A/HRC/35/11 including women; ensure culturally appropriate education in local languages and safe, affordable and accessible gender-sensitive transportation. 32 F. Education infrastructure 28. Girls may be unwilling to attend school or discouraged from doing so by parents or guardians when schools do not provide water, safe and separate toilets/changing rooms nor take into account girls’ particular health needs. Their concentration and participation in class may also be negatively affected in those circumstances. Social stigma around menstruation and HIV/AIDS, for example, often leads to additional discrimination and may further compel a girl to remain at home.33 29. States should ensure that schools have adequate and safe drinking water; separate, accessible and sheltered toilets for girls; and hygiene education and resources for menstrual hygiene, with attention to girls with disabilities. 34 G. School regulations and dress codes 30. School admission practices and regulations that are not gender-sensitive and that discriminate on the basis of sex or gender limit girls’ equal enjoyment of the right to education, including different admission criteria for girls and boys to secondary school or higher education or the exclusion of girls from physical education and extracurricular activities. Girls may risk expulsion, public shaming and disciplinary sanctions, including flogging, lashing and other forms of gender-based violence, for non-compliance with the school dress code; and may be discouraged or prevented by parents from attending school if they must either wear or remove religious symbols. 35 31. Under international human rights law, a legal ban on wearing religious symbols and clothing in schools may be in contravention of the best interests of the child principle, and the child’s right to freedom of expression, education and freedom to practise or manifest a religion. 36 All children should participate equally in adopting and addressing regulations such as school dress codes. Cuba highlighted the participation of girls and boys in the elaboration and application of school regulations and the incorporation of a gendersensitive approach to promoting practices that foster equality. States should carefully consider and closely monitor how dress codes impact girls’ access to education.37 H. Inclusive and quality learning environment 32. The prevalence of explicit and implicit discriminatory curricula, textbooks, materials and teaching methods can reinforce, foster and normalize discrimination. Unqualified teachers may push girls into non-professional courses, overlook them in classroom discussions and be biased towards boys in terms of grades, opportunities, praise and punishment. 33. Cuba, Estonia, Finland, Mexico, Nicaragua, Slovenia and Spain highlighted the integration of gender equality in national school curricula, teacher training, revision of 32 33 34 35 36 37 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 34 (2016), paras. 43 (e) and 87. OHCHR, “Information series on sexual and reproductive health and rights” (2015); A/HRC/32/44, paras. 68-70. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No.15 (2002) on the right to water, paras. 11-12; A/HRC/33/49, para. 50. See, for example, A/HRC/31/79, p. 47, SDN 5/2015. See CEDAW/C/FRA/CO/6, para. 20; CEDAW/C/TKM/CO/3-4, para. 20; communication No. 931/2000, Hudoyberganova v. Uzbekistan, Views adopted on 5 November 2004; communication No. 1852/2008, Singh v. France, Views adopted on 1 November 2012. See CRC/C/15/Add.240, paras. 25-26. 7