This week we will be exploring Article 28.
Article 28
Article 28 says that all children across the world have the right to access primary education for free, and secondary education must be available to every child.
But, just as important is the quality of the education that is received – just being in a school is not enough. Article 28 also speaks of the importance of children being treated with dignity in their school setting. Also, it places additional responsibility for global education on richer countries, as it makes clear that they must help poorer countries to ensure that all children can access their right to education.
Some of the activities below are also linked to Article 29 which is closely related as it describes what the goals of education should be, including helping children to have respect for human rights, their parents, different cultures and for the environment.
To help you understand Article 28 in a little bit more detail, try one of the activities below:
Activity 1
Article 28 says that all children have the right to an education. Read the book All are Welcome about children going about their day at school where all children are welcome or listen to it on YouTube. How are all children welcomed in your class?
Activity 2
Learning is really fun! What do you like about learning? Draw a picture of your best day at school and create a display celebrating the fact that you are enjoying your right to education.
Activity 3
Imagine you have been asked to create your ideal lesson timetable for a day or a week at school. Plan it out and decide what you would include and what you would leave out. Make sure it will provide children with a really good quality education!
(Have a read of Article 29 to give you some ideas.)
Activity 4
Schools and teachers do so much more than teach you facts. Think of everything that happens at your school – how the adults look after you and treat you with dignity and respect, how you look after each other. Now write a ‘recipe’ for a Rights Respecting School. What are the ingredients? How do you mix them together to create the best rights respecting learning environment?
Activity 5
Malala Yousafzai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work on the right to education, particularly for girls. Watch this video. How can you be a changemaker and stand up for every child’s right to education?
Make a list of the different ways that you could take action to support this right for children across the world and then decide which action would have the most impact.
