Right to education

This document compiles practical examples related to indigenous people’s right to education, extracted from reports submitted by Member States within the framework of the Ninth Consultation on the implementation of the 1960 Convention and Recommendation against Discrimination in Education. It is intended to serve as a practical tool for both information sharing and advocacy. Section one presents the international legal framework protecting the right to education for indigenous peoples.

Higher education is too often dissociated from the right to education. In many countries tuition fees are on the rise, and only the privileged have access to, or succeed in completing, higher education, making it difficult to argue that there is an actual right to higher education to be enforced. However, international human rights law is clear: the right to education includes the obligation of states to ensure that higher education is made accessible to all based on capacity.

The purpose of these Guidelines and Toolkit is to describe the different operational tools developed to help education stakeholders systematically collect and analyse the efforts put in place to ensure the RTE. These efforts should be central to every educational planning or programming document. The resulting analysis should also bring to light different and challenging policy gaps in education. The final goal is to mobilize all information and analyses gathered to nurture a constructive dialogue among key national stakeholders and to strengthen the RTE at national and local levels.

This report analyzes and presents the Consultation findings, draws trends, and provides guidance for action. It shows how, by implementing the provisions of the Consultation, States can accelerate progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4, while invites a reflection on possibly reviewing the framework of the right to education to further respond to new challenges and put an end to increased inequalities worldwide.