Exploitation in the Name of Education: Uneven Progress in Ending Forced Child Begging in Senegal

The  report examines Senegal’s mixed record in addressing the problem in the year since a fire ripped through a Quranic boarding school in Dakar housed in a makeshift shack, killing eight boys. After the fire, President Macky Sall pledged to take immediate action to close schools where boys live in unsafe conditions or are exploited by teachers, who force them to beg and inflict severe punishment when the boys fail to return a set quota of money. While important legislation has advanced, authorities have taken little concrete action to end this abuse.

Child Marriage: Malawi

The government of Malawi should increase efforts to end widespread child and forced marriage, or risk worsening poverty, illiteracy, and preventable maternal deaths in the country.
According to government statistics, half of the girls in Malawi will be married by their 18th birthday, with some as young as age 9 or 10 being forced to marry. Malawi faces many economic challenges, but the rights of girls and women, including the right to education, should not be sacrificed as a result.

Advancing Children's Rights: A Guide for Civil Society Organisations on how to engage with the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

This Guide is intended to be a comprehensive resource for finding out more about the Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. It provides practical information for organisations wishing to engage with the Committee but also relevant background information to ensure that this engagement is put into context.

Privatisation vs the Public Good

This article explores the increasing privatisation of education. It examines various criticisms of the private provision of education and claims that privatisation is driven by an ideological agenda which is generally uncaring about any notion of the “public good” purposes of education — that is, of its role in producing social cohesion through the provision of education that is of high quality for all members of society.

Fighting Female Genital Mutilation: Girls’ Right to Education Versus Traditional Practices

Attaining primary and secondary school education for girls in Liberia remains a major challenge. Girls aged below 10 years are pulled out of formal education, by traditionalists, and forced to take part in traditional female initiation ceremonies in informal settings locally known as bush schools. As a consequence, nearly half of women in Liberia are illiterate, according to United Nations statistics.

Invisible Children: the Disability Challenge in Mozambique

In Mozambique, 14% of children between two and nine years old are disabled. They are often hidden away by their families – in effect rendered invisible – and are vulnerable to discrimination as well as an increased risk of violence. These children need greater support from their families and better access to education, which would enable them to attend school with their peers. But that can only happen if the necessary facilities, equipment and training are provided.

Using Human Rights Standards to Assess Privatisation of Education in Africa

According to international law, States have the principal responsibility ‘to ensure the direct provision of the right to education in most circumstances.  Although private education is allowed under international law, there are specific conditions and limitations under which private education must operate.  While empirical data about the effectiveness of public and private schools is needed to inform the debate on how to achieve quality education, there also needs to be criteria to assess the measures for determining ‘effectiveness’ and to define what models of private education are ac

Monitoring the Right to Education for Refugees, Migrants and Asylum Seekers

This article is based on a year-long study of the right to education for child refugees and migrants from other African countries who find themselves in South Africa. It identifies a number of factors that inhibit children’s participation in education and shows how the right to education can be assessed and monitored using indicators.

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