tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/right-to-education-11093/articlesright to education – The Conversation2023-01-12T13:38:59Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1950222023-01-12T13:38:59Z2023-01-12T13:38:59ZPregnant learners in South Africa need creches and compassion to keep them in school<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496958/original/file-20221123-12-ztb31l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pregnant schoolgirls weigh up several factors when deciding whether to stay in school throughout and after their pregnancies.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stephane De Sakutin/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>After Boitumelo gave birth she decided not to go back to school. She assumed that, because she was now a mother, she would be barred from returning. Then she had <a href="http://www.sajch.org.za/index.php/sajch/article/view/1448">a surprising interaction</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>They [school] were like, why did you not come back [to school], do you attend [school] elsewhere? I was like, no, I have a child. Then they were like, on January we need you here, this school is empty without you, and that gave me the confidence of saying, oh I must go back to school.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In fact, Boitumelo had the right, <a href="https://www.gov.za/documents/national-policy-act-policy-prevention-and-management-learner-pregnancy-schools-3-dec-2021">under South African law</a>, to continue her schooling through and after her pregnancy – without fear of stigma or discrimination. But her experience of a supportive school environment is sadly all too rare. In early November 2022 a learner in the KwaZulu-Natal province was forced to take her school <a href="https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-mercury-south-africa/20221107/281651079063482">to court</a> so she could sit for her final matriculation exams. She was expelled in July 2022 in accordance with the school’s “pregnancy policy.” </p>
<p>More than 100,000 adolescent girls give birth in South Africa each year. Adolescent births represented between <a href="https://www.hst.org.za/healthindicators">12 and 14% of births</a> in facilities between 2019 and 2022. Specifically, the number of births delivered by adolescents aged between 10 and 19 in South Africa’s public health facilities <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/03-09-15/03-09-152022.pdf#page=38">rose from 129,223</a> in 2019 <a href="https://www.hst.org.za:443/healthindicators">to 139,361</a> in 2022. This increase in the number of births is a setback when viewed against the modest progress made in lowering teenage pregnancy rates between <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR131/FR131.pdf#page=160">1998</a> and <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR337/FR337.pdf#page=107">2016</a>.</p>
<p>Early, unintended pregnancy <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-pregnancy">affects</a> young women’s educational, health, social and economic futures. It can keep them from continuing or finishing school and thus from pursuing further education and training.</p>
<p>I wanted to know what influenced young women’s decisions about schooling when they found out they were pregnant. Some dropped out temporarily; some remained in school throughout their pregnancies and returned after giving birth. Others dropped out permanently.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.sajch.org.za/index.php/sajch/article/view/1448">My findings</a> suggest that schools, families and the wider community play a critical role in determining what decision a young woman will make. Support and encouragement can keep them in school while stigmatisation and exclusion push them out entirely.</p>
<h2>Support and childcare</h2>
<p>For my study I conducted in-depth interviews with 30 young women in an urban community in South Africa; 24 were in school when they found out they were pregnant. Their ages ranged from 15 to 20 years. In all but one case, their pregnancies were unintended.</p>
<p>Thirteen of the participants had decided to remain at school upon finding out they were pregnant.</p>
<p>They experienced mixed reactions from the school management and teachers along a continuum of active support for them to continue school, to not acknowledging the pregnancy at all, to attempts to dismiss or shame them. </p>
<p>In one case a pregnant learner was told she had to leave school because it would not take responsibility for her health. Her mother challenged the school by arranging for an aunt to accompany the young woman to school every day to take responsibility for her health. </p>
<p>Being able to organise childcare for babies was an important determinant for remaining at school. The <a href="https://www.westerncape.gov.za/service/sassa-child-support-grant">Child Support Grant</a>, which currently amounts to R480 (about US$28) per month and is awarded through means testing, increased the agency of young mothers to find care for their babies in local creches or paid caregivers, especially in urban areas, where kin were not always available for childcare. </p>
<p>A further important determinant of remaining at school in spite of challenges experienced was the desire not to disappoint families who had made sacrifices to educate their daughters.</p>
<h2>Making hard decisions</h2>
<p>Another six of the participants temporarily dropped out of school. This was largely a result of school policy, shame and embarrassment about attending school while pregnant, and taking a break while coping with the onerous demands of pregnancy and motherhood. </p>
<p>The remaining five young women I interviewed permanently dropped out of school because of school policy, inability to manage the dual demands of motherhood and schooling, and lack of support to care for their babies. Their decision was strongly influenced by the reactions of family, partners and friends. </p>
<p>For example, Bontle <a href="http://www.sajch.org.za/index.php/sajch/article/view/1448">was told</a> by her mother that she had to take care of her “mistake” (baby) and therefore had to give up school: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I couldn’t go back (to school) because my mother said I should take care of the baby, no one’s going to take care of my baby because it is a choice that I made and I wanted to have a baby while I was still schooling. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>These findings emphasise the critical role schools and the wider family and community play in determining young pregnant women’s decisions to continue and complete their schooling. </p>
<p>They also show how schools continue to exercise “policy” barring pregnant learners from school or shaming them in spite of this violating South Africa’s legal and constitutional framework. </p>
<p>Young pregnant women require support to advocate for their right to continue schooling and need care and support by family and community to make it easier to continue going to school.</p>
<h2>Accountability and support</h2>
<p>The Department of Basic Education must ensure that school management and governing bodies are well versed with policy around pregnant learners. Schools that violate the rights of pregnant learners must be held to account. </p>
<p>Individual schools need to strike a balance between treating pregnant learners like any other learner and accommodating their <a href="https://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/items/89447c05-ccf4-4f54-b636-3448da70ff7c">particular needs</a>. Pregnant learners’ increased risk of dropping out of school should be seen within the broader package of care and support offered to vulnerable learners, and teachers should be trained to offer psychosocial and other support. </p>
<p>Schools can also link pregnant and parenting learners to health and social services; for example, ensuring that young mothers receive the Child Support Grant.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195022/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nirvana Pillay received funding from the South African National Research Foundation, Grant Number: APDS 170526233617 and the Centre of Excellence in Human Development NRF Accelerator Grant, ‘Changing Family Structures and Care in South Africa’ for this research.</span></em></p>Under South African law, girls have the right to continue their schooling through and after their pregnancies.Nirvana Pillay, Visiting Researcher Wits School of Public Health, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1868562022-08-16T14:45:25Z2022-08-16T14:45:25ZPeople with intellectual disability have a right to sexuality – but their families have concerns<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478750/original/file-20220811-6992-vr0mgb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People with intellectual disability are entitled to their human rights like everyone else.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many South Africans living with intellectual disability don’t have opportunities to be part of community life. They may lack the opportunity to learn, work or enjoy leisure activities and social connections like anyone else.</p>
<p>There are various reasons for this. Inadequate health and social services, stigma and poor understanding of intellectual disability in society are some of them. One reason that researchers haven’t explored much relates to family members’ legitimate fears of the risk that their relatives will be sexually abused. </p>
<p>There are common <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195-014-9344-x">misconceptions about and negative attitudes</a> towards the sexuality of people with intellectual disability. They are also <a href="https://doi.org/10.2989/17280583.2012.735498">easy targets for sexual crime perpetrators</a> who take advantage of their diminished ability to understand or judge other people’s intentions. They are often eager to please others and face communication challenges which make it difficult to report if anything happened to them. </p>
<p>Data on sexual violence against people with intellectual disabilities in South Africa is scanty. But the available literature suggests that <a href="https://doi.org/10.2989/17280583.2012.735498">this group is at high risk</a>. </p>
<p>Intellectual disability <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK332877/#:%7E:text=DSM%2D5%20defines%20intellectual%20disabilities,and%20practical%20areas%20of%20living.">affects</a> a person’s mental abilities including reasoning, problem solving, abstract thinking, judgement and academic learning. These challenges affect a person’s ability to be independent. The <a href="http://cs2016.statssa.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/CS-2016-Disability-Report_-03-01-232016.pdf">2016 Community Survey</a> in South Africa placed intellectual disability in a category relating to difficulties with remembering or concentration. It reported an estimate of 3.3% of the population as having mild difficulty and 1% as having severe difficulty. </p>
<p>Despite their limitations, people with intellectual disability are entitled to their human <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/constitution/SAConstitution-web-eng-02.pdf#page=2">rights</a> like everyone else. These include the right to sexual autonomy and sexuality education. But sexuality education and support are not usually available to this population group.</p>
<p>With this lack of support, many family caregivers – especially parents – live with a fear that their child or relative lacks competency. There’s concern that they may be at risk of sexual abuse, or might display inappropriate sexual behaviour. A common response is for caregivers to become overprotective. As a result, the person with intellectual disability is kept under surveillance. </p>
<p>In my <a href="https://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/24508">research</a> in the Western Cape province of South Africa I found that some people with intellectual disability were being “detained” at home. They were denied opportunities for education and training, employment, leisure, and other forms of social life. The main reasons related to sexuality.</p>
<h2>Study findings</h2>
<p>I interviewed 25 family caregivers about sexuality issues concerning their relative with intellectual disability. I also interviewed nine service providers about their views of families’ responses.</p>
<p>Family caregivers expressed a range of actions, attitudes and behaviours – from suppression of their relative’s sexuality to support. Responses shifted between the two extremes, depending on availability of professional support and the specific sexuality issue. </p>
<p>In the responses that tended towards suppression of sexuality, one of the main reasons was fear. </p>
<p>When a child reaches puberty and then adulthood, families face the reality of that person’s sexual maturation. Some families would prefer not to think about this at all. Physical body changes, menstruation, masturbation, interest in sexual intimacy, evidence of sexual activity, desire to become a parent and need for independence can be difficult for families to handle. The person with intellectual disability needs support, for example, in the form of sexuality education and empowerment. Family caregivers need emotional and practical support. These are not always available.</p>
<p>Even when the person with intellectual disability has access to some services such as sheltered workshops, it’s common for there to be a lack of collaboration between service providers and families. This leaves all the responsibility with the families. </p>
<p>Due to the lack of support and their fear, caregivers become <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-3156.2012.00758.x">reluctant “jailers”</a> of family members with intellectual disability. But lack of stimulation and exposure to the outside world for the person with intellectual disability has negative implications. It can make a person lonely, unable to learn how to do things, and prone to mental and physical health challenges. </p>
<p>There are some organisations working with people with intellectual disability in South Africa that take the right to sexual autonomy seriously. They offer appropriate support in promoting this right. These organisations have to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/17446295211048743#:%7E:text=https%3A//doi.org/10.1177/17446295211048743">manage family caregivers’ anxieties</a>. Families sometimes threaten to withdraw their relative from the services to thwart sexual behaviour.</p>
<h2>Implications</h2>
<p>Detaining and protectively watching over people with intellectual disability has implications for the whole family. </p>
<p>The role of “watcher” can affect caregivers’ own independence, flexibility, productivity and well-being. This reinforces the <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC189294">connection between poverty and disability</a>. </p>
<p>Service providers and policy makers should promote family centred support services for people with intellectual disability and caregivers. A big part of these efforts should be sexuality education to help people make autonomous, safe choices. </p>
<p>Security is a concern among families, especially those living in high-risk areas. The safety of people with intellectual disability must be prioritised. Where they have been victims of crime, justice must be done. </p>
<p>It takes collaboration to promote social inclusion. A comprehensive <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jppi.12318">approach</a> is useful. It should consider the need for support at the levels of the individual, family, work, school and community. And it goes further, to cultural institutions, social structures, policies and the broader cultural context.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186856/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Callista Kahonde receives funding from the National Research Foundation Innovation Postdoctoral Fellowship. She is a postdoctoral fellow at Stellenbosch University, Centre for Disability and Rehabilitation Studies and a member of the Western Cape Forum for Intellectual Disability. The article is based on her PhD study at the University of Cape Town which was funded by the Vera Grover Scholarship and Sponsorship Trust.</span></em></p>The lack of sexuality education, and common myths and misconceptions about the sexuality of people with intellectual disability can lead to caregivers being reluctant ‘jailers’.Callista Kahonde, Postdoctoral fellow, Disability & Rehabilitation Studies, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1617692021-06-15T21:16:57Z2021-06-15T21:16:57ZProtecting education should be at the centre of peace negotiations in Afghanistan<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403480/original/file-20210530-22-sngys6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C232%2C2568%2C1707&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Schoolgirls in Kabul, Afghanistan.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Lauryn Oates)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Taliban <a href="https://www.voanews.com/south-central-asia/voa-exclusive-taliban-attach-conditions-istanbul-conference-participation">appeared to be walking away from peace talks with the Afghan government — until, at the end of May, they suddenly</a> agreed to a proposed meeting in Istanbul. </p>
<p>But they stipulated major constraints, with a senior leader relaying, according to <em>Voice of America</em>, that the agenda shouldn’t include making decisions on critical issues, the conference must be short and the Taliban delegation should be “low level.” These conditions effectively render the meeting meaningless, and it’s likely that one of the critical issues the Taliban wish to avoid discussing is education. The Taliban have dismissed progress in education in Afghanistan as yet another manifestation of foreign occupation, <a href="https://cdn.odi.org/media/documents/taliban_attitudes_towards_education.pdf">and has used this</a> as justification to attack schools, students and teachers. </p>
<p>It is clearly counter to Taliban interests to acknowledge the <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2021/0514/I-ll-go-again-Afghan-girls-undeterred-by-bombing-head-to-school#">intense demand</a> Afghan children and their families have for education, and their courageous efforts to realize that demand under the improved schooling conditions that have mercifully come about since 2001. </p>
<p>But now it’s not only the Taliban that have an interest in dismissing and downplaying these achievements. The United States government is absolving itself of Afghanistan <a href="https://www.cfr.org/timeline/us-war-afghanistan">through a plan to withdraw by Sept. 11</a>, peddling a narrative that it isn’t responsible for the country’s future. It’s also turning its back on Afghanistan’s educational gains. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="In front of a black board, a female teacher stands beside a girl and helps her hold a book, while the girl is reading. " src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405753/original/file-20210610-16-ysk3ht.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405753/original/file-20210610-16-ysk3ht.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405753/original/file-20210610-16-ysk3ht.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405753/original/file-20210610-16-ysk3ht.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405753/original/file-20210610-16-ysk3ht.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405753/original/file-20210610-16-ysk3ht.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405753/original/file-20210610-16-ysk3ht.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A teacher helps a student read a textbook.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Lauryn Oates)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Justifying attacking schools</h2>
<p>The Taliban have not claimed responsibility for the <a href="https://opencanada.org/dont-look-away/">deplorable attack</a> recently carried out May 8 against the Sayed Al-Shuhada School in Dasht-e-Barchi, a neighbourhood in West Kabul where members of <a href="https://minorityrights.org/minorities/hazaras/">the Hazara ethnic minority</a> live. The attacks <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/08/world/asia/bombing-school-afghanistan.html">took the lives of at least 85 people, mostly schoolgirls</a>. But suspicion of Taliban involvement is justified given their history of violence against educational institutions and the view <a href="https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1311881/download">— shared with some other Sunni Islamist extremist groups —</a> of the Shia Hazaras as heretical.</p>
<p>Yet, despite the Taliban’s casual downplaying of <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/lauryn-oates/afghanistan-canada_b_4977113.html">the very significant social change</a> that has swept Afghanistan since the end of its rule, the last two decades have stood out in stark contrast to not only the time when the Taliban ruled the country, but also as an exceptional period in the overall history of the country’s efforts to establish and expand public education.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Boys sit on the ground in a school." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405756/original/file-20210610-15-1a4zuph.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405756/original/file-20210610-15-1a4zuph.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405756/original/file-20210610-15-1a4zuph.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405756/original/file-20210610-15-1a4zuph.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405756/original/file-20210610-15-1a4zuph.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405756/original/file-20210610-15-1a4zuph.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405756/original/file-20210610-15-1a4zuph.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Boys attend a primary school in Kabul that opened since the fall of the Taliban.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Lauryn Oates)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Expansion of Afghan education</h2>
<p>In 1950, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/44827771_Education_and_Afghan_Society_in_the_Twentieth_Century">six per cent of Afghan children — fewer than 100,000 — attended school, almost all of them boys</a>. By 1960, this figure had close to doubled and <a href="https://books.google.ca/books/about/Afghanistan_Its_People_Its_Society_Its_C.html?id=HOIcAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">girls accounted for just over 10 per cent of elementary students</a>. By 1978, more than a million students were in primary and secondary schools, but still only about 15 per cent were girls. </p>
<p>Even under the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/08/the-soviet-war-in-afghanistan-1979-1989/100786/">Soviet-backed regime</a> that introduced compulsory education aimed at paving the way for changing the socio-political structure of the country, 90 per cent of the population <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/1985/0326/opsych.html">remained illiterate</a>. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/44827771_Education_and_Afghan_Society_in_the_Twentieth_Century">By 1991</a>, 33 per cent of children attending elementary school were girls, but the student population had dropped to only 628,000 kids with 182,000 enrolled in secondary schools. </p>
<p>Then, the Mujahideen forces seized power, initiating the decimation of the modest progress made over the past century. In 1995, when the Taliban started closing down girls’ schools, <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/history-education-afghanistan">there had been 103,256 girls in public schools in Kabul and 7,793 female teachers</a>. By May 1996, there were none at all. A small minority of girls managed to access clandestine schools, at great risk, but the public school system for girls effectively no longer existed.</p>
<h2>The right to human development</h2>
<p>Indeed, research in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00220380601125115">in 2007</a> and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290749901_Refusing_the_margins_Afghan_refugee_youth_in_Iran">2010</a> <a href="https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/chattydeterritorialized">showed that</a> a considerable portion of Afghan refugees in Iran and Pakistan, had fled Taliban-controlled Afghanistan primarily so that their children could go to school. </p>
<p>These families had seen up close what a society stripped of educational opportunity looked like. They knew that education would be the most enduring capital they could give their children. And they are right: education is <a href="https://www.un.org/en/observances/education-day">essential for human development</a>.</p>
<p>Countries’ <a href="https://www.cdhowe.org/sites/default/files/attachments/research_papers/mixed/Commentary_349_0.pdf">literacy rates predict</a> their GDPs, as well as health outcomes, including child and infant mortality rates. If the Taliban insist on denying access to a good quality education to all children, girls and boys, they effectively guarantee Afghans a future of poverty and chronic underdevelopment.</p>
<p>In 2009, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/sharmeen-obaid-chinoy-children-are-tools-to-achieve-god-s-will-the-taliban-commander-told-me-1764029.html">journalist Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy interviewed</a> Qari Abdullah, a Taliban commander in charge of recruiting children as suicide bombers. He told Obaid-Chinoy: “If you’re fighting, then God provides you with means [to win] … kids themselves are tools to achieve God’s will.”</p>
<p>Afghans <a href="https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2021/may/30/trudy-rubin-dont-give-up-on-us-afghan-girls-and-wo">don’t want this</a>, and they are asking the U.S. to hold the Taliban accountable, to help protect a meaningful future for children and families.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Female students inside a tent." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405757/original/file-20210610-10384-14lreox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405757/original/file-20210610-10384-14lreox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405757/original/file-20210610-10384-14lreox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405757/original/file-20210610-10384-14lreox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405757/original/file-20210610-10384-14lreox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405757/original/file-20210610-10384-14lreox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405757/original/file-20210610-10384-14lreox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">After the end of Taliban rule, an insufficient number of school buildings to accommodate all the children seeking school has meant some schools have operated in tents.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Lauryn Oates)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<h2>Honest reckoning needed</h2>
<p>But <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/04/14/biden-afghanistan-speech-today-grave-error-withdraw-troops-column/7223047002">many have argued</a> that the U.S. troop withdrawal announcement has meant there is now no incentive for the Taliban to compromise. </p>
<p>Worse, U.S. President Joe Biden has expressed little concern for the very grave consequences this will have for Afghans, especially women and girls.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/women-in-afghanistan-worry-peace-accord-with-taliban-extremists-could-cost-them-hard-won-rights-154149">Women in Afghanistan worry peace accord with Taliban extremists could cost them hard-won rights</a>
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<p>An honest reckoning with what’s at stake in paving the way for the Taliban to once again dismantle progress made in education would require facing the full tragedy of the cataclysm in store for millions of Afghan children who dream of going to a real school. </p>
<p>That truth is a hard one to face. As a consequence, we’re witnessing a strange convergence of views between Biden’s government and the Taliban — one where Afghan children are being asked to quietly absorb the blow of the end of their education.</p>
<p>The Biden administration should course correct and immediately recalibrate its strategy vis-à-vis the Taliban, if it wants to avoid leaving in place this dismal legacy. </p>
<h2>Zero responsibility?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/14/damned-either-way-biden-opts-out-of-afghanistan-as-us-tires-of-forever-wars">While on the campaign trail, Biden claimed</a> he would feel “zero responsibility” for the future of Afghan women and girls if they were negatively affected after a U.S. withdrawal. </p>
<p>But the truth is that after 20 years of military engagement in Afghanistan, <a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/ghost-wars-the-secret-history-the-cia-afghanistan-and-bin-laden-the-soviet-invasion-to">besides an earlier proxy war</a> and many promises made, the U.S. does hold responsibility for Afghans’ fate, including their human right to access education.</p>
<p>Safeguards to this right must be put in place now; waiting until the conclusion of talks will be too late. </p>
<p>Firm and detailed guarantees from those involved in the talks about the future of education in Afghanistan should be a condition of the negotiations, rather than a hoped-for outcome. And the U.S. should lead in brokering these guarantees. </p>
<p>Relying on the good will of the Taliban — the same people who have burned down schools, murdered teachers and used children as suicide bombers — is not a responsible strategy; it is, rather, enabling more suffering and more injustice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161769/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lauryn Oates is affiliated with Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WAfghan).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>I have been a board member of the Women Living Under Muslim Laws research division.</span></em></p>After 20 years in Afghanistan and many promises made, the U.S. does hold responsibility for Afghans’ fate, including their human right to access education.Lauryn Oates, Associate Faculty at Royal Roads University, Royal Roads UniversityHoma Hoodfar, Professor of Anthropology, Emerita, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1428022020-07-28T21:16:25Z2020-07-28T21:16:25ZCOVID-19: Provinces must respect children’s rights to education whether or not schools reopen in September<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349999/original/file-20200728-35-15dttqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C146%2C5699%2C2905&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Under international human rights law, scaling back the quality of the education provided to children and youth ought to be avoided.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Children and youth have unwittingly become hot potatoes in one of the most pressing issues our society now faces regarding coronavirus: <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/mitigating-risks-to-schools-reopening-1.5665077">whether and how schools will reopen in September</a>. </p>
<p>Ontario’s Minister of Education, Stephen Lecce, announced July 30 that all publicly funded elementary schools <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-19-coronavirus-ontario-july-30-back-to-school-1.5668495">will reopen five days a week</a>, and most secondary schools will open under an “adapted model” that limits student interaction. The province also announced measures such as mandatory masks for <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2020/07/30/face-masks-mandatory-for-ontario-students-starting-in-grade-4.html">students from grades 4 through 12</a> and $309 million in funding for student health and safety, including $50 million for public health nurses.</p>
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<p>By trying to please everyone, Ontario’s plan could risk pleasing few. For months, parents in desperate need of respite had been urging a full-time and in-person return of students. Many parents have pointed to the devastating <a href="https://www.thisisnotaplan.ca/?fbclid=IwAR2Ec_36m2yRc3MVEZZeoneauuj5DfyXXVMC7Oiaemp3x92M7pdhEC3Iqhk">economic consequences of having a large proportion of workers hamstrung by child care</a>. The evidence is compelling: A recent study from RBC found <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/women-employment-canada-covid-19-1.5652788">women are participating in the workforce at the lowest levels in three decades</a>.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/more-funding-health-equity-measures-needed-ahead-of-september-school-reopening-osstf-1.5610725">politicians, unions and school administrators warned</a> of the potential health risks that a full-time reopening would pose to staff and students without adequate measures. Following Ontario’s announcement, some parents and others are questioning whether the province’s plans will be sufficient. </p>
<p>But children and youth aren’t hot potatoes, they’re human beings with rights. As a member of the <a href="https://droitcivil.uottawa.ca/interdisciplinary-research-laboratory-rights-child/">Inter-disciplinary Research Laboratory on the Rights of the Child</a> at the University of Ottawa, I believe that we can depoliticize the back-to-school debate by reframing it with the rights of children and youth at its centre.</p>
<p>But does this mean that children and youth have the right to return to full-time, in-person instruction in September?</p>
<h2>Legal obligation</h2>
<p>Governments now face difficult decisions that involve the delicate balance of public health and economic sustainability. At the same time, all decisions must comply with international human rights law, given the fact that Canada is one of the 193 states that ratified the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx">Convention on the Rights of Children</a> (CRC).</p>
<p>This means offering quality education to our children is a legal obligation. If governments want to lessen the quality of education provided to children and youth, they must first prove that they’ve given careful consideration of all alternatives and provided the maximum available resources to avoid violating the rights of children and youth. </p>
<p>In this regard, <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23schoolsnotbars&src=typed_query">#SchoolsNotBars is more than a catchy hashtag</a> trending on social media. It accurately describes the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-bars-are-reopening-before-schools-that-doesnt-make-sense/">policy choices that must be made</a> in order <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7156569/us-coronavirus-schools-bars/">to limit community viral transmissions</a> so that we can respect the human rights of children and youth to a quality education. </p>
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<h2>Child- and youth-centred approach</h2>
<p>The Convention on the Rights of Children is the most widely ratified human rights document globally and it represents a watershed change in how children and youth are regarded. It acknowledges them as full-fledged human beings and rights bearers, and moves away from seeing them as passive recipients of adult actions.</p>
<p>An overarching obligation of states under the convention is to give primary consideration to the best interests of children and youth in all matters concerning them. Canada’s ratification of it means that all levels of governments must ensure that their decisions and actions comply with the convention. </p>
<p>The best interests of children and youth appear not to be been fully considered in some pandemic policies. </p>
<p>For instance, Stage 2 of Ontario’s reopening plan allowed for adult-specific <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7101086/toronto-peel-region-enter-stage-2-ontario-coronavirus/">indulgences such as drinks on patios and nail salons</a>. </p>
<p>But while these openings meant adults could drink and get manicures, <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/reopening-ontario">“playgrounds [and] play structures” were slated to “remain closed,”</a> despite the <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7173943/closed-playgrounds-can-open-experts-coronavirus">low-risk activities</a> associated with them. The rights of children and youth to play, guaranteed by the convention and vital to their development, continued to be violated. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-spotlights-equity-and-access-issues-with-childrens-right-to-play-137187">Coronavirus spotlights equity and access issues with children's right to play</a>
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<h2>Rights-based decisions</h2>
<p>The right to education is guaranteed by the Convention on the Rights of Children and is intrinsically linked with the best interests of children and youth. As observed by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/education/sreducation/Pages/SREducationIndex.aspx">education is both a human right in itself and an indispensable means of realizing other human rights</a>.</p>
<p>Children have a right to an education that develops their full potential, including their respect for human rights, their sense of identity and affiliation and socialization, in an environment that prepares them for all aspects of life.</p>
<p>Schools are where children and youth go to have a wide range of their rights fulfilled. These include the right to be protected from violence, the right to receive information, the right to play, the right to access social support and to exercise their freedom of thought and assembly. </p>
<p>While we are rightly called to account <a href="http://www.trc.ca/assets/pdf/Honouring_the_Truth_Reconciling_for_the_Future_July_23_2015.pdf">for historic</a> <a href="https://www.crrf-fcrr.ca/images/Clearinghouse/ePubFaShRacScho.pdf">and present</a> systemic problems with schools as sites of injustice, discrimination or abuse, schools can also be sanctuaries for marginalized or <a href="https://theconversation.com/4-strategies-to-support-vulnerable-students-when-schools-reopen-after-coronavirus-136201">vulnerable children and youth</a>.</p>
<p>For example, children and youth with disabilities rely on schools to access technologies that will help them overcome communication barriers. <a href="https://gsanetwork.org/">Gay-Straight Alliances</a> provide safety and confidentiality for LGBTQ2 students to affirm or educate themselves about sexual orientation, sexual identity, gender identity and gender expression. </p>
<p>Schools can also help counter <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/2020/2020scc13/2020scc13.html?searchUrlHash=AAAAAQANbGFyb2NxdWUgMjAyMAAAAAAB&resultIndex=1">linguistic and cultural assimilation in Canada’s official language minority communities</a>.</p>
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<h2>Must prove all alternatives considered</h2>
<p>Under international human rights law, <a href="https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4538838c22.pdf">the scaling back of the quality of the education provided to children and youth ought to be avoided</a>. It is permitted in only in very limited circumstances. <a href="https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/wallner-make-no-mistake-the-threat-to-equity-in-education-outcomes-in-canada-is-real/wcm/d0fb9c7f-4bac-42b1-9066-ad3a1e53a4d8/">Educational experts have argued that online and part-time education is insufficient, inadequate and inequitable</a> compared to safe, full-time, in-person instruction. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-school-closures-could-widen-inequities-for-our-youngest-students-136669">Coronavirus school closures could widen inequities for our youngest students</a>
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<p>If governments want to lessen the quality of education provided, they must first prove they’ve given careful consideration to all alternatives and provided the maximum available resources to avoid violating the rights of children and youth. </p>
<p>Governments must canvass all other physical locations available to hold in-person instruction to guarantee small class sizes and comply with physical distancing policies if the current infrastructure is lacking. </p>
<p>Accommodation plans must be made for students and teachers who are immunocompromised. </p>
<p>Measures must also be taken so that <a href="https://theconversation.com/sending-children-back-to-school-during-coronavirus-has-human-rights-implications-137251">schools can open safely while respecting the rights of students and teachers to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health</a>. This means that the return-to-school plan must involve efforts to limit community transmission. </p>
<p>A preliminary budget prepared by <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7194317/coronavirus-toronto-district-school-board-plans/">the Toronto District School Board </a> shows that financial costs associated with implementing the required public health guidelines would be steep. </p>
<h2>If it is truly unsafe</h2>
<p>If returning to in-person instruction is truly impossible for public health reasons after considering all of these options, training and support must be provided to teachers to create and deliver quality distance education to children and youth that is adapted to their needs and <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-distance-learning-poses-challenges-for-some-families-of-children-with-disabilities-136696">accessible to those with various needs and circumstances</a>. Developing curricula in a haphazard manner isn’t acceptable. </p>
<p>It’s not unusual that respecting human rights involves considerable financial expenses and complex logistical hurdles. </p>
<p>The right to vote, for example, requires the creation of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/election-day-what-you-need-to-know-1.5328369">20,000 polling stations</a> and the hiring of more than <a href="https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=med&dir=bkg&document=num&lang=e">233,000 people to tend to them</a>.</p>
<p>Adults must now make similar large-scale efforts and financial expenditures in order to respect the rights of our children and youth to a quality and safe education in September.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142802/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne Levesque does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If returning to in-person instruction is truly impossible for public health reasons, policy makers must make large financial expenditures on quality and accessible distance education.Anne Levesque, Assistant professor, Faculty of Law, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1184212019-06-17T14:08:12Z2019-06-17T14:08:12ZCAR: a society without authority, where children’s schooling suffers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279348/original/file-20190613-32356-1zwqbx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C523%2C2923%2C1866&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A chicotte (a whip with rubber bands) lies alongside a teacher's materials in the CAR. Violence is common in classrooms.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author supplied</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The news from the Central African Republic (CAR) is rarely good. The country has been involved in an <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13150044">on-and-off war</a> for at least 20 years. It has been rated as having the <a href="http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/2016_human_development_report.pdf">lowest human development</a> in the world. It is also the globe’s <a href="https://www.gfmag.com/global-data/economic-data/worlds-richest-and-poorest-countries">second poorest</a> and its <a href="https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2017/">unhappiest</a> nation.</p>
<p>The CAR is a tough place for children, too. It’s ranked as the worst country when it comes to <a href="https://kidsrights.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/Annual%20Report%202017.pdf">protecting children’s rights</a> and has the <a href="http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/2016_human_development_report.pdf">lowest education achievement</a> in the world. </p>
<p>On paper, children in the CAR have the right to access and pursue an education. The government has signed the 1989 <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx">UN Convention on the Rights of the Child</a>, which enshrines the right to education. But the statistics show this right is not enacted: although research is lacking, it is clear that many children <a href="https://www.epdc.org/sites/default/files/documents/EPDC%20NEP_Central%20African%20Republic.pdf">are out of school</a> and that the quality, especially of public education, is so poor even those who finish primary school <a href="http://kinderrechtenonderzoek.nl/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Childrens-raport-ENG-OK.pdf">may not have learned basic literacy</a>. </p>
<p>There is clearly a discrepancy between children’s right to education according to international law and their lack of education in practice in the CAR. This could be explained by the fact that international law may be different to other laws, from other legal orders, which all create laws over the same social space in the CAR. For instance, NGOs, religious leaders, village chiefs and parents may enact their own version of what they view as “right” or “legal”. </p>
<p>I discovered in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07329113.2019.1570448">a recently published study</a> that children in the CAR generally do not take any of these social orders as authoritative when it comes to their education. Teachers are generally the only authority figure they seem to hold in some regard.</p>
<p>In fact, the CAR’s children are mostly autonomous. They do not feel that anyone makes any law over them. They argue that it is their own choice to go to school – or not. Even if they are told to go to school, or are physically punished for not doing so, they feel they can choose not to. But they may also be the ones who insist on attending school, including collecting money for their own school fees, against their families’ wishes.</p>
<p>My findings suggest that the most effective way to provide children in the CAR with access to education is to aim interventions at them directly. Rather than trying to convince parents, religious leaders and village chiefs that school is important, it may be valuable work with the kids themselves and empower them to be able to access education. Children may also be directly involved in creating better quality education. Another option might be to more actively involve the teachers, who are viewed by the children as legitimate authorities.</p>
<h2>No rule of law</h2>
<p>My key question was: “What laws, from what legal orders, have an influence on the child’s right to education in the CAR?”</p>
<p>I researched the existing literature and conducted field research. I held qualitative interviews with 149 participants, among them 46 children. This data was supplemented by recorded observations and a questionnaire.</p>
<p>The findings should be understood in the broader context of daily life in the CAR: overall, it seems that there’s little law. This is not just true for international and national law, but for any potential legal order. Neither the government nor local leaders seem to hold authority in a way that goes beyond the role of giving advice. People do not seem to feel obliged to follow the law.</p>
<p>On a local level, conflict resolution is traditionally the domain of the village chief. However, it seems that this has never been much of a legal arrangement. Rather, the chief has been sought out for his or her wisdom, to end conflict by giving advice to opposite parties on how to reconcile. He is a mediator with no legal authority, as scholar Didier Bigo <a href="http://www.karthala.com/858-pouvoir-et-obeissance-en-centrafrique.html">has written</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The chief does not command, he has the function of a mediator, and uses his prestige to convince the opposite parties of his words and wisdom (…) the role of the chief is to be a mediator, a creator of peace (…) he has no decisional power (…) he has no authority.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This image was confirmed by participants to the study. While children in the CAR face a lot of violence from all kinds of authority figures – ranging from parents and school teachers to police forces and soldiers – they are mostly autonomous. They do not feel that anyone makes any law over them. </p>
<p>It is unclear whether this is a new development in the CAR, or whether this has always been inherent in the country’s social organisation. According to a priest I interviewed, over the past 20 years “the mentality of people in the CAR has changed”. He said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Traditional values, such as solidarity within the family and patriotism, have largely disappeared. What used to be traditional authority does not weigh much nowadays. What remains, is an authority that imposes itself on different levels, through violence. This form of authority is badly accepted by the new generations. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>He continued:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This is the difficulty that we see: the new generations do not listen, and adults try to impose authority with violence. It is the only way they have of trying to make the youth listen. In this way, young people internalise violence, they grow up with this model. In CAR society it is everyone to themselves; either you impose your will on someone else, and when you cannot, you suffer to their dominance (‘<em>on s’impose où on peut et on subit où on ne peut pas s’simposer</em>’)</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>A way forward?</h2>
<p>The only exception here is the classroom. Most children did view the teacher as a legislator. Teachers make rules over children, and children were able to mention rules that the teachers imposed on them, including punishments if transgressed. </p>
<p>Because of this relationship between teachers and students, working with teachers may be a good way to approach the “<a href="http://www.unesco.org/new/en/newdelhi/areas-of-action/education/education-for-peace-and-sustainable-development-and-global-citizenship-education/">education for peace</a>” goal set by the UN. </p>
<p>Some issues will need to be addressed. Violence, abuse and corruption – the selling of grades for money or sexual favours – are <a href="http://kinderrechtenonderzoek.nl/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Childrens-raport-ENG-OK.pdf">all too common</a> in the CAR’s schools.</p>
<p>But the existing authority in the teacher-student relationship could be harnessed more positively. CAR classrooms have the potential to be a space for children where they can learn a different way of living together.</p>
<p>On a more general level, anyone who is looking to strengthen the rule of law in the CAR might conclude that law is perhaps not the most useful instrument through which to intervene. Instead, strengthening the education system might be the most effective way to build a CAR society in which the rule of law plays a significant role.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118421/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marieke Hopman receives funding from crowdfunding donors. </span></em></p>The most effective way to provide children in the CAR with access to education is to aim interventions at them directly.Marieke Hopman, Assistant Professor, Maastricht UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1127072019-03-03T07:28:46Z2019-03-03T07:28:46ZSouth Africa is failing the rights of children to education and health<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261625/original/file-20190301-110150-p6fmpr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children who aren't South African citizens struggle to access affordable health and education.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Is South Africa regularly denying children their right to access education as well as health care on the grounds either of petty bureaucracy or by a misinterpretation of the country’s laws and international obligations?</p>
<p>The answer is yes. </p>
<p>The country places limitations on children’s access to education and affordable health care. This is particularly true of migrant children. These limitations are, in my view, unconstitutional and in violation of South Africa’s international obligations. For example, South Africa is bound by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In the interpretation of this convention, the United Nations Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights <a href="https://www.refworld.org/docid/4a60961f2.html">has emphasised that</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>all children within a state, including those with an undocumented status, have a right to receive education and access to adequate food and affordable health care.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, South Africa isn’t living up to this promise. </p>
<p>What’s clear is that South Africa’s current school admission policy has a <a href="https://city-press.news24.com/Voices/thousands-of-undocumented-children-being-deprived-of-basic-right-to-education-20190206">serious effect</a> on the access to basic education of both children who are South African citizens and those who are foreign nationals or stateless.</p>
<p>The challenges for those who are not South African citizens and don’t have the required permits are compounded by section 39 of the <a href="https://www.halfloop.com/immigration-visa-rsa">Immigration Act 13 of 2002</a>. This states that a “learning institution” may not provide “training or instruction” to an “illegal foreigner”. Principals of schools that enrol a child who is an “illegal foreigner” can be charged and may face penalties.</p>
<p>Children who are not South African citizens often also struggle to access affordable health care through what’s been called <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2018-03-29-medical-xenophobia-public-hospitals-deny-migrants-health-care-services-sahrc/">“medical xenophobia”</a>. </p>
<p>A recent Constitutional Court ruling gives some hope that the requirements of birth certificates and study permits for children to enrol in school will eventually be relaxed. However, litigation is still ongoing and as with access to affordable health care, there’s often a discrepancy between what the law provides and the actual situation on the ground.</p>
<h2>Denial of rights</h2>
<p>On 10 December 2018, the Grahamstown High Court gave an order dismissing an urgent application by the Centre for Child Law that 37 children should be admitted to a public school pending final determination of a <a href="https://eduinfoafrica.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/application-vol-1.pdf">case instituted by the Centre in 2017</a>, in which the applicants, among others, requested an order that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>no learner may be excluded from a public school on the basis that he or she does not have an identity number, permit or passport. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The 37 children were among the many children whose guardians have not managed to secure the <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-za/news/featured/the-undocumented-children-denied-the-right-to-go-to-school/ar-BBSyU50?li=BBqfWMJ">paperwork needed</a> to be allowed to register in a school under the 1998 Admission Policy for Ordinary Public Schools. </p>
<p>On 15 February 2019 the Constitutional Court granted leave of appeal against the High Court order and overturned it, ordering that the children should be admitted and enrolled in school by 1 March. However, this order does not finally decide the issue of requirements for enrolling in school as the case instituted in 2017 is still pending before the High Court. </p>
<p>The right to health care is provided for in article 27 of the Constitution. The <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/a61-03.pdf">National Health Act 61 of 2003</a> provides for free health care at public facilities for children under six years old, unless a child is covered by private medical insurance. </p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.health.gov.za/index.php/uniform-patient-fee-schedule/category/108-u2012">Uniform Patient Fee Schedule</a> all non-South African citizens – except those with permanent or temporary residence and citizens of the member states of the Southern African Development Community who “enter the (the republic) illegally” – are classified as full-paying patients. Children without the required permits who are over six years old, who lack medical insurance and are not from a Southern African Development Community member state therefore lack access to subsidised health care.</p>
<h2>International obligations</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/73/195">Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration</a> was adopted in December 2018 with South Africa’s support. Among other things, the global compact calls on states to adopt child sensitive migration policies. It also promotes international legal obligations in relation to the rights of the child, and upholds the principle of the best interests of the child at all times.</p>
<p>The principle of the best interest of the child was first set out in an international treaty 30 years ago in the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx">United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child</a>. It was reiterated in the <a href="http://www.achpr.org/files/instruments/child/achpr_instr_charterchild_eng.pdf">African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child</a>. South Africa is party to both these treaties. In addition, the <a href="http://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/constitution/SAConstitution-web-eng.pdf">South African Constitution</a> provides that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>a child’s best interests are of paramount importance in every matter concerning the child.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A child is defined as anyone below the age of 18.</p>
<p>The right-holder in the bill of rights in the Constitution, is with few exceptions “everyone”. Clearly this includes not only South African citizens but everyone who is in the country. Most rights are not absolute and may be limited under section 36 </p>
<blockquote>
<p>in terms of law of general application to the extent that the limitation is reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Immigration Act is a “law of general application”. However, the child’s best interest is “of paramount importance”. </p>
<p>In my view, the rights of children to basic education and affordable health care in South Africa can’t be limited and “everyone” must be read to include every child, irrespective of their immigration status. When it comes to access to health care the situation is even clearer as there are no limitations set out in the country’s laws. The Uniform Patient Fee Schedule should therefore be revised to provide for subsidised health care for all children whose guardians cannot afford medical insurance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112707/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Magnus Killander receives funding from the National Research Foundation. </span></em></p>South Africa is violating its own Constitution, and international obligations when it comes to undocumented children.Magnus Killander, Professor, Centre for Human Rights in the Faculty of Law, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/490352015-10-14T11:05:49Z2015-10-14T11:05:49ZEducation under occupation: everyday disruption at a Palestinian university<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98290/original/image-20151013-31112-x8aq9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Damage to Al Quds campus in the Abu Deis suburb of Jerusalem following an October raid.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mojama'a Alanshita</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the clock moves towards 12.45pm I begin to anxiously await the flurry of emails that I’ve come to expect in advance of my 2pm class. The class is on law and human rights. Students email to say that a deterioration in the security situation means they must stay within the relative safety of their own area, their parents naturally apprehensive that travel across the West Bank could potentially be dangerous. </p>
<p>This has become the everyday reality this semester for students attending <a href="http://www.alquds.edu/en/">Al Quds University</a>, and Al Quds (Bard) University – a partnership with the American liberal arts institution. </p>
<p>The university soon gives the call for all staff and students to evacuate. In an entirely depressing but ultimately predictable scenario, Palestinian students will not be able to take their classes in literature, law, biology or media. Those on site make their way to the agreed “safe” area with alcohol-drenched cotton balls handed out by the ever vigilant staff of the Palestinian Red Crescent to ward off the effects of the inevitable deluge of tear gas. </p>
<p>The university has tried to continue life as normal. On October 13, Al Quds university welcomed the president of India, <a href="http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/protest-against-indias-ties-with-israel-mark-pranab-mukherjees-visit-1231668http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/protest-against-indias-ties-with-israel-mark-pranab-mukherjees-visit-1231668">Pranab Mukherjee</a> on campus with great pomp and splendour to receive an honorary degree. Indian flags adorned the beautiful campus grounds and academics dressed in ceremonial gowns to applaud the visit of the world leader. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98292/original/image-20151013-31132-6jknho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98292/original/image-20151013-31132-6jknho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98292/original/image-20151013-31132-6jknho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98292/original/image-20151013-31132-6jknho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98292/original/image-20151013-31132-6jknho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98292/original/image-20151013-31132-6jknho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98292/original/image-20151013-31132-6jknho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Welcoming the Indian president on campus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brendan Browne.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But there were <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/boycott-zionism-protesting-palestinian-students-tell-india/article7757737.ece">also protests</a> from students angry at recent violence against them in Jerusalem, using this platform to draw attention to their ongoing suffering. Within 45 minutes of the Indian contingent leaving, Israeli forces stormed the campus and violently arrested eight students while simultaneously causing significant damage to property, according to the student group Mojama'a Alanshita which <a href="https://www.facebook.com/mojam31alanshe6a/videos/vb.141101899398427/497187410456539/?type=2&theater">posted a video</a> of some of the arrests on Facebook.</p>
<h2>Studying under siege</h2>
<p>Located in the suburb of Abu Deis, Al Quds is the only Palestinian university in Jerusalem. The connections with Bard New York, a leading liberal arts college in the US led to a Bard campus opening on the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/world/middleeast/15quds.html?_r=0">grounds of Al Quds University in 2009</a>. Like its other international affiliations, the campus comprises a hybrid mix of local and international staff and students, all of which adds to the vibrant and energetic teaching atmosphere. </p>
<p>Reflecting the resilience of the youthful generation who refuse to succumb to yet further attacks on their civil liberties, students travel from as far as the northern Palestinian city of Nablus to read Foucault, debate international law, present on their media projects, and to sit mid-term exams. </p>
<p>Having had long standing connections in the region since 2009, the opportunity to work closely with Palestinian colleagues and students was one of the main reasons my wife and I opted to return to Palestine, taking up academic positions here at Al Quds and Al Quds (Bard). </p>
<p>There has been a <a href="https://theconversation.com/jerusalem-an-intifada-by-any-other-name-is-just-as-dangerous-48939">serious escalation</a> in the conflict here in recent weeks. Despite this, students and staff on campus still attempt to generate a sense of normalcy in a situation that is anything but. The university stays open as and when it can, demonstrating the resilience of a community of academics who refuse to have the right to education disrupted. </p>
<h2>Infringing on Palestinians’ right to education</h2>
<p>Access to education at all levels is viewed as a legal right, reflected in international law under <a href="http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml#a26">Article 26</a> of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Articles 13 & 14 of the <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CESCR.aspx">International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights</a>, reaffirmed in other international legal conventions. </p>
<p>While children are recognised as the intended beneficiaries of this legal protection, there is an acceptance that those who meet the recognised educational standard should have the opportunity to attend university where it is provided. But Palestinian students attending university at Al Quds, including those in the Bard affiliated programme, are repeatedly having their access to education restricted. </p>
<p>Those who travel from across the West Bank to attend classes are subjected to an expanding matrix of control, that involves negotiating the growing and <a href="http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?pr=71&code=mwp&p1=3&p2=4&p3=6">illegal</a> Israeli Separation Barrier. This is complete with heavily militarised checkpoints that can be, and are often closed on a whim. Guards cite “security reasons”, but for Palestinians it is a sense of collective punishment. </p>
<p>Those who do manage to make it to class during this challenging time often do so in vain, as lessons continue to be violently disrupted as a result of <a href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767981">clashes</a> between Israeli forces and students off campus. The heavy-handed and draconian response of the Israeli forces, including the use of potent tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets, more often than not results in significant injuries for students.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98291/original/image-20151013-31143-tx62a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98291/original/image-20151013-31143-tx62a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98291/original/image-20151013-31143-tx62a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98291/original/image-20151013-31143-tx62a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98291/original/image-20151013-31143-tx62a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98291/original/image-20151013-31143-tx62a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98291/original/image-20151013-31143-tx62a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Stun grenade on campus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mojama'a Alanshita.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Teaching adapted</h2>
<p>As the situation across the region shows little sign of calming, a flexible teaching approach has become necessary. We have moved to recording lectures online, have set shorter academic tasks and reviewed syllabi now largely redundant as a result of the sheer volume of cancelled classes. </p>
<p>At times like these, regular staff and student contact becomes increasingly important to encourage and enthuse and to highlight that those lecturers who have made decisions to be here stand alongside their students, ready and willing to see out contractual commitments despite the tense conflict climate. </p>
<p>Amid the chaos, the disruption and the continued attacks on staff and students at the Al Quds University campus, I wonder if the international <a href="http://www.bard.edu/network/">network of Bard colleges</a>, and affiliated colleges in Berlin, St. Petersburg, Kyrgyzstan, Hungary, South Africa, and most importantly, New York, will speak out against the situation? Rather than stay silent, solidarity and support should be expressed among this network of like-minded institutions for the students of Palestine whose right to education is under threat.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49035/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brendan Ciarán Browne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Classes at Al-Quds University have been disrupted by violence, but students are still struggling to learn.Brendan Ciarán Browne, Visiting assistant professor (Al Quds Bard, Palestine) & Visiting Research Fellow, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/328392014-10-10T14:15:43Z2014-10-10T14:15:43ZNobel Peace Prize: extraordinary Malala a powerful role model<p>The Nobel Peace Prize is a major achievement in itself. For it to be awarded – jointly with the Indian anti-child slavery activist Kailash Satyarthi – to a teenager still at secondary school is extraordinary. But then, Malala Yousafzai is no ordinary young woman. Her advocacy for women’s educational and social rights in Pakistan have held to account those in charge of turning policy promises into real opportunities for young women. </p>
<p>She is known globally as the girl from Swat whose sustained campaign for the rights of girls to be educated, led to an assassination attempt on a school bus in October 2012. Malala, then 14, had incurred the wrath of the Taliban.</p>
<p>Born on 12 January 1997 in the town of Mingora, in the Swat Valley of Pakistan’s Northwest Province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Malala was politically educated by her father, Ziauddin Yousufzai, a formative influence in her life. Through his encouragement, her public campaign for the right of girls to be educated started in 2008, when she addressed the local press club in Peshawar asking the question: “How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?”</p>
<h2>Online rallying cry</h2>
<p>Malala started <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7834402.stm">writing her blog</a> for the BBC under a pseudonym, Gul Makai, when she was 11-years-old. This was a time when the Taliban dominated the Swat Valley and were destroying girls’ schools leading many girls to drop out. Some families left to educate their daughters in the larger cities of Pakistan or overseas. </p>
<p>Her blog gave a vivid account of what it was like living under siege and the uncertainty of being able to attend school. On January 14 2009, the day before the Taliban’s edict on closing girls’ schools came into effect, she wrote: “I am of the view that the school will one day reopen but while leaving I looked at the building as if I would not come here again.” </p>
<p>Malala did return to school after the military’s partial success in driving back the Taliban but the family became internally displaced persons when Mingora was evacuated during the Second Battle of Swat. On their return journey Malala <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/video/world/1247465107008/a-schoolgirl-s-odyssey.html">made a special a plea</a> to Richard Holbrooke, President Barack Obama’s special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan to “help us in our education”.</p>
<p>As her blog identity became known and the diary available in English, young people across the world started engaging with the issue of girls and education online. <a href="http:www.malala-yousufzai.com/2012/10/Malala-Diary-for-BBC.html">One wrote</a>: “Malala has not only spoken up for people but even has given people the courage enough to speak up, (on) any platform”. She had become a positive, powerful role model and her engagement in media and other public forums enabled her to extend her campaign for girls’ education to wider audiences. </p>
<p>Since then she has won a host of other global awards and was also been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013. At the first <a href="https://secure.aworldatschool.org/page/content/the-text-of-malala-yousafzais-speech-at-the-united-nations/">Youth Takeover at the United Nations</a> last year, on her 16th birthday, she addressed international youth educational advocates. She said: “I’m here to speak for the right of education for every child. I want education for the sons and daughters of the Taliban and all terrorists and extremists”. A <a href="http://www.malala.org/">charity fund</a> has been established in her name to increase advocacy for girls’ education and to provide girls confidence to pursue their right to education. </p>
<h2>Pakistan still lagging behind</h2>
<p>Malala’s campaign has highlighted the need for countries to address the social, cultural and political factors that exclude girls from a basic human right – the right to be educated. </p>
<p>Pakistan, like many other countries, has become signatory to a number of international global charters, that enshrine equality of education, yet in 2009 girls in the Swat Valley were prohibited from attending school and their schools were demolished. The <a href="http://ideas.time.com/2013/10/17/malala-yousafzai-the-day-i-woke-up-in-the-hospital/">Taliban shot Malala</a> in 2012 for speaking up against this injustice – she needed to be silenced. There clearly is a major gap between policy and practice. </p>
<p>Despite recent education reforms, Pakistan continues to underachieve in education – it is ranked at 118 out of 129 countries in UNESCO’s <a href="http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/efareport/statistics/efa-development-index/">Educational Development Index</a>. According to the 2012-13 <a href="http://www.pbs.gov.pk/content/pakistan-social-and-living-standards-measurement-survey-pslm-2012-13-provincial-district">Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey</a> only 47% of women nationally have completed education at primary or higher level. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Malala’s home, it’s 29% of women. </p>
<h2>Girls held back</h2>
<p>Various factors contribute to the likelihood of girls continuing their education, especially in rural areas. Poverty plays a big part. In a conservative country, so does the need for an adequate supply of female teachers, the provision of separate toilet facilities for boys and girls in co-educational schools, school boundary walls at girls’ schools and travel distance to school. </p>
<p>But national investment in education remains low. According to the <a href="http://unesco.org.pk/documents/2013/PAKISTAN_CPD.pdf">UNESCO- Islamabad Report 2010</a>, despite Pakistan’s commitment to raise its educational budget to 4% of GDP, its educational spending has remained at 2% for the last 20 years. </p>
<p>Malala’s book <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/I_Am_Malala.html?id=sQMuAAAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y">I am Malala</a> (co-written with Christina Lamb) documents the cultural norms that continue to infantilise women and girls by preventing them from living independent lives. My <a href="http://www.reading.ac.uk/education/about/staff/n-rassool.aspx">own current research</a> with colleagues into the professional lives of women educators in Punjab confirms the importance of family and cultural support to enable women to develop their own professional careers. Pakistan could only benefit from continued advocacy from people like Malala for women’s education and equal access to the labour market. </p>
<p>As joint winner of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, Malala is a powerful role model for girls growing up in Pakistan – and those living in countries where cultural, political and economic factors prevent them from living happy, secure and productive lives – to speak up and speak out against gender injustice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32839/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Naz Rassool consults for Lahore College for Women University and the Government of Punjab Planning and Development Board. She receives funding from The Bell Foundation, the Government of Punjab Planning and Development Board and ESTYN. </span></em></p>The Nobel Peace Prize is a major achievement in itself. For it to be awarded – jointly with the Indian anti-child slavery activist Kailash Satyarthi – to a teenager still at secondary school is extraordinary…Nazima Rassool, Professor of Education, University of ReadingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/282532014-06-22T20:26:23Z2014-06-22T20:26:23ZHigher education plans breach international rights covenant<p>The government’s proposed changes to higher education have provoked fierce debate, with critics arguing the reforms will be detrimental to students, higher education institutions and the economy. What has not been noted in the discussion is that the reforms will constitute a clear breach of international legal obligations to which Australia is a signatory.</p>
<p>International law provides for a right to education, and specifically to higher education. The most important expression of this right is found in Article 13 of the <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CESCR.aspx">International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights</a>, which forms part of the International Bill of Human Rights and is one of the core international human rights documents. The Covenant has 162 state parties, including Australia, which ratified it in 1975.</p>
<h2>What does the Article say?</h2>
<p>Article 13 of the Covenant provides as follows:</p>
<p><strong>1)</strong> The States Parties to the present Covenant recognise the right of everyone to education. They agree that education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and the sense of its dignity, and shall strengthen the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. They further agree that education shall enable all persons to participate effectively in a free society, promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations and all racial, ethnic or religious groups, and further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.</p>
<p><strong>2)</strong> The States Parties to the present Covenant recognise that, with a view to achieving the full realisation of this right:</p>
<p><strong>c)</strong> Higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate means, and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education…</p>
<h2>What does the Article mean?</h2>
<p>A number of elements are in play here. First, higher education is to be equally accessible to all. </p>
<p>In particular, this includes ensuring that education is provided without economic discrimination. This means that the government is obliged to ensure that those without financial means still enjoy equal access to higher education. In terms of the government’s proposals, this requirement clearly isn’t met in that a deregulated fee system privileges those who can afford to pay. </p>
<p>Second, higher education is to be provided on the basis of capacity. In other words, higher education need only be provided to those people that have the capacity to successfully complete it. Capacity can be assessed using measures such as past success or entry exams and can be used to justify restrictions on entry and restrictions on progress within higher education.</p>
<p>Finally, all appropriate means, including the progressive introduction of free education, are to be used in order to ensure equal accessibility. This requires the government to ensure policy moves toward the introduction of free higher education. Tuition fees aren’t in themselves a contravention of Article 13 and there is no deadline within which a state must achieve “free” higher education, but a failure to take steps towards free higher education is a contravention of the Article.</p>
<h2>What happens if we breach the Covenant?</h2>
<p>There are legal justifications for introducing retrogressive measures, such as increased higher education fees, which can be invoked in exceptional circumstances. Governments may argue that such measures are justified in the context of available resources or that restrictions are compatible with the nature of the right. </p>
<p>These arguments would be unlikely to succeed in Australia’s case, however, given that the equal accessibility aspect of the right arguably goes to the heart of Article 13. Regardless, even if a one-off fee increase could be justified, a deregulated system definitely could not be, as the requirement to move progressively towards free higher education continues to apply.</p>
<p>While international law is legally binding in theory, the lack of international enforcement mechanisms mean that there is unlikely to be any real consequence for breaching Article 13. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights may criticise Australia’s decision to deregulate the higher education sector and urge it to reverse the reforms.</p>
<p>Yet the importance of the right to higher education doesn’t lie in its doubtful enforceability as a rule of international law but in the values that it represents and the promise that governments make to their people when they sign such documents. If we really believe in the value of equal educational opportunity, then it must inform our higher education policy. </p>
<p>In the context of this discussion, it is worth considering the agreed purposes for higher education set out in the Covenant, which include “the full development of the human personality”, “respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms”, empowering people to “participate effectively in a free society” and to “promote understanding, tolerance and friendship” (Article 13). </p>
<p>Do we wish to be a society underpinned by these values, or a country that measures value only in terms of the dollar? We hope, of course, that the answer is the former.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/28253/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The government’s proposed changes to higher education have provoked fierce debate, with critics arguing the reforms will be detrimental to students, higher education institutions and the economy. What…Jane Kotzmann, Associate Lecturer in Law, Deakin UniversityKay Souter, Director of Learning Environments, Research and Evaluation, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.