 |
|
Children's Right to Basic Education
by Salim Vally and Brian Ramadiro - Education Rights Project
Recent research has established that a common concern
expressed by vulnerable children involves the cost of education. For decades,
South Africans, both young and old, have recognised the importance of
education. The student uprising of 1976, sparked-off by the demand for
equal education marked the beginning of the demise of Apartheid. Our constitution
speaks to this aspiration by guaranteeing the right to a basic education.
Internationally, the right to education has been recognised as a precondition
for the enjoyment of many civil and political rights such as freedom of
information, expression and association and the right to vote. Similarly,
many economic, social and cultural rights, such as the right to form trade
unions or the right to take part in cultural life, can only be exercised
in a meaningful way after a minimum level of education has been achieved.
Yet almost nine years into our new democracy the right to education remains
a right on paper, not fully enjoyed by many. In practice, the right to
basic education is dependent on one’s social class background and
the ability to pay for education. The right of poor people to basic education
and equality is being violated in many different ways. Many people are
excluded from school or victimised because their parents are not able
to pay for school fees and secondary costs, such as transport, learning
support materials and uniforms. Illegal measures such as the withholding
of school reports, learning materials, and the insistence by some schools
to produce fees upfront for the following year’s schooling occur
in many schools.
Positively though, many community groups are mobilising when they realise
that their rights are being violated. In support of these actions, the
Education Policy Unit with the Centre for Applied Legal Studies established
the Education Rights Project (ERP) in February of this year. The ERP takes
an integrated approach -encompassing research, community activism, legal
education and litigation – in helping individuals and communities
to assert and realise their right to basic education.
The ERP campaigns for improvements in many aspects of educational provision-
in the prevention of sexual harassment, in budgetary and infrastructural
provision, in the farm school sector and adult education but most importantly,
it campaigns for free, quality education as a basic right.
The ERP is concerned that our education system does not comply with key
international human rights instruments. Of particular relevance are the
conventions on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the
Rights and Welfare of the Child, both of which have been ratified by South
Africa. The UN committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights made it
clear that charging fees for primary education is contrary to clauses
in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(ICESR). South Africa falls short not only of the ICESR standard but also
of other human rights instruments. Half a century ago, the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, established free education as a human right.
A recent report by Oxfam International, tilted ‘Education Charges
- A Tax on Human Development’, in motivating for abolishing user
fees, argues that the cost of education is being transferred to poor families
as part of a creeping privatisation of educational financing.
In the course of the ERP's work with communities we have heard numerous
stories of hardships, dashed expectations and often of an uncaring, aloof
and callous bureaucracy. Yet increasingly, sullen apathy and hopeless
resignation is giving way to creative initiative and courageous attempts
by young people, their parents, teachers and some education officials
in order to change the situation. More and more people are realising that
ultimately, real education transformation will depend on the capacity
of the poor and their supporters to mobilise, co-ordinate their struggles
and become a powerful social movement. In this way we will give renewed
meaning to the once popular slogan ‘Education for Liberation!’.
To contact the ERP phone (011) 717-3076.
