New demands are being placed on education build upon a foundation of robust infrastructure, pedagogies, teachers and materials to fulfil its principal aims.

 

Heightened recognition of the interdependence of human rights was a frequent refrain during the consultative process. Through the political push in the education field, instigated by the COVID-19 pandemic and consolidated in the recent OCA Policy Brief, the need to build back better and moreresilient systems. New demands are being placed on education, which must be built upon a foundation of robust infrastructure, pedagogies, teachers and materials to fulfil its principal aims. A holistic view of education, with an explicit focus on lifelong learning, equity and inclusion, quality and learning outcomes requires a system-wide approach. Ministries must work in a whole-ofgovernment approach and taking an intersectoral and coordinated manner – it is envisaged that the Ministry of Education will collaborate with Ministries of Health, Work, Children, Women and Inclusion, among others, to elaborate policies and laws that work in tandem towards the fulfilment of a wide network of interacting rights from before birth to old age. Just as the right to education is indispensable for the fulfilment of other rights, such as the right to work, or the right to gender equality, it is also intrinsically interdependent with the protection of other rights such as the rights of the child and the burgeoning right to information. When it comes to governance structures, it was suggested in the consultative process that more control could be given to local governments while regional and national governments work at the level of maintaining a role-setting agenda, accountability systems and budgeting. Teachers should also be given a certain level of autonomy as ‘policy-makers’, as they decide what happens in their classroom. The right to education should therefore empower teachers and local government to realize the principles under the right to education and design their own systems of implementation in line with international human rights law. Similarly, participants reiterated that the right toeducation reaches past the school gates and engages with others that have roles in the lives of children such as families, community organizations, faith-based organizations, businesses, universities, and with the arts and sports