The Right to Education
Education is a multiplier right. Without education, other rights cannot be fully enjoyed. Education is also an accelerator right: it equips people to enter the labour force and participate in public life. However, education is not only an instrumental right. It should primarily be regarded as an intrinsic right, valuable in its own terms. Section II considers how the freedom, social, and equality components of the right are reflected in different human rights instruments, contrasting these to education in the Sustainable Development Goals. Section III considers the meaning of ‘free and compulsory’ education and particularly the paradoxical nature of a compulsory right. Section IV examines the complex contestations between the freedom and equality dimensions of the right, especially in the context of parental choice as to the religious, moral, or political nature of the right to education. Section V is concerned with the extent to which a human rights approach to education can be used to achieve quality education.