Abolishing School Fees in Africa is the product of a SFAI workshop, “School Fee Abolition: Building on What We Know and Defining Sustained Support,” held in Kenya in 2006. The book begins with a comparative overview of the processes, challenges, and lessons learned by five countries that had already abolished school fees: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Mozambique. The subsequent chapters delineate the actual experiences of each of the countries in planning and implementing their policies.
This report is the culmination of five years’ implementation of ActionAid’s multi-country project aimed at empowering girls and enabling them to enjoy their rights to education and participation in a violence-free environment. The uniqueness of this project resides in the connection between research, community intervention and advocacy reinforced by a strong partnership approach.
On ActionAid website are also available the executive summary (French and English) and the success stories (English and Portuguese).
This issue of the INTERIGHTS Bulletin focuses on litigating the right to education in Africa. It includes the following articles:
Litigating the Right to Education: Editorial
Solomon Sacco and Susie Talbot
Africa and the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Malcolm Langford and Rebecca Brown
Litigating the Right to Universal Primary Education: Challenges and Prospects
Iain Byrne
Toward Recognition of the Right to Free Education in Colombia
Esteban Hoyos-Ceballos and Camilo Castillo-Sánchez
Expropriation as a Means to Protect the Right to Basic Education: The Case of a Farm School on Private Property Facing Eviction
Dmitri Holtzman
Lessons from Litigating Universal Primary Education in Swaziland
Ruchi Parekh
Developing a Litigation Strategy Regarding Non-Fee Barriers to Equal Access to Free and Compulsory Education for Children in Kenya
Hellen Mutellah
Litigating the Expulsion of Pregnant Girls
Solomon Sacco
Tactics to Secure the Right to Education for Children Living with Albinism in Kenya
Gertrude N Angote
Dzvova v Minister of Education, Sports and Culture & Ors
Bellinda Chinowawa
Republic v Head Teacher, Kenya High School, ex parte SMY
Charlotte Leslie
The Legal Way of Doing Things: The Competing Powers of School Governing Bodies and Education Authorities in South Africa
Karabo Ngidi
The ECOWAS Decision on the Right to Education in SERAP v Nigeria
Adetokunbo Mumuni and Chinyere Nwafor
Advancing the Right to Education Through the Communication Procedure in the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
Charlotte Leslie
This country factsheet on Kenya is intended to assist practitioners identify the key national laws and policies relevant to the right to education; analyse their strengths and weaknesses; and detect the gaps between laws and policies, and practice; in order to use the empirical data collected to help define a human rights-based advocacy strategy.
It provides an overview of the obligations of the government to realise the right to education: the instruments (laws, policies, and budget) and mechanisms (commissions, courts, etc) that exist in the country to implement the right to education, and recommendations made by various national and international stakeholders (UN Agencies, NGOs…).
Factsheet detailing the legal and policy framework in Kenya applicable to early and unintended pregnancy and the right to education.
In Kenya, teenage pregnancy almost certainly means the end of a girl’s education. It remains one of the main reasons why girls do not complete their education—keeping an estimated 13,000 girls out of school each year.
This photo essay is the culmination of interviews with government officials, policy experts, human rights activists and the girls themselves. It identifies systemic failings in the education system, uncovers the barriers to returning to school—including stigmatisation, school fees, and lack of childcare—and recommends actions to ensure girls’ human rights are respected.
Start reading, here.