The Right to Education
The Right to Education – A Global Perspective
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Nelson Mandela
This saying of Nelson Mandela reveals a lot about the importance of education as a mean of achieving the changes we want to see in the world. Realizing the importance of education is highly significant for the nation and the world as a whole; however, giving equal education opportunities to people within specific countries and around the world remains a challenge for the global society. In order to overcome, or at least ease, such challenges, the right to education has been a subject of matter of international law, as well as state constitutions. While a great number of countries have been signatories and ratifiers of international conventions that protect the right to education, many countries have failed to provide the essential capacities to assure this right for various reasons. The failure to protect this right, no matter the reasons, has been quite harsh for the most vulnerable groups of different societies; hence, leaving millions of people worldwide without the capacity to contribute to a better world. As such, this paper will firstly focus on the protection of this right by international law, and it will later focus on the protection of the right to education in the following countries: Finland, Venezuela, India and finally Kosova.
The Right to Education and the International Law
The right to education, as a human right, has been highly guaranteed and protected by international law for many decades now. To begin with, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948 marked the universal recognition of the right to education. The Declaration guarantees the right to education through Article 26, which among others states that: “Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Nelson Mandela
This saying of Nelson Mandela reveals a lot about the importance of education as a mean of achieving the changes we want to see in the world. Realizing the importance of education is highly significant for the nation and the world as a whole; however, giving equal education opportunities to people within specific countries and around the world remains a challenge for the global society. In order to overcome, or at least ease, such challenges, the right to education has been a subject of matter of international law, as well as state constitutions. While a great number of countries have been signatories and ratifiers of international conventions that protect the right to education, many countries have failed to provide the essential capacities to assure this right for various reasons. The failure to protect this right, no matter the reasons, has been quite harsh for the most vulnerable groups of different societies; hence, leaving millions of people worldwide without the capacity to contribute to a better world. As such, this paper will firstly focus on the protection of this right by international law, and it will later focus on the protection of the right to education in the following countries: Finland, Venezuela, India and finally Kosova.
The Right to Education and the International Law
The right to education, as a human right, has been highly guaranteed and protected by international law for many decades now. To begin with, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948 marked the universal recognition of the right to education. The Declaration guarantees the right to education through Article 26, which among others states that: “Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and