scholarly journals Four years following South Africa's declaration upon the ratification of the ICESCR and jurisprudence on the right to basic education: A step in the right direction?

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Doya Nanima ◽  
Ebenezer Durojaye
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Right To Education ◽  
National Education ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right

ABSTRACT Education empowers individuals to develop the skills needed for economic success in order to contribute to nation-building and reconciliation. Following South Africa's ratification of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, there were mixed reactions on account of the much-anticipated ratification, on the one hand, and the declaration that subjected the right to basic education to the National Education Policy Framework and the available resources, on the other. This article interrogates the efficacy of this declaration in the realisation of the right to basic education in South Africa. It utilises a three-step approach. First, it contextualises the right to education and evaluates the declaration. Secondly, it evaluates selected decisions of the South African courts to establish the trend on the right to basic education. The third step juxtaposes the executive's and the courts' approaches from the ratification to date. A conclusion and recommendations inform the way forward. Keywords: Best interests principle, Eviction of schools, Immediate realisation, National policy, Provision of textbooks, Right to basic education, Staffing.

scholarly journals THE RIGHT TO MOTHER-TONGUE EDUCATION: PRACTICABLE OR NOT?

Obiter ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chrizell Chürr
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Cumulative Effect ◽  
The South ◽  
National Education ◽  
Mother Tongue Education ◽  
South African Constitution ◽  
The Right ◽  
South African Schools Act

Mother-tongue and mother-tongue education are recognized worldwide as one of the most efficient ways to function cognitively and socially. This article addresses the role of proper mother-tongue education with an emphasis on the importance of “language” since language is vital to a child’s right to a basic education in all its dimensions. Without mother-tongue education, every child’s right to learn and to become a skilful adult, able to participate independently in society, is at risk. The cumulative effect of the South African Constitution, the National Education Policy Act, the South African Schools Act, several international instruments and a number of ground-breaking cases, as well as the interaction between them on mother-tongue education will be examined. The implementation of certain education models will also be proposed.

Accessing the Right to Basic Education in South Africa: Four Years after the Ratification of the Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 479-502
Author(s):  
Sicelo Makapela ◽  
Pius Tanga
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
Walking Distance ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
The Government ◽  
South African Constitution ◽  
The Right ◽  
Human Rights Based Approach ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Survey Questionnaires

Abstract This article examines access to the right to basic education enshrined in the South African Constitution. Underpinned by the human rights-based approach, the study employed survey questionnaires and in-depth interviews as methods of data collection. The results of the study revealed that the majority of the survey respondents contend that the post-apartheid state has fulfilled the right to basic education only to a small extent notwithstanding the existence of pre-schools, primary, and secondary schools located within a reasonable walking distance from the communities. Preference for the three classes was not equally distributed in the population, X2 (2, N= 500) = 99.68, p < 0.05. On the contrary, the majority of government participants interviewed rated the post-apartheid state fulfillment of the right to basic education in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality as fair. Overall, all the government participants had a moderate view regarding the fulfillment of the right.

scholarly journals #Schools on fire: Criminal justice responses to protests that impede the right to basic education

2017 ◽  
pp. 39-50
Author(s):  
Ann Skelton ◽  
Martin Nsibirwa
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
South African ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
Access To Education ◽  
The South ◽  
Right To Education ◽  
The Right ◽  
South African Schools Act ◽  
School Property

  In recent years, schools have borne the brunt of protesters’ frustrations with the lack of access to services in South Africa. A 2016 investigative hearing by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) explored the causes of the protests and examined the failure to prevent the destruction of school property. It found that no one was held accountable for the protest-related damage. This article explores the competing constitutionally protected rights of protest and education. Although the right to protest is central in a democracy, it must be exercised peacefully with minimal disruptions to the right to education. Protest action that causes destruction should be criminally sanctioned; however, action that impedes access to education through threats and intimidation is difficult to deal with in the criminal justice system. This article questions the applicability of section 3(6) of the South African Schools Act, which makes it an offence to stop children attending school, and considers the proposed amendments to the Act in light of these critiques. The article explores possible prosecution relying on the Intimidation Act, and finds that the Act is under constitutional challenge. The article concludes that the focus on prevention as contained in the SAHRC report is not misplaced, given the challenges in holding protesters accountable under criminal law.

scholarly journals The Islamic Republic of Iran and children’s right to education: acceptability & adaptability

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-48
Author(s):  
Shabnam Moinipour
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Islamic Republic ◽  
Right To Education ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Educational Rights ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Islamic Republic Of Iran ◽  
The Right ◽  
Human Rights Standards

Iran, as a United Nations member state, has made moral and legal commitments to conform to international human rights standards, including the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which address the right to education. This article reviews Iran’s commitments to children’s educational rights, drawing on the 4-A scheme developed by the former Special Rapporteur of the UN High Commission for Human Rights on Education, Katarina Tomaševski, whereby education should be available, accessible, acceptable, and adaptable. It examines the State’s obligation to ensure education is acceptable and adaptable. It identifies a number of legal and political reasons why children are unable to claim their educational rights. It calls for substantial educational and societal reform and the prioritisation of the child’s best interests, over those of the State.

scholarly journals The Child's Right to Basic Education in Nigeria: A Commentary on the Decision in SERAP v. Nigeria

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 639-648 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aisosa Jennifer Isokpan ◽  
Ebenezer Durojaye
Keyword(s):  
Basic Education ◽  
Case Note ◽  
Third Parties ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Right To Education ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

This case note focuses on the justiciability as well as the impact of corruption on the realisation of the right to basic education. Through an assessment of the decision of the ECOWAS Court in SERAP v. Nigeria, it emphasises the role of states in ensuring that corrupt activities of government officials or third parties do not affect the enjoyment of the right. It equally emphasises the role of the Nigerian courts in ensuring a justiciable right to education.

A Tug of War Between Heritage Conservation and Property Rights: Some Success at Last for Heritage Conservation—City of Cape Town v. Oudekraal Estates (Pty) Ltd. [2007] JOL 20887 (C)

2009 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Beukes
Keyword(s):  
Property Rights ◽  
South African ◽  
Cape Town ◽  
The Other ◽  
Heritage Conservation ◽  
South African Context ◽  
Sensitive Issue ◽  
African Context ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right

When the idea of heritage conservation arises, one specific facet of the ensuing reflection is bound to emerge at some stage: the (inevitable) tension between property rights, on the one hand, and the right to culture (of which heritage conservation is an aspect), on the other. This tension intensifies when the cultural material to be conserved concerns a traditionally sensitive issue—that of the burial places of the ancestors of people designated in the South African context as previously disadvantaged.

scholarly journals NARRATIVAS SOBRE O DIREITO À EDUCAÇÃO EM DISPUTA: luzes antropológicas para compreender as mobilizações juvenis

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 586
Author(s):  
Valdeci Reis
Keyword(s):  
Buenos Aires ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Right To Education ◽  
National Education ◽  
The Social ◽  
De Se ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
The Right ◽  
The City

Estudo etnográfico, com revisão de literatura sobre a construção social do conceito juventude, tem como objetivo relatar e analisar narrativas juvenis em torno do direito à educação. A análise empírica seleciona duas ondas de mobilizações protagonizadas por jovens estudantes: Atos em defesa das Universidades e Institutos Federais ocorridos na cidade de Florianópolis-SC; Na capital da Argentina, Buenos Aires, a narrativa etnográfica se debruça na análise de mobilizações protagonizadas por jovens portenhos que tomaram as ruas exigindo a manutenção da Ley Nacional de Educación, além de se posicionarem radicalmente contra as medidas de austeridade anunciadas pelo Governo Maurício Macri. A análise dos dados etnográficos aponta que a pauta em defesa da educação é capaz de unir coletivos e organizações dos mais variados espectros ideológicos.Palavras-chave: Juventude. Neoliberalismo. Participação social. Etnografia. América Latina.NARRATIVES ON THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION IN DISPUTE: anthropological lights to understand youth mobilizationsAbstractEthnographic study, with a review of the literature on the social construction of the concept of youth, in order to report and analyze youth narratives around the right to education.The empirical analysis selected two waves of mobilizations carried out by young students: Acts in defense of public educational institutions occurred in the city of Florianópolis-SC, Brazil;In the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires, the ethnographic narrative focused on the analysis of mobilizations carried out by young people who went to the streets demanding the maintenance of the “National Education Law”, as well as to stand radicallyagainst the austerity measures announced by the MaurícioMacri Government. The analysis of the ethnographic data indicates that the agenda in defense of education is capable of uniting collectives and organizations affiliated to the mostdiverse ideological currents.Keywords: Youth. Neoliberalism. Social participation. Ethnography. Latin America.

Jordan’s Commitment towards Compulsory and Free Basic Education as a Constitutional Right: An Analytical Field Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 356-386
Author(s):  
Ali Mohamed Aldabbas ◽  
Kamal Jamal Alawamleh ◽  
Worud Jamal Awamleh
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Field Study ◽  
Quantitative Assessment ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Drop Out ◽  
Right To Education ◽  
Constitutional Right ◽  
The Right

Abstract This study examines the extent to which Jordan is committed to principles of compulsory and free basic education, by analyzing legislation in light of constitutional and international standards regarding the right to education. Methodology includes quantitative assessment of these principles using a questionnaire distributed to students and their teachers in a number of public schools in three Jordanian governorates. Three focus group sessions composed of students and their teachers were held. The study suggests that, whilst the Jordanian Constitution has explicitly adopted such principles, Jordanian law yet includes provisions that diminish providing free basic education to all children of compulsory age and that mitigate the number of students who drop out of school. This study proposes amending the title of Chapter II of the Constitution and Article 20 to ensure that all children living in Jordan enjoy the right to education.

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