Page 7 - 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. 7
Convention on the Rights of the Child:
Educational Opportunities and Social Justice
Foreword
Zdenko Kodelja, Educational Research Institute, Slovenia
Urška Štremfel, Educational Research Institute, Slovenia
This double issue of Šolsko polje has two parts. The first part is a the-
matic issue on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, particu-
larly how it relates to educational opportunities and social justice.
The second part is the Varia issue, containing discussions on various actu-
al educational research topics.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child was
adopted in 1989. The main novelty it brought is its recognition of liberty
rights for children, that is, a special kind of rights to freedom of speech,
religion, assembly etc., sometimes called “participatory rights” as well.
However, although these freedoms are ascribed to all children, only some
children can actually exercise them. For, liberty rights are rights of choice,
which presupposes the autonomy of the subject of those rights. Therefore,
only someone who is capable of making rational judgements, choices and
decisions can exercise them. But the problem is that the Convention does
not specify when children are able to freely take reasonable decisions re-
garding exercising or not the liberty rights the Convention recognises for
them. In addition, the right of children to freedom of religion, which is
one of the liberty rights, is in conflict with the parents’ right to educate
their children in accordance with their own, that is, parents’, religious
convictions. This right of the child is closely related to the right to educa-
tion. There is no doubt that this right, whose exercise appears to be tak-
en for granted in the developed world, is violated for many people and in
many places. We can see this easily from the information that more than
100 million children are deprived of the most basic education. These and
similar figures show two things. On one hand, they bear witness to the
https://doi.org/10.32320/1581-6044.31(3-4)5-9 5
Foreword
Educational Opportunities and Social Justice
Foreword
Zdenko Kodelja, Educational Research Institute, Slovenia
Urška Štremfel, Educational Research Institute, Slovenia
This double issue of Šolsko polje has two parts. The first part is a the-
matic issue on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, particu-
larly how it relates to educational opportunities and social justice.
The second part is the Varia issue, containing discussions on various actu-
al educational research topics.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child was
adopted in 1989. The main novelty it brought is its recognition of liberty
rights for children, that is, a special kind of rights to freedom of speech,
religion, assembly etc., sometimes called “participatory rights” as well.
However, although these freedoms are ascribed to all children, only some
children can actually exercise them. For, liberty rights are rights of choice,
which presupposes the autonomy of the subject of those rights. Therefore,
only someone who is capable of making rational judgements, choices and
decisions can exercise them. But the problem is that the Convention does
not specify when children are able to freely take reasonable decisions re-
garding exercising or not the liberty rights the Convention recognises for
them. In addition, the right of children to freedom of religion, which is
one of the liberty rights, is in conflict with the parents’ right to educate
their children in accordance with their own, that is, parents’, religious
convictions. This right of the child is closely related to the right to educa-
tion. There is no doubt that this right, whose exercise appears to be tak-
en for granted in the developed world, is violated for many people and in
many places. We can see this easily from the information that more than
100 million children are deprived of the most basic education. These and
similar figures show two things. On one hand, they bear witness to the
https://doi.org/10.32320/1581-6044.31(3-4)5-9 5
Foreword
