Declaration of Child Rights-Centric Education: Difference between revisions

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==About==
For the text of the final Declaration of Child Rights-Centric Education, please see the [https://www.rights-centric.education/declaration website].
This is the draft text of the proposed "Declaration of Rights-Centric Education".
==Why do we need a Declaration?==
Because the presently mainstreamed system of education wasn't developed out of respect for Human Rights to, in, or through education. [[The violent origins of public school systems|It was designed to '''suppress''' human rights and fundamental freedoms]].


The Founding members of the Network will finalise the declaration by 20/10/2024 and start collecting  [[Signatories of the Declaration|signatures]]. There will be a public event to launch the declaration on 20/11/2024  (the 35th Anniversary of the [[UN Convention on the Rights of the Child]]).
While there are human rights defenders who are striving to provide education in ways that respects the rights of all participants, and especially the rights of children (as expressed in International Human Rights Law as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child), they are relegated as "alternative" providers. This is a nomenclature that cedes power to the mainstream.


There is a newer version available on the [https://www.rights-centric.education/declaration website] (this page retains the older draft for ease of comparison)
To make the case that these "alternatives" should be mainstreamed, it is necessary to make the case for it in terms of human rights law - because it is globally accepted, well-articulated, is under active development, and there are already a variety of actors engaged in it. And that is what the declaration sets out to do.


==Draft Declaration of Rights-Centric Education==
==Can I see a simple version of the Declaration?==
International Human Rights law, from its inception, has affirmed that education shall be directed to the ''strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms''. As the discourse on Human Rights evolved, it has consistently reiterated this through various instruments and articulated its meaning with increasing precision and detail.


===PREAMBLE===
Nevertheless, this has not produced the intended results in practice, because these aims have been simply superimposed on existing mainstreamed practices of education - which are not centered on human rights (how could they, when they evolved decades, or even centuries, prior?). It is essential that this anomaly be recognized and addressed - by taking steps to fundamentally rework any practice of Education that is in conflict with Human Rights, and especially with Child Rights.
Whereas the Preamble of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) of 1989 begins with the consideration that
* “in accordance with the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world”; and


Recalling that General Comment 1 (2001) of the UN CRC on Article 29 (1) “The Aims of Education” calls for
==Can the declaration be explained?==
* "the fundamental reworking of curricula to include the various aims of education and the systematic revision of textbooks and other teaching materials and technologies, as well as school policies", in recognition that
Please see [https://youtu.be/bo%20CgC26-cw this video]. Note that this is based on a slimly older version of the Declaration (for the text used in the video, see [https://www.rights-centric.education/sites/default/files/Declaration%20of%20Child%20Rights-Centric%20Education%202024.10.25%20video.pdf this PDF])
* "approaches which do no more than seek to superimpose the aims and values of the article on the existing system without encouraging any deeper changes are clearly inadequate"; and
The final version has the unwieldy sentences in the "Reasoning that" section broken down, and also expands on the instruments to be referred (earlier it was only the General Comment on the Right to be Heard)
* “efforts to promote the enjoyment of other rights must not be undermined, and should be reinforced, by the values imparted in the educational process. This includes not only the content of the curriculum but also the educational processes, the pedagogical methods and the environment within which education takes place, whether it be the home, school, or elsewhere”; and
* “education must be provided in a way that respects the inherent dignity of the child”; and
 
Bearing in mind that the United Nations General Assembly (2005), in the “First phase (2005-2007) of the World Programme for Human Rights Education”, affirms that
* “It is essential to ensure that educational objectives, practices and the organization of the schools are consistent with human rights values and principles”; and
 
Further recalling that General Comment 1 (2001) of the UN CRC on Article 29 (1) “The Aims of Education” states
* “Education” in this context goes far beyond formal schooling to embrace the broad range of life experiences and learning processes which enable children, individually and collectively, to develop their personalities, talents and abilities and to live a full and satisfying life within society.
 
Reasoning that
* Whilst the essentiality of ensuring that “educational objectives, practices and the organization of the schools are consistent with human rights values and principles” may arise from schools being the principal institution by which Member States fulfill their obligation to compulsorily provide primary education (CRC Article 28);
* The recognition that education encompasses a “broad range of life experiences and learning processes” which can take place at “the home, school, or elsewhere” makes it imperative that the protection of human rights values and principles be extended to all environments where such life experiences and learning processes take place.
 
===WE, THE [[Signatories of the Declaration|SIGNATORIES]], HEREBY RECOGNIZE THAT===
# The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC) of 1989 recognized the fundamental human dignity of all children (any person under the age of 18, or the applicable majority age); they are not property (of their parents nor the State), nor are they helpless objects of charity: they are the Subject of their own Rights; and
# Prevalent practices of Education (as defined below) evolved, or were developed, prior to Children being recognised as the Subjects of their own Rights; and
# These practices may have resulted in harm to the human dignity of Children that may constitute violations of Child Rights in member states that have ratified the UN CRC; and
# These practices may continue to cause such harm and violations until they are overhauled to ensure the respect, protection, and fulfilment of Child Rights; and
 
===WE AFFIRM THAT===
# The Rights of the Child are inalienable, indivisible, and interdependent; and
# There can be no justification to violate them in the provision of Education (as defined below); and
 
===WE CALL FOR===
# All Practices in all Environments providing for the Education of the Child (defined broadly as ''"all experiences and processes which enable, or are purported to enable, children, individually and collectively, to develop their personalities, talents and abilities and to live a full and satisfying life within society"'') be fundamentally reworked to ensure the Rights of the Child are respected, protected and fulfilled; and
# This reworking to be prioritised in schools and other institutions, both State and non-State, established expressly for the purpose of Education of the Child; and
# Be extended to reworking the evaluation of the education provided for children in elective home education.

Latest revision as of 08:42, 19 June 2025

For the text of the final Declaration of Child Rights-Centric Education, please see the website.

Why do we need a Declaration?

Because the presently mainstreamed system of education wasn't developed out of respect for Human Rights to, in, or through education. It was designed to suppress human rights and fundamental freedoms.

While there are human rights defenders who are striving to provide education in ways that respects the rights of all participants, and especially the rights of children (as expressed in International Human Rights Law as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child), they are relegated as "alternative" providers. This is a nomenclature that cedes power to the mainstream.

To make the case that these "alternatives" should be mainstreamed, it is necessary to make the case for it in terms of human rights law - because it is globally accepted, well-articulated, is under active development, and there are already a variety of actors engaged in it. And that is what the declaration sets out to do.

Can I see a simple version of the Declaration?

International Human Rights law, from its inception, has affirmed that education shall be directed to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. As the discourse on Human Rights evolved, it has consistently reiterated this through various instruments and articulated its meaning with increasing precision and detail.

Nevertheless, this has not produced the intended results in practice, because these aims have been simply superimposed on existing mainstreamed practices of education - which are not centered on human rights (how could they, when they evolved decades, or even centuries, prior?). It is essential that this anomaly be recognized and addressed - by taking steps to fundamentally rework any practice of Education that is in conflict with Human Rights, and especially with Child Rights.

Can the declaration be explained?

Please see this video. Note that this is based on a slimly older version of the Declaration (for the text used in the video, see this PDF) The final version has the unwieldy sentences in the "Reasoning that" section broken down, and also expands on the instruments to be referred (earlier it was only the General Comment on the Right to be Heard)

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