This online library provides resources from the Right to Education Initiative as well as from other partner organisations. You can filter relevant resources by topic, region, country, content type and language. Note that resources in other languages will be available soon.

See also our list of useful databases for information on the implementation of the right to education at national level.

The study prepared by the Expert Mechanism encompasses (a) a human rights-based analysis of the scope and content of the right to education; (b) indigenous education systems and institutions; (c) lessons learned; (d) challenges and measures to achieve the implementation of the right of indigenous peoples to education; and (e) advice on the right of indigenous peoples to education.

This study examines the use of schools and universities for military purposes by government armed forces and opposition or pro-government armed groups during times of armed conflict or insecurity. Schools are used for barracks, logistics bases, operational headquarters, weapons and ammunition caches, detention and interrogation centres, firing and observation positions, and recruitment grounds.

The study highlights examples of good practice, in which governments have adopted policies that explicitly ban or restrict militaries from using education facilities.

The study also calls upon states, local organisations, and relevant international agencies to rigorously monitor military use of education institutions to devise effective, coordinated responses, including preventative interventions, rapid response, and both legal and non-legal accountability measures for those individuals or groups who contravene existing laws, judicial orders, or military orders.

 

Oral statement made by the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on 8 June 2015, following a report submitted by GI-ESCR with the Sciences Po Law School Clinic and with the support of eight national, regional and international NGOs working on the right to education in Chile.

In this statement, GI-ESCR raises concerns with regards to the impact of the privatised education system in Chile on the rights protected under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

 

South Africa is in the unique posi­tion of hav­ing the right to edu­ca­tion guar­an­teed in the Con­sti­tu­tion. The law has been used to advance this right by trans­lat­ing what is on paper into a real­ity for thou­sands of learn­ers across the coun­try. The LRC and part­ners have been at the fore­front of civil soci­ety efforts in achiev­ing this. We wanted to share our suc­cesses.

In Octo­ber 2013, the Legal Resources Cen­tre was proud to launch Ready to Learn? A Legal Resource for Real­is­ing the Right to Edu­ca­tion at the Open Soci­ety Foun­da­tions in New York (find the press release here). The book was designed for legal prac­ti­tion­ers and shares the LRC’s legal efforts to con­tribute to real­is­ing the right to edu­ca­tion in South Africa. Ready to Learn?

Fight­ing to Learn… A Legal Resource for Real­is­ing the Right to Edu­ca­tion is the fol­low on from Ready to Learn? Using the same for­mat as the first pub­li­ca­tion,Fight­ing to Learn… gives an update on many of the cases rep­re­sented in Ready to Learn? and pro­vides a more gen­eral reflec­tion on the role of edu­ca­tion in the devel­op­ment agenda.

In Fight­ing to Learn…, prac­ti­tion­ers of law in other juris­dic­tions can access a sum­mary and court papers relat­ing to the pro­vi­sion of class­room fur­ni­ture, access to learner-support mate­r­ial and the pay­ment and appoint­ment of teach­ers. It also gives follow-up mate­ri­als for the “mud schools” mat­ter and norms and stan­dards for edu­ca­tion.

It demon­strates how the Con­sti­tu­tional right to edu­ca­tion was inte­gral to our fight for a qual­ity edu­ca­tion that is acces­si­ble to all. It also demon­strates the cre­ativ­ity of LRC lawyers in their work, from using class actions, which is new in South Africa, to our increas­ing use of inno­v­a­tive reme­dies, such as using exter­nal admin­is­tra­tors to imple­ment court judg­ments.

 

 
Two decades after Apartheid was apolished, Some Children are More Equal than Others focuses on how the educational system in South Africa relates to the flagrant inequalities in the country and its still growing wealth-gap. In a nutshell, education in SA operates as a "Tale of two Systems." On the one hand there are 20 % of privileged people who send their children to a functioning schooling system. On the other hand, education is drastically failing 80 % of the children in South Africa. This self-perpetuating circle results in over 50 % youth-unemployment. The serious challenge of fixing the educational system is over-due and it is up to everyone to stand up for their right for basic education, a right enshrined in the constitution of South Africa.

Some Children are More Equal than Others is an independently produced one-man-film-project and was realized as a non-commercial documentary film. The human rights law firm "Legal Resources Centre" generously supported the filmmaker in order to raise awarness of the challenges faced in making South Africa a better place.

Ces derniers temps, l'école devient un enjeu économique et sa privatisation a de quoi soulever des questions. Ceci est une excellente vidéo résumant en 4 minutes le problème de la privatisation des systèmes éducatifs

Nearly fifteen years ago, Audrey Chapman emphasised the importance of ascertaining violations of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) as a means to enhance its enforcement. Today, this violations approach is even more salient given the recent adoption of the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR. Indicators are important to enforcing economic, social, and cultural rights because they assist in measuring progressive realisation. This article focuses on the right to education in the ICESCR to illustrate how indicators can be employed to ascertain treaty compliance and violations. The methodology that we propose calls for: 1) analysing the specific language of the treaty that pertains to the right in question; 2) defining the concept and scope of the right; 3) identifying appropriate indicators that correlate with state obligations; 4) setting benchmarks to measure progressive realisation; and 5) clearly identifying violations of the right in question.

Ce rapport examine le bilan mitigé du Sénégal dans ses efforts pour résoudre ce problème au cours de l’année écoulée, depuis qu’un incendie a ravagé une école coranique installée dans une maison délabrée à Dakar, causant la mort de huit garçons. Après cet incendie, le président Macky Sall s’est engagé à prendre des mesures immédiates pour fermer les écoles où les élèves vivent dans des conditions insalubres ou sont exploités par des maîtres qui les forcent à mendier et leur infligent des punitions sévères s’ils ne parviennent pas à rapporter le quota d’argent exigé. Malgré d’importantes avancées sur le plan législatif les autorités n’ont pris que peu de mesures concrètes pour mettre fin à ces abus. Le rapport informe sur la réglementation des écoles coraniques et fait des recommandations.

This guide presents ideas and methodologies to put a human rights-based approach to education in practice. It focuses on six strategic areas that are central to (and provide a framework for) a HRBA to education including: understanding and securing the right to education working with excluded groups; financing education; promoting citizen participation in education securing rights in education; advancing a full "Education for All" agenda. Each section begins with a brief overview of key issues to be considered and then discusses a range of activities which could be developed within a scheme of work. Short practical examples are given, from a wide range of countries. The majority of the activities focus on work at the local level, but national and international links are also discussed. Within each section two or three areas are analysed in more detail.

Spanish

Este paquete desarrolla una serie de ideas y metodologías para poner en práctica un planteamiento de la educación basado en los derechos humanos. Se concentra en seis sectores estratégicos, que son esenciales para trabajar en educación con un planteamiento basado en los derechos humanos y que proporcionan un marco para este trabajo. Estos sectores son: Comprender y asegurar el derecho a la educación; Trabajar con grupos excluidos; Financiar la educación; Promover la participación ciudadana en la educación; Conseguir derechos en educación; Promover un programa completo de “Educación para Todos”. Cada capítulo empieza con una breve presentación de los aspectos más importantes a ser analizados y sigue con una explicación de las actividades que podrían realizarse dentro de un esquema de trabajo. También se incluyen ejemplos prácticos de numerosos países. La mayoría de las actividades se centran en el trabajo a nivel local, pero también se analizan los vínculos nacionales e internacionales. Dentro de cada capítulo, hemos escogido dos o tres áreas que se analizan con mayor detalle. 

 

Pages