The States have the obligation to make primary education compulsory. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (General Comment No. 36 (paras. 36, 39) recommends that education should be free and compulsory from pre-school to secondary. Besides, States have politically committed through Sustainable Developmental Goal 4 to provide free and compulsory primary and secondary education and at least one year of free and compulsory pre-primary education of good quality by 2030. This indicator evaluates if the States have provisions related to compulsory education in the domestic laws. If yes, assess what levels of education it covers.
UNESCO data for SDG indicator 4.1.7 on Number of years of (a) free and (b) compulsory primary and secondary education guaranteed in legal frameworks and SDG indicator 4.2.5 on Number of years of (a) free and (b) compulsory pre-primary education guaranteed in legal frameworks.
Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 28; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Article 13, General Comment No. 11 (para. 11), General Comment No. 13, (paras. 10, 51 and 59); Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Article 10 (a), General Comment No. 36 (para. 36 and 39).
See also non-binding instruments :
- Tashkent Declaration and Commitments to Action for Transforming Early Childhood Care and Education (Guiding Principles and Strategies for Transformational ECCE, 5.iv).
- Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Sustainable Development Goals 4.1 and 4.2)
Specific reference about compulsory education from pre school to higher education :
- General Comment No. 36 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, para. 36 :‘Education has to be affordable to all, without discrimination based on sex or any other prohibited ground, and should be free and compulsory from pre-school up to the secondary system and progressively up to the tertiary level’
- General Comment No. 36 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, para. 39: ‘the Committee recommends that States parties take all measures to ensure that user fees and hidden costs do not negatively impact girls’ and women’s access to education by instituting the following measures: a) provision of universal, free and compulsory education from pre-school up to the secondary level regardless of socio-economic status for citizens of the state as well as for girls and women with migrant and refugee status;’
- Tashkent Declaration and Commitments to Action for Transforming Early Childhood Care and Education, November 2022, recommends States to ‘Enhance policy and legal frameworks to ensure that the right to education includes ECCE. ECCE is key to achieving the right to education for all and to enable the fulfilment of other social rights. Thus, the availability, accessibility, adaptability and acceptability of ECCE services must be reflected in policies and legal frameworks. This includes the right to at least one year of free and compulsory pre-primary quality education for all children.’ (Guiding Principles and Strategies for Transformational ECCE, 5.iv).
As defined by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (General Comment No. 11 (para. 6), the element of compulsory education ‘serves to highlight the fact that neither parents, nor guardians, nor the State are entitled to treat as optional the decision as to whether the child should have access to education. Similarly, the prohibition of gender discrimination in access to education, required also by articles 2 and 3 of the Covenant, is further underlined by this requirement. It should be emphasized, however, that the education offered must be adequate in quality, relevant to the child and must promote the realization of the child's other rights.’