The human right to education
Objective
This briefing paper is a work in progress. It begins to summarise the human right to education by
Every child has the right to an education. This is guaranteed in article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. But what about its content and quality? What should be the aims of education? The Convention specifies these in article 29. The Committee on the Rights of the Child recently published a detailed explanatory note - a General Comment - on this article. Every child has a right to an education "designed to provide the child with life skills, to strengthen the child's capacity to enjoy the full range of human rights and to promote a culture which is infused by appropriate human rights values". Education must be "child-centred, child-friendly and empowering".
Last updated 2 December 2001.
