Early Childhood Care and Education

Alternative report submitted to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child for the 3rd, 4th and 5th Combined Periodic Review of  the Republic of Uganda, at its 100 Pre-Sessional Working Group.

Alternative report submitted to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child for the combined sixth and seventh periodic review of Ghana, at its 100 Pre-Sessional Working Group.

This guide is part of a series of thematic guidance notes providing practical advice on monitoring various aspects of the right to education from a human rights perspective. These guides are based on, and supplement, the Right to Education Initiative’s (RTE)

Our 2023 Annual Report includes information about our impact and areas of activity across the year, in addition to details on our strategy, our team and our supporters.

Our work would not be possible without the generous support of our donors, to whom we are immensely grateful. 

FRENCH

This policy-oriented research paper investigates some of the aspects of the right to education that might require a stronger footing in the international normative framework and potential expansion for the 21st century. Digital education, increasing human mobility, changing demographics, climate change, and expectations of opportunities for learning throughout life are just a few of the areas that are testing the limits of the existing international normative framework.

Resolution A/HRC/53/L.10 on the right to education was adopted during the 53rd ordinary session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, between 19 June and 14 July 2023. 

While South Africa has seen important advances in the provision of early childhood care and education (ECCE), about 3.2 million children still lack access to any programme. Problems of access and quality are most pronounced in the poorest communities. Even before Covid-19 forced many providers to close, these programmes were overcrowded, with poor infrastructure, and an under-paid and under-qualified workforce. ECCE is crucial for a child’s development, meaning that these inequalities are amplified in school and later life.

In her first report to the Human Rights Council, 25 years after the establishment of the mandate on the right to education, the Special Rapporteur reviews achievements, particularly on how the right to education is understood today and the obligations it entails, as well as contemporary and emerging issues that need to be considered to ensure the right to education for all, today and in the future.

A/HRC/53/27