Canada has built a strong foundation in education, particularly in our publicly funded primary and secondary school systems. Have we fulfilled the right to education for everyone?
As Maytree’s grantee People of Education points out, “In Canada, everyone has a right to education, but that right is currently neither adequately defined, nor equitably accessible.” Much like other social and economic rights, including the right to food or the right to income security, the realization of the right to education has lagged behind political and civil rights.
Through education, young people have the opportunity to develop their skills, abilities and character, and their capacity to participate in civic life. Education helps young people to grow into fully functioning members of our society.
Education is also a means to achieving other rights. If you have access to education, you are more likely to know your rights, and know how to advocate for yourself and for others. Education empowers people and enables us to realize our other rights.
Maytree’s work on education includes exploring what a right to education means in an advanced economy. In addition, we are interested in how education about human rights strengthens peoples’ abilities to advocate for themselves and others when their rights are violated.
Related
- People for Education: Why does Canada need a Right to Education Framework?
- Annie Kidder, Executive Director, People for Education: Re-Framing Quality Public Education as a Fundamental Human Right
Featured right to education publications
Rethinking education: What the pandemic teaches us about the role of schools
We spoke with Annie Kidder of People for Education about what COVID-19 showed us about the way we think about schools, why we need to talk about education as a human right, and what we need to do next.
How do we bring human rights into the classroom?
We spoke to 20 educators about what they need to bring human rights into the classroom.
Think education in Ontario doesn’t need to be protected as a human right? Think again.
Our province has an education problem: too many Ontario students are facing a violation of their fundamental right to education.
Explore right to education publications
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A lesson from a year of COVID-19: Our systems fail when we don’t put people first
How do we bring human rights into the classroom?
Youth in and from care and the right to education: Current context and recommendations
