International Day of Education

In advancing the right to education throughout life, entitlements in adulthood need to be addressed. Different learning pathways or modalities, that encompass formal, non-formal and informal learning are an essential facet of lifelong learning entitlements. It is important that diverse modalities are recognized, validated and accredited (RVA). This process is already governed by the RALE. ‘Member States should promote […] flexible and seamless learning pathways between formal and non-formal education and training’ (article 27) and […] learning outcomes from participation in non-formal and informal adult learning and education should be recognized, validated and accredited as having equivalent values to those granted by formal education (e.g. in accordance with National Qualification Frameworks) to allow for continuing education and access to the labour market, without facing discrimination barriers (article 28 (g)). Different countries have implemented different types of RVA in legisl...

Equality and non-discrimination  The principles of equality and non-discrimination are central to the right to education . These principles are at the foundation of the CADE and are echoed in article 2 (2) of the ICESCR, article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (‘ICCPR’, 1966) and numerous other international human rights provisions. General Comment No. 20 and General Comment No. 13 of the CESCR further interpret the prohibition against discrimination, affirming that both direct and indirect forms of differential treatment amount to discrimination International human rights law prohibits discrimination based on various grounds, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, birth, or disability but this list is non-exhaustive and other statuses could yet include age, nationality, marital and family status, sexual orientation and gender identity, health status, place of residenc...

  Despite decades of striving towards gender equality in education , there remains considerable disparity in the treatment of girls and women, in relation to boys and men, in education systems. An entire treaty - the CEDAW was adopted to tackle the multiple pervasive forms of gender discrimination . The CEDAW outlines specific rights for women in education including many that ensure ‘equal access’, for example to the same: curricula; examinations; teaching staff with qualifications of the same standard; school premises of the same quality; to scholarship and other study grants; programmes of continuing education; the same conditions for career and vocational guidance, and so on (article 10). Considering the CADE was elaborated over sixty years ago, it does not refer to gender but instead it explicitly states that sex-based discrimination must be eradicated and prevented. In the spirit of inclusivity, however, it is essential to look beyond ensuring equivalence of educational r...

   Compared with children without disabilities, children with disabilities are 47% more likely to be out of primary school, 33% more likely to be out of lower-secondary school and 27% more likely to be out of upper secondary school (UNICEF, 2021). Traditionally, persons with disabilities that have accessed education have commonly been educated in a parallel system in special schools or units. There is increasing consensus that, although there may be a place for separate institutions, ideally, mainstream education institutions should become sufficiently inclusive to welcome persons with disabilities, and that the need for special services will therefore decline. B uilding inclusive schools and institutions will require policy-makers to consider accessibility, adapting education infrastructure, the form and substance of education and teaching methods, and using a lifelong learning perspective to be cognizant that persons with disabilities should also be able to participate in p...

  Indigenous peoples and minorities experience specific vulnerabilities in education and are often deprived of quality education due to their background or the cultural, linguistic or financial barriers that they face. It is estimated that 40% of the world’s population cannot access education in a language they speak or understand (UNESCO-GEM Report, 2016), and in some regions this percentage is considerably higher. Minorities and indigenous peoples may avail of non-discrimination and equality clauses under the CADE and the ICESCR, although they are not specified groups, while under the CRC, indigenous peoples are given specific attention under article 30 where it is stated that a ‘child (...) who is indigenous shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practice his or her own religion, or to use his or her own language’. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) comprehen...

Overall, the estimated number of international migrants has increased over the past five decades. 281 million people were living in a country other than their countries of birth in 2020, more than double the figure in 1990 and over three times the estimated number in 1970 (IOM, 2020). At the end of 2020, some 55 million people were living in internal displacement (IDMC). This number is set to rise exponentially as the effects of climate change cause devastating impacts across the globe and the massive numbers of refugees displaced by the recent crisis in Ukraine are added to the tally. UNHCR (2021) estimates that close to half of all refugee children (47%) remain out of school. When people are displaced from their homes and communities, their right to education becomes at risk. Barriers to education are numerous and varied but may include a lack of identity papers; lack of exam or course certificates; distance to school; cost of education; xenophobia, intolerance, language barriers ...

  The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for education systems that are resilient, responsive and capable of providing continuity of learning through times of crisis and recovery . No education system in the world was prepared for the widespread disruption that was caused by the pandemic, which worsened existing inequalities and increased school dropouts. For children in poor or unsafe housing, caring for others, experiencing economic difficulties or hunger, or with parents that speak a different language to that used in school, remote learning was a challenge (Boly Barry, 2020). However, global pandemics are not the only crisis that necessitates an emergency response: natural hazards, climate change, conflict, social unrest and economic crises all create urgent challenges for States. Crisis-situations are not auxiliary concerns to the right to education, they must be placed front and centre of any future reiteration of the international legal framework. Even before the pan...

  Over 70% of respondents to the Global Conversation highlighted digital education as a key emerging challenge facing the right to education today. However, information and communication technologies (ICTs) have also heralded new opportunities in education. From the end of the 20th century, ICTs were integrated into classroom settings, with a gradual rise in computers, laptops, interactive whiteboards and projectors assisting educators in delivering multimedia education content. In recent times, a more expansive change through digitization, digitalization and digital transformation has been taking place . An increased use of ‘synchronous’ technologies such as audiovideo conferencing and text-based chat, coupled with ‘asynchronous’ technologies that permit the recording and retrieval of learning and teaching activities and projects at different times, have assisted teachers in providing education to their learners, even when physically apart due to successive lockdowns. Digital ...

  The term ‘ lifelong learning ’ appears for the first and only time in an international legally binding instrument, in the CRPD. Its article 24 (1) provides that in ‘realising [the right of persons with disabilities to education] without discrimination and on the basis of equal opportunity, States Parties shall ensure an inclusive education system at all levels and lifelong learning […]’. Today, the discussion has increasingly turned to recognizing a ‘right to lifelong learning’ as referred to in the CONFINTEA VII Marrakech Framework for Action. Whether this can be framed as relating to an entirely new right or an extension of the existing right to education is yet to be clarified. During the consultative process it was revealed that the traditional view of education as aimed at children and young people is not sufficient. Some felt that consolidating our understanding of lifelong learning as part and parcel of the right to education would be a way to acknowledge this conceptual s...

  This Section delves into a detailed examination of the right to education within the international human rights law framework. This includes an analysis of key State legal obligations as well as other relevant international commitments, such as soft law instruments and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  State legal obligations  The right to education and its components is legally guaranteed for all, without discrimination, by international human rights law instruments that ratifying countries are to comply with. The CADE is the first instrument to define the concrete obligations required for the realization of this right and the ICESCR builds upon the obligations laid out. In addition, several human rights treaties which are dedicated to specific groups of people, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (‘CEDAW’, 1979) , the Convention on the Rights of the Child (‘CRC’, 1989) and the Convention on the Rights of P...

  Building upon the discussions of the aforementioned section, Section 2 explores how we can better ensure learning opportunities throughout life. The sub-sections examine early childhood, secondary and tertiary education (including TVET), as well as youth and adult literacy and the broader concept of lifelong learning. When the right to education was initially conceived and developed, the traditional levels of a formal education system – primary, secondary and tertiary – were understandably at the forefront of legislators’ minds. Education was largely equated to schooling. Even at the development of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the start of the 21st century, the principal education goal (MDG 2) focused exclusively on achieving universal primary education . In the intervening years, there has been a major shift in our understanding and definition of education. By the time that the SDGs were drafted in 2015, SDG 4 outlined as its mission statement to ‘ensure inclus...