ECE should be free the world over, UN reporter says in final act before leaving office

Countries around the world must align their international human rights obligations with their political commitments on early childhood education, outgoing United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to education Koumba Boly Barry has said in her final report.

Presenting the report to the UN General Assembly recently, her successor, Farida Shaheed, stressed the importance of early childhood education (ECE) being free, saying: “If it’s not free, if it’s not available for everyone, then it’s going to increase the inequalities that already exist.”

ECE brings “substantial developmental, educational, social, cultural and economic benefits,” the report said, yet the cost of education remains a barrier for millions of children around the world, and half of the world’s children miss out on pre-primary education.

Under the UN Sustainable Development Goals, all UN states, including Australia, have committed to ensure that by 2030 all children have access to quality early childhood development, care, and pre-primary education.

While international human rights law currently guarantees all children a right to free and compulsory primary education, it does not guarantee an immediate right to secondary education and is almost silent on pre-primary education. Ms Boly Barry recommends a new legally binding treaty to recognise every child’s right to early childhood education.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) also believes all children have a right to pre-primary education, and has proposed a fourth optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child that would recognise every child’s right to at least one year of free and compulsory pre-primary education. Such a new treaty should also recognize an immediate right for all children to free secondary education.

The question of expanding the right to education appears to be not “if” but “when”. On that, the Special Rapporteur has been clear: now is the time, an HRW representative said. 

To access the report, please see here.