Education as a Right and a Choice

Posted by shush

June 24, 2015

If you read the following article as is, would you fully understand it? Question is answerable by a “yes” or “no”.

Article 26.
(1) 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 professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

What’s your answer?

Here’s mine. Yes I understand most of it, but only because I have a pretty good understanding of the English language and technical terminologies. So I would be putting comments, questions and some explanations within the article and pretend that I do not have a pretty good understanding of the English language and technical terminologies. They would be enclosed in parenthesis to distinguish them from the article’s original content.

Also I am not putting comments and questions based on what’s happening in our country. These are comments and questions I would put here regardless of where I am and what level of education I was able to reach.

Article 26.
(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages.
(What are considered fundamental stages?)
(What if there are no free elementary schools in our area and the nearest one is towns away that I cannot afford to travel to on a daily basis?)
(What are the required number of elementary schools giving free education within a certain radius or population?)
(Who do I complain to if there are no elementary schools in our area giving free education?)
(What do we do if the elementary schools in our area charge us a fee instead of giving us free education? And that if we complain we would be disallowed from returning to the school?)
(If education is free, does that mean I wouldn’t have to pay for any books and school supplies I would need for the whole school year?)
(What do we do if we are allowed to enrol in school for free but we are required to donate things such as chairs, fans, chalk and board erasers, shelves, and other things in exchange for our grades or report card’s release at the end of the school year?)
(What if I am an orphan and I live in the streets, can I enrol myself in the nearest elementary school even if I am a minor?)
(Is homeschooling considered a valid free elementary education?)
(Is there an age limit when enroling in elementary school? What if I am a senior citizen who has never had an education, can I attend elementary school for free with the minors?)
(What if I am physically incapable (i.e. persons with disability) of going to school by myself or I have special needs, are there options for me in getting a free elementary education?)

Elementary education shall be compulsory.
(How can it be compulsory if there are no nearby elementary schools that I could go to without having to spend fare for because my family cannot afford to give me fare on a daily basis to go to school?)
(What if I am an orphan and I live in the streets, can I enrol myself in the nearest elementary school even if I am a minor?)
(What should I do if my parents or next of kin refuse to enrol me in elementary school? Can I enrol myself in the nearest elementary school even if I am a minor?)
(What if I am physically incapable (i.e. persons with disability) of going to school by myself or I have special needs, are there options for me in getting a free elementary education?)

Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
(What does merit mean?)
(What does generally available mean?)
(What are the required number of schools offering technical and professional education within a certain radius or population?)
(How come there is no clause in this article about high school or secondary level education?)
(What are the different technical and professional education courses that is required for each school to have or each region/area to have?)
(Who is in charge of making sure that these schools offering technical and professional education really are schools giving the appropriate education and not just diploma mills?)
(What if I am physically incapable (i.e. persons with disability) of going to these kinds of school by myself or I have special needs, are there options for me in getting into an accessible technical and professional educational institution?)
(What if I came from a special school that has a special curriculum because I have special needs, would I be discriminated from enroling in the normal type of higher education?)

(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial and religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
(How can this happen if we have a “brain drain” in our country?)
(How can I provide this kind of education to my students if I am discriminated by my fellow teachers within the school that I teach in because I belong to a different race/religious group

and suggestions for improvements in the curriculum are always ignored?)
(How would I know if the teachers practice favoritism in the school and always make my children feel inadequate?)
(How would I know if the teachers in the school threaten their students not to tell their parents or next of kin what really happens in the classroom?)
(How can our children be protected from politics amongst teachers in school that our children could detect and har at a very young age?)
(How do we know if the teacher has a grudge towards the school’s administrators and let that grudge affect the quality of education given to our children?)
(Do schools have policies about protecting legitimate children from having classmates or even schoolmates of their parents’ illegitimate children? Or are illegitimate children allowed to

enrol in the same school as the legitimate children?)
(What are the boundaries of tolerance and how is it implemented?)
(How would we know if the teachers tell their students not to speak unless spoken to, not to move during school presentations, or to give their students roles in school programs and activities that would inhibit a child’s normal speech patterns, social development, confidence in front of a crowd, and other normal behavioral growth patterns?)

(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
(I am the child who is going to school, how come I am not the one given the prior right to choose the kind of education I want to get?)
(Does this mean my parents can force me to go to the school they want me to go to because it is their prior right?)
(If my parents chose to homeschool me but they do not have the emotional capacity and technical knowledge to do so, would they be allowed to homeschool me?)
(Do parents have the right to choose the teachers who would teach their children?)
(Would a parent have a choice if they are dirt poor and the nearest elementary school giving free education is not keeping up with required standards?)

I am not the only one with an inquisitive mind. I know there are many more possible questions, comments that could be added to mine. And I also know that there are many people who could provide the answers and explanations to this article. But is there a way to explain this to so many people in the easiest way possible?

Teaching this in school entails memorizing the articles, asking some questions in the exams, and then that’s it. How do we make this an appendage in our daily lives without having to look too idealistic or even lost in utopia? Everything we have today is based on education. What we do with what we know. Education is not only available in schools? It’s everywhere around us in our daily activities. But we have to use schools to put together a standard set of knowledge that everyone is supposed to have at least at the fundamental or elementary level.

Maybe someone could put together a website or app or video game that would make the young be more interested in understanding these articles and benevolently and unconsciously teach them what these mean and how they are supposed to be implemented in real life. For when the old generations cease to exist, it would be a scary world if the young aren’t taught to understand these for continous proper implementation. For in the future, if they decide to change the compulsory to voluntary when we are not anymore there to prevent such a change, then what would become of the standards that so many worked so hard to create, maintain and help grow. Would what they would voluntarily want to learn be enough to keep everything around them safe and peaceful?

As for me, I’ll continue with these series in the next post.

Human Rights Series, Keeping Safe, Momhood, Self Improvement, Streetwise

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