The child’s right to basic education: A model to measure South Africa’s compliance with its international obligations

Abstract

Realising the child’s right to basic education is not an easy undertaking, as states face enduring challenges in the development and implementation of their legal frameworks. With the ratification of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, obligations are imposed on State Parties. Acknowledging the universality of these instruments, the article proposes a novel compliance model that incorporates a normative and a practical framework that can be applied to measure compliance with the obligations imposed thereby. The article proposes that the model can be useful in advancing the realisation of the child’s right to basic education in terms of the legal framework and the implementation thereof. Furthermore, its application is indicative of State Parties’ willingness to be held accountable and to incorporate international law on a domestic level. The article sets out the proposed compliance model and thereafter applies the model to the South African context. Specific attention is paid to the South African constitutional framework and South Africa’s reporting history to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Keywords:

• Right to basic education
• children’s rights
• constitutional law
• international law
• Convention on the Rights of the Child
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Acknowledgements

This article was written based on parts of research undertaken as part of A Strohwald’s LLD dissertation at Stellenbosch University (Private Law, Faculty of Law). Thank you to Sonia Human for her valuable and insightful comments on an earlier draft. We would also like to thank the referees for their comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (adopted on 16 December 1966, entered into force 3 January 1976) UNGA Resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966. South Africa ratified the ICESCR on 12 January 2015.

2 Convention on the Rights of the Child (adopted 20 November 1989, entered into force 2 September 1990) UNGA Res 44/25 of 20 November 1989. South Africa ratified the CRC on 16 June 1995.

3 KD Beiter Protection of the Right to Education by International Law: Including a Systematic Analysis of Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2006) 1; L Arendse ‘The obligation to provide free basic education in South Africa: An international perspective’ (2011) 14 Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal 97, 100; Daudet & Singh Analysis of UNESCO’s Standard-Setting Instruments 14; For background information on the ICESCR see F Viljoen International Human Rights Law in Africa (2012) 114–119.

4 K Tomaševski Right to Education Primers No 3: Human Rights Obligations: Making Education Available, Accessible, Acceptable and Adaptable (2001) 12–15.

5 The CRC Committee consists of 18 independent experts that monitor the progress made by states in the implementation of the CRC. In this regard, see Art 43(2) of the CRC.

6 J Sloth-Nielsen & S Philpott ‘The intersection between article 6 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and early childhood development’ (2015) 2 Stellenbosch Law Review 295, 313.

7 Section 39(1)(b) of the Constitution.

8 K Tomaševski Preliminary Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education (1999) paras 42–74; see Tomaševski (note 4 above); K Tomaševski Human Rights Obligations in Education: The 4-A Scheme (2006); CESCR ‘General Comment No 13 on the right to education (art 13)’ (21st session, 1999) UN Doc E/C.12/1999/10 (CESCR ‘General Comment No 13’).

9 CESCR ‘General Comment No 13’ (ibid); C Courtis & J Tobin ‘Article 28: The right to education’ in J Tobin (ed) The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: A Commentary (2019) 1056, 1067.

10 Specific focus will be on s 29 of the Constitution and the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996.

11 It is recognised that while the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (11 July 1990) OAU Doc. CAB/LEG/24.9/49 (1990), for example does indeed strengthen the normative framework and provide a regional perspective, in this article, attention is specifically focused on setting out the compliance model. See T Buck International Child Law 2 ed (2014) 87; A Holzscheiter Children’s Rights in International Politics: The Transformative Power of Discourse (2010) 85; D Fottrell ‘One step forward or two steps sideways? Assessing the first decade on the children’s Convention on the Rights of the Child’ in D Fottrell (ed) Revisiting Children’s Rights (2000) 1, 13; S Detrick A Commentary on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1999) 1.

12 Art 77(2) of the ICESCR and 44(2) of the CRC.

13 M Verheyde A Commentary on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: Article 28 the Right to Education 1.

14 Detrick (note 11 above) 473.

15 Courtis & Tobin (note 9 above) 1062. See for example art 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted 10 December 1948 UNGA Res 217 A(III)).

16 It must be noted that the Constitution does not provide for ‘free’ education.

17 G van Bueren International Law on the Rights of the Child (1998) 233; Detrick (note 11 above) 475; Beiter (note 3 above) 19; M Ssenyonjo Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in International Law (2016) 572.

18 F Coomans ‘In search of the core content of the right to education’ in AR Chapman & S Russel (eds) Core Obligations: Building a Framework for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2002) 217, 228; Ssenyonjo (ibid) 584.

19 Verheyde (note 13 above) 20; See also for example Tripartite Steering Committee v Minister of Basic Education 2015 (5) SA 107 (ECG); Section 27 v Minister of Education 2013 (2) SA 40 (GNP); Minister of Basic Education v Basic Education for All 2016 (4) SA 63 (SCA).

20 Verheyde (note 13 above) 24.

21 The different levels of education are primary, secondary and higher education. The cost of education and whether or not it is compulsory is dependent on the level thereof; Verheyde (ibid) 11, 23.

22 Verheyde (ibid) 9; Courtis & Tobin (note 9 above) 1059–1060.

23 Art 28(2) refers to appropriate school discipline; Verheyde (ibid); CRC Committee ‘General Comment No 1 on the aims of education (art 29)’ (26th session, 2001) UN Doc CRC/GC/2001/1 (CRC Committee ‘General Comment No 1’) para 8.

24 ‘States Parties recogni[s]e the right of the child to education’; Verheyde (ibid).

25 CRC Committee ‘General Comment No 1’ (note 23 above) para 2; Courtis & Tobin (note 9 above) 1059–1060.

26 CRC Committee ‘General Comment No 1’ (ibid) para 2; In this regard, the CRC Committee refers to the CESCR ‘General Comment No 13’ (note 8 above).

27 CRC Committee ‘General Comment No 1’ (ibid).

28 CRC Committee ‘General Comment No 1’ (ibid).

29 CRC Committee ‘General Comment No 1’ (ibid) paras 2–3; Verheyde (note 13 above) 1; in the South African context see Governing Body of the Juma Musjid Primary School v Essay 2011 (8) BCLR 761 (CC); Madzodzo v Minister of Basic Education 2014 (3) SA 441 (ECM); Section 27 (note 19 above); Basic Education for All (note 19 above); Tripartite Steering Committee (note 19 above).

30 CRC Committee ‘General Comment No 1’ (ibid) para 3.

31 CRC Committee ‘General Comment No 1’ (note 23 above).

32 CRC Committee ‘General Comment No 1’ (ibid) para 9; Courtis & Tobin (note 9 above) 1059–1060.

33 Art 29(1)(a) of the CRC; CRC Committee ‘General Comment No 1’ (note 23 above) para 9.

34 Arts 5 and 18 of the CRC; CRC Committee ‘General Comment No 1’ (ibid) para 6.

35 Art 16 of the CRC; CRC Committee ‘General Comment No 1’ (ibid).

36 Art 14 of the CRC; CRC Committee ‘General Comment No 1’ (ibid).

37 Art 17 of the CRC; CRC Committee ‘General Comment No 1’ (ibid).

38 Art 23 of the CRC; CRC Committee ‘General Comment No 1’ (ibid).

39 Art 24 of the CRC; CRC Committee ‘General Comment No 1’ (ibid).

40 Art 30 of the CRC; CRC Committee ‘General Comment No 1’ (ibid).

41 CRC Committee ‘General Comment No 1’ (note 23 above) para 17.

42 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (12 July 1993) UN Doc A/CONF.157/23 para 5; F Viljoen International Human Rights Law in Africa 2 ed (2012) 7.

43 Courtis & Tobin (note 9 above) 1057–1059; Detrick (note 11 above) 22.

44 Verheyde (note 13 above) 2.

45 Tomaševski Preliminary Report (note 8 above) paras 42–74; Tomaševski (note 4 above); Tomaševski The 4-A Scheme (note 8 above); CESCR ‘General Comment No 13’ (note 8 above).

46 Courtis & Tobin (note 9 above) 1067.

47 Tomaševski (note 4 above); CESCR ‘General Comment No 13’ (note 8 above) para 6.

48 Tomaševski (ibid); Tomaševski The 4-A Scheme (note 8 above); R Joubert ‘Incorporating international standards into national education law in South Africa: The accountability of the state’ (2014) 29 Southern African Public Law 1, 5.

49 Tomaševski Preliminary Report (note 8 above) para 51.

50 CESCR ‘General Comment No 13’ (note 8 above) para 6(a); Joubert (ibid) 5; F Veriava & F Coomans ‘The right to education’ in D Brand & C Heyns (eds) (2005) Socio-economic Rights in South Africa 57, 66; S Pendlebury, L Lake & C Smith (eds) 2009 South African Child Gauge (2008/2009) 20.

51 CESCR ‘General Comment No 13’ (note 8 above) para 6(a); Arendse (note 3 above) 112; Joubert (ibid).

52 CESCR ‘General Comment No 13’ (ibid) para 6(a); Pendlebury et al (note 50 above) 20; Arendse (ibid).

53 CESCR ‘General Comment No 13’ (ibid) para 6(b); Courtis & Tobin (note 9 above) 1068; Tomaševski (note 4 above); Arendse (ibid); Joubert (note 48 above) 5.

54 CESCR ‘General Comment No 13’ (ibid) para 6(b); Veriava & Coomans (note 50 above) 67; Courtis & Tobin (note 9 above) 1068.

55 Arts 28(1) and 28(3). See Courtis & Tobin (note 9 above) 1068.

56 CESCR ‘General Comment No 13’ (note 18 above) para 6(c); Tomaševski (note 4 above); Pendlebury et al (note 50 above) 20; Joubert (note 48 above) 6; Arendse (note 3 above) 111–112; Veriava & Coomans (note 50 above) 71; Courtis & Tobin (note 9 above) 1069.

57 Tomaševski Preliminary Report (note 8 above) para 64; Pendlebury et al (note 50 above) 20.

58 Tomaševski Preliminary Report (ibid) para 67.

59 Tomaševski (note 4 above); CESCR ‘General Comment No 13’ (note 8 above) para 6(d); Veriava & Coomans (note 50 above) 73; Pendlebury et al (note 50 above) 20; Courtis & Tobin (note 9 above) 1070.

60 Tomaševski Preliminary Report (note 8 above) para 71.

61 CESCR ‘General Comment No 13’ (note 8 above) para 6(d); Joubert (note 48 above) 5–6; Pendlebury et al (note 50 above) 20.

62 See in general C Soudien, V Reddy & J Harvey ‘The impact of Covid-19 on a fragile education system: The case of South Africa’ in FM Reimers (ed) Primary and Secondary Education During Covid-19:Disruptions to Educational Opportunity During a Pandemic (2022) 303–326; N Landa, S Zhou & N Marongwe ‘Education in emergencies: Lessons from Covid-19 in South Africa (2021) 67 International Review of Education 167–183; R Fambasayi & H Okunrobo ‘Children’s rights and Covid-19 responses under the African Union: Recent developments and challenges’ (2021) 54 Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa 1, 14–17; D Shepherd & N Mohohlwane ‘The impact of Covid-19 in education: More than a year of disruption’ (2021) National Income Dynamic Study – Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey Policy Paper 1.

63 General Notice 318 in Government Gazette 43107 of 18-03-2020.

64 Soudien et al (note 62 above) 308–309; N Kona ‘The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on children’s rights to education in South Africa’ (2022) 16 Economic and Social Rights Review 16, 18.

65 General Notice 411 in Government Gazette 43578 of 02-09-2020; Soudien et al (ibid) 310.

66 According to Soudien et al (ibid) 320, it cannot yet be categorically stated ‘to what extent learning losses have taken place and their scale’, although it can be speculated that learning losses have occurred, and has been ‘experienced disproportionately by those who are vulnerable and less able to draw on the resources of the system’. While the novel model for compliance introduced in this article could be used to measure the extent to which South Africa complied with its educational obligations during the Covid-19 pandemic, doing so falls outside of the scope of this article, which aims to introduce the model and apply it to South Africa’s State Party reports to the CRC Committee.

67 Art 28(1)(a) of the CRC.

68 Art 13(2)(a) of the ICESCR.

69 GE Devenish A Commentary on the South African Constitution (1998) 76; Veriava & Coomans (note 50 above) 79; R Joubert ‘The South African Schools Act’ in T Boezaart (ed) Child Law in South Africa 2 ed 575, 579; A Skelton ‘Strategic litigation impacts: Equal access to quality education’ 2017 Open Society Justice Initiative 1, 47.

70 C Simbo ‘A hexagon right: The six dimensions of the right to basic education’ (2018) 39 Obiter 126, 127.

71 See further F Veriava ‘The amended legal framework for school fees and school funding: A boon or a barrier?’ (2007) 23 South African Journal on Human Rights 180–194; D Roithmayr ‘Access, adequacy and equality: The constitutionality of school fee financing in public education’ (2003) 19 South African Journal on Human Rights 382; EB Fiske & HF Ladd ‘Balancing public and private resources for basic education: School fees in post-apartheid education’ 2003 Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy Working Paper Series 1; B Fleisch & S Woolman ‘On the constitutionality of school fees: a reply to Roithmayr’ (2004) 22 Perspectives in Education 111.

72 A Skelton ‘How far will the courts go in ensuring the right to basic education?’ (2012) 27 Southern African Public Law 392, 396; Devenish (note 69 above) 76; F Veriava & A Skelton ‘The right to basic education: A comparative study of the United States, India and Brazil’ (2019) 35 South African Journal on Human Rights 1, 2; SD Kamga ‘The Right to a Basic Education’ in T Boezaart (ed) Child Law in South Africa 2 ed 517, 520; Skelton (note 69 above) 46; E Cameron ‘A South African perspective on the judicial development of socio-economic rights’ in L Lazarus, C McCrudden & N Bowles (eds) (2014) Reasoning Rights: Comparative Judicial Engagement 319, 323; M Seleoane ‘The right to education: Lessons from Grootboom’ (2003) 7 Law, Democracy & Development 137, 140.

73 Juma Musjid (note 29 above) para 37.

74 See for example L Arendse ‘Slowly but surely: The substantive approach to the right to basic education of the South African courts post-Juma Musjid’ (2020) 20 African Human Rights Law Journal 285.

75 The Preamble to the Schools Act.

76 Section 3(1) of the South African Schools Act: ‘Subject to this Act and any applicable provincial law, every parent must cause every learner for whom he or she is responsible to attend a school from the first school day of the year in which such learner reaches the age of seven years until the last school day of the year in which such a learner reaches the age of fifteen year or the ninth grade, whichever occurs first’.

77 See ss 5(3)(a), 39, 40, 41 of the Schools Act; Skelton (note 69 above) 47.

78 See ss 1, 2, 39 of the Schools Act; Education Laws Amendment Act 24 of 2005; Veriava & Coomans (note 50 above); Skelton (ibid); National Norms and Standards for School Funding: Notice of publication of list of schools that may not charge school fees General Notice 1137 in Government Gazette 41994 of 24-10-2018.

79 National Norms and Standards for School Funding (ibid) paras 164–167; Regulations Relating to the Exemption of Parents from the Payment of School Fees General Notice 1293 in Government Gazette 19347 of 12-10-1998.

80 Veriava & Coomans (note 50 above) 59.

81 Ibid.

82 Tripartite Steering Committee (note 19 above).

83 Department of Basic Education & Department of Transport ‘National Learner Transport Policy’ General Notice 997 in Government Gazette 39314 23-10-2015.

84 Tripartite Steering Committee (note 19 above) para 2.

85 Ibid paras 19, 66–67.

86 Section 27 (note 19 above); Basic Education for All (note 19 above); Khula Community Development Project v Head of the Department, Eastern Cape Department of Education Eastern Cape Division of the High Court, Makhanda (unreported case number 611/2022) (22 March 2022).

87 Basic Education for All (ibid) para 82; F Veriava ‘The Limpopo textbook litigation: A case study into the possibilities of a transformative constitution (2016) 32 South African Journal on Human Rights 321, 330.

88 Madzodzo (note 29 above).

89 Ibid para 20.

90 CESCR ‘General Comment No 13’ (note 8 above) para 6(a).

91 Section 10 of the Constitution.

92 Section 9 of the Constitution.

93 Section 24 of the Constitution.

94 CESCR ‘General Comment No 13’ (note 8 above) para 6; Tomaševski (note 4 above) 12–13.

95 Concluding observations on the Initial Report of South Africa (E/C.12/ZAF/CO/1), adopted by the CESCR at its 64th session (24 September-12 October 2018) (‘CESCR Concluding Observations’) para 72.

96 Centre for Child Law v Minister of Basic Education 2020 (3) SA 141 (ECG).

97 Ibid para 135.

98 CESCR ‘General Comment No 13’ (note 8 above) para 6; Tomaševski (note 4 above) 12–15.

99 MEC for Education, KwaZulu-Natal v Pillay 2008 (1) SA 474 (CC).

100 Veriava & Coomans (note 50 above) 59.

101 Ibid.

102 Art 44(1) of the CRC.

103 CRC Committee ‘Initial Reports of state parties due in 1997: South Africa’ (1997) UN Doc CRC/C/51/Add.2 (CRC Committee ‘Initial Reports’).

104 Ibid para 1.

105 Ibid para 9.

106 Ibid. The Child Care Act has since been repealed and replaced by the Children’s Act 38 of 2005.

107 CRC Committee ‘Initial Reports’ (note 103 above) paras 381–458.

108 Ibid paras 381–384.

109 Ibid para 385.

110 Ibid para 389.

111 CRC Committee ‘Concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child: South Africa’ (23rd session, 2000) UN Doc CRC/C/15/Add.122 (CRC Committee ‘Concluding observations’).

112 Ibid para 3.

113 Ibid para 9.

114 Ibid.

115 Ibid para 18.

116 Section 9 of the Constitution.

117 CRC Committee ‘Concluding observations’ (note 111 above) para 34.

118 SA Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities South Africa’s Periodic Country Report on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: Reporting Period: January 1998-April 2013 (2014) UN Doc CRC/C/ZAF/2 (CRC ‘Periodic Report’) para 1.

119 Ibid para 296, 298; ‘South Africa’s Initial Report to the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child’ (2013) paras 211–213.

120 CRC ‘Periodic Report’ (note 118 above) para 300. See for example the National Policy for an Equitable Provision of an Enabling School Physical Teaching and Learning Environment (2010), Guidelines Relating to Planning for Public School Infrastructure (2012) and National Guidelines for School Library and Information Services (2012).

121 CRC ‘Periodic Report’ (ibid) para 17.

122 Ibid para 262.

123 Ibid para 301.

124 Ibid para 301.

125 Ibid para 11.

126 Ibid para 305.

127 Ibid paras 314–318.

128 Ibid paras 314–315.

129 Ibid paras 316–318.

130 Ibid paras 314–315; sections 30 and 31 of the Constitution.

131 CRC ‘Periodic Report’ (ibid) para 316.

132 Ibid.

133 CRC Committee ‘Concluding Observations on the second Periodic Report of South Africa’ (2016) UN Doc CRC/C/ZAF/CO/2.

134 Ibid para 4.

135 Ibid para 11.

136 Ibid para 24(b).

137 Ibid para 59.

138 Ibid.

139 ‘Initial Report of South Africa on the Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ (E/C.12/ZAF/1) (ICESCR ‘Initial Report’).

140 ‘Concluding Observations on the Initial Report of South Africa’ (E/C.12/ZAF/CO/1) adopted by the CESCR at its sixty-fourth session (24 September-12 October 2018) (CESCR ‘Concluding Observations’).

141 Ibid para 6–7.

142 Ibid para 6.

143 Ibid para 70.

144 Ibid para 71(a).

145 Ibid para 71(b).

146 Ibid para 70.

147 Ibid para 71(c).

148 Ibid para 73(a)-(b).

149 Ibid para 73(c).

150 Information received from South Africa on follow-up to the ‘Concluding Observations on its Initial Report’ (E/C.12/ZAF/FCA/1) (‘Follow-up Report’).

151 Ibid para 1; CESCR ‘Concluding Observations’ para 73(c).

152 Centre for Child Law (note 96 above).

153 ‘Follow-up Report’ (note 150 above) paras 14–16.

154 Steering Group of South Africa’s Ratification Campaign of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and its Optional Protocol Joint Submission in Response to South Africa’s Follow-up Report to the Concluding Observations and Recommendations by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on South Africa’s Initial Report (August 2021).

155 Ibid para 17.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Annemarie Strohwald

Dr Annemarie Strohwald, postdoctoral fellow, Faculty of Law, Stellenbosch University

Debbie Horsten

Dr Debbie Horsten, senior lecturer, Private Law, Stellenbosch University