A group of civil society organizations filed a collective petition against the Argentine State (in particular against the Ministry of Education) to stop its omission of collecting essential information on the educational status of persons with disabilities. The case focuses on the legal and constitutional obligation of the Argentine State to produce information on the educational system and its close link to the right to education, equality and non-discrimination.
The Appeals Court’s ruling ordered the respondent to place on the record the measures taken to comply with the ruling within 90 days, which began to accrue once the extraordinary appeal was rejected and the ruling became final. After a series of injunctions and extensions to comply with the order, on 30 July 2018, the respondent submitted a memo indicating the measures adopted to prove partial compliance with the order, detailing the modifications made to the educational system’s annual survey records. Subsequently, a series of meetings and out-of-court consultations were held between representatives of the petitioner and the Directorate of Educational Information and Statistics of the Ministry of Education, in order to discuss appropriate ways to fully implement the court ruling by incorporating the remaining questions in the annual surveys.
The changes were then submitted by the respondent to the Federal Network of Educational Information (RedIE), composed of the 24 jurisdictions of the Argentine State, which approved their inclusion in the 2019 reports. Consequently, the remaining categories were included in those documents, thus complying with the provisions of the judgement.
This case constitutes a fundamental precedent in determining the obligation of States to produce, collect and systematize adequate, sufficient and duly disaggregated information as a key input for the design and implementation of public policies that ensure the right to education of persons with disabilities without discrimination.
For their contributions to the summary, special thanks to ESCR-Net member: Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia.
