SUMMARIES OF SELECTED STATEMENTS had been intended to allow a day-care facility such as the special nursery school involved to be set up according to the Day-Care Facilities Act. Due to the ambiguities in the legislation, the Ombudsman did not have sufficient grounds for criticising the municipality’s decision to convert the status of the special nursery school from a special day-care facility according to the Social Services Act to a facility according to the Day-Care Facilities Act. The Ombudsman found it most appropriate to inform the then Ministry of Children, Gender Equality, Integration and Social Affairs pursuant to section 12 of the Ombudsman Act with a view to the Ministry considering a legislative clarification, including a clarification of the issue of financial consequences for citizens and municipalities, respectively. The Ombudsman chose to inform Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee and Parliament’s Social Affairs Committee for the same reason. 2015-53. The right of private school pupils to be heard prior to expulsion or removal. Article 12 of the Children’s Convention The Ombudsman had considered two complaints about pupils at private primary and lower secondary schools being expelled/removed at very short notice, among other things without prior consultation. As neither the Act on Private Independent Schools nor the Act on Continuation Schools contains any provisions on children’s right to be heard, the Ombudsman asked the Ministry of Education for a general statement on the implementation of Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which stipulates children’s right to be heard in all matters affecting them. The Ministry of Education subsequently prepared two guides: one for head teachers and one for pupils. The guide for head teachers draws attention to the fact that the requirement of the Children’s Convention that the views of the child must be included applies to all matters, and the guide for pupils informs them about their right to be heard. On that basis, the Ombudsman took no further action but asked the Ministry to inform him at the beginning of 2016 about the result of a planned evaluation of follow-up efforts. In addition, he would keep updated on whether the Ombudsman’s office received further complaints about private schools or continuation schools not including the views of pupils in matters of, for instance, expulsion or removal. 145