Roundtable: Quality education for all - a human rights issue

Rosebank Hotel, 28 June 2005

The relationship between quality education and human rights goes beyond education as a fundamental human right - it cuts across issues of delivery, what is delivered, how it is delivered, by whom and for what purpose. Some of the considerations to these relationships would include:

• Learners do not come to the classroom equal - socio-economic background, gender, race, disability, ethnicity, HIV and AIDS, war and other emergency situations all create inequalities that should be addressed through education if there is to be a levelling of the playing field and development of greater equality in society.
• Not all classrooms are equal: material resources such as books and textbooks, school facilities, classrooms, libraries as well as human resources impact on how children learn. Failing to address these needs within education is a failure to address the rights of learners to quality in education.
• Not all teaching and learning practices are equal - many schools still pursue the use of corporal punishment, deny access to learners on the basis or gender, race or HIV status and use methodologies that do not support the development of autonomy, critical thinking and open mindedness, do not encourage participation and the development of community schools, thus failing to develop in children the ability to participate in society within a democratic rights based culture.

Join us as we discuss debate and share experiences as educators on how addressing human rights at school level as part of whole school policy, practice and process can and should play a role in the delivery of quality education for all and the development of a culture of human rights, democracy and peace in society as a whole.