. In the French Community, “self-knowledge and opening up to others”, “building citizenship in equality, rights and dignity” as well as the development of competences to facilitate the deconstruction of prejudice and discrimination are among the objectives of philosophy and citizenship courses included in the curricula of primary (2016) and secondary (2018) schools. 26. The principles of equality and non-discrimination have been included in the accreditation criteria for school textbooks (decree of 30 June 2016, amending the decree concerning the education system of the French Community). By strengthening the governance of the education system as part of the Pact of Excellence, schools are provided with the tools needed to implement strategies on citizenship promotion and to prevent discrimination through curricula and guidance. Strengthened school support will be introduced at the start of the school year 2019-2020. The adoption of a core curriculum (for students between 3 and 15 years of age) aims to reduce artificial dividing lines, vertical as well as horizontal, amongst students. It furthermore allows for adapting educational strategies in order to better take into account diversity in the school population. The reform of initial teacher training adopted in February 2019 includes an important segment that aims to strengthen democracy in schools, in particular by developing competences in social psychology as well as the field of cultural diversity and inequalities, based on the criteria of the decree of 12 December 2008 concerning the fight against certain forms of discrimination. The range of educational options for schools has been further developed, particularly with regard to the welcoming and inclusion of new-comers, the attention 2. If a community, in its capacity as an organising authority, wishes to delegate powers to one or several autonomous bodies, it can only do so by federate law adopted by a two-thirds majority of the votes cast. 3. Everyone has the right to education with the respect of fundamental rights and freedoms. Access to education is free until the end of compulsory education. All pupils of school age have the right to moral or religious education at the community’s expense. 4. All pupils or students, parents, teaching staff or institutions are equal before the law or federate law. The law and federate law take into account objective differences, in particular the characteristics of each organising authority that warrant appropriate treatment. 5. The organisation, the recognition and the subsidising of education by the community are regulated by the law or federate law. 6