Page 68 - Šolsko polje, XXXI, 2020, 3-4: Convention on the Rights of the Child: Educational Opportunities and Social Justice, eds. Zdenko Kodelja and Urška Štremfel
P. 68
šolsko polje, letnik xxxi, številka 3–4
might argue that the right to education for children and parents is really
a duty at the primary school level. This special status of right-obligation is
related to the fact that this is the essential right, which then allows other
rights to be implemented as rights. The same as human rights are an ob-
ligation for a government in order to allow its citizens to enjoy them as
rights, the right to education is an obligation for children and parents in
order to enable them to enjoy all other rights as rights.
The Fulfilment of the Right to Education: A Review
If we take a look at the preamble to Article 28 of the Convention (‘States
Parties recognize the right of the child to education, and with a view to
achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportuni-
ty, they shall, in particular ...’), we can say that the Republic of Slovenia
strives to ‘achieve this right progressively and on the basis of equal op-
portunities’. The state tries to provide equal opportunities for education
– without which there cannot be a just educational system – with vari-
ous measures and mainly in two ways: firstly, by providing equal access to
education on the basis of an individual’s merits, his or her capacities and
invested effort (by providing an equal scope of free education to every-
one; by enabling the differentiation of lessons; by the inclusion of chil-
dren with special needs when this is more beneficial for them than edu-
cation in special schools, etc.); and secondly, by providing an equal basis
at the start of education. An important measure for providing equal op-
portunities in the sense of an equal basis, is an improvement of the initial
situation of children from culturally or socially deprived environments
by including as many children as possible in good quality pre-school pro-
grammes. Around three quarters of all pre-school children now already
attend kindergarten, which reduces the initial differences in their ‘read-
iness for school’.6
Slovenia also fulfils the obligation taken on by signing the
Convention to provide compulsory and available free to all children
– ‘primary education compulsory and available free to all’ (28.1.a). It is
worth emphasising that free education is in this context meant as the op-
posite to payable education, namely as a possibility of education without
paying a fee. But the absence of fees does not necessarily mean that educa-
tion is completely free. The costs of school supplies are so high that many
parents cannot cover them by themselves. Therefore, they are forced to
ask various charities for help. State measures, such as the establishment
of a textbooks fund, and free textbooks in the first three years of primary
6 According to the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia for 2012.
66
might argue that the right to education for children and parents is really
a duty at the primary school level. This special status of right-obligation is
related to the fact that this is the essential right, which then allows other
rights to be implemented as rights. The same as human rights are an ob-
ligation for a government in order to allow its citizens to enjoy them as
rights, the right to education is an obligation for children and parents in
order to enable them to enjoy all other rights as rights.
The Fulfilment of the Right to Education: A Review
If we take a look at the preamble to Article 28 of the Convention (‘States
Parties recognize the right of the child to education, and with a view to
achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportuni-
ty, they shall, in particular ...’), we can say that the Republic of Slovenia
strives to ‘achieve this right progressively and on the basis of equal op-
portunities’. The state tries to provide equal opportunities for education
– without which there cannot be a just educational system – with vari-
ous measures and mainly in two ways: firstly, by providing equal access to
education on the basis of an individual’s merits, his or her capacities and
invested effort (by providing an equal scope of free education to every-
one; by enabling the differentiation of lessons; by the inclusion of chil-
dren with special needs when this is more beneficial for them than edu-
cation in special schools, etc.); and secondly, by providing an equal basis
at the start of education. An important measure for providing equal op-
portunities in the sense of an equal basis, is an improvement of the initial
situation of children from culturally or socially deprived environments
by including as many children as possible in good quality pre-school pro-
grammes. Around three quarters of all pre-school children now already
attend kindergarten, which reduces the initial differences in their ‘read-
iness for school’.6
Slovenia also fulfils the obligation taken on by signing the
Convention to provide compulsory and available free to all children
– ‘primary education compulsory and available free to all’ (28.1.a). It is
worth emphasising that free education is in this context meant as the op-
posite to payable education, namely as a possibility of education without
paying a fee. But the absence of fees does not necessarily mean that educa-
tion is completely free. The costs of school supplies are so high that many
parents cannot cover them by themselves. Therefore, they are forced to
ask various charities for help. State measures, such as the establishment
of a textbooks fund, and free textbooks in the first three years of primary
6 According to the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia for 2012.
66
