Abstract
Having identified the challenge of the conceptualization of education in Africa and the effect it has on the development of the continent. I reiterated the need for education to be seen as a human right by African States. I take into cognizance the conflict that arises between the question on whether education should be seen as human rights or as human capital. I argue that education is a human right; it is the heart of sustainable development of any country …it is critical to the development of individuals and societies, and it helps pave the way to a successful and productive future. In this chapter I present my reasoning together with Professor Hansungule who was my LLD supervisor at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria South Africa. The first draft was presented at the International Association of constitutional Lawyers conference, University of Oslo.
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Jack Donelly, Universal human rights in theory and practice (Cornell University Press, 2003), 1; see also J. Donelly, “The relative universality of human rights,” Human Rights Quarterly 29(2) (2007): 281–306.
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Christof Heyns, “A struggle approach to human rights,” in C. Heyns and K. Stefiszyn (eds), Human rights, peace and justice in Africa: A reader (PULP, 2006).
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1993 AIR 2178, 1993 SCR (1) 594; see the full case at http://youthforequality.com/supreme-court-cases/27A.pdf (accessed 17 March 2017).
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A. Ann Skelton, “The role of the courts in ensuring the right to a basic education in a democratic South Africa: A critical evaluation of recent education case law,” De Jure (2013): 5.
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See Minister of Welfare and Population Development v Fitzpatrick (2000), 3 SA 422.
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This may also be true for the cultural barriers that have ensured early marriage and denial of education for the girl child. See generally, C. Anyanwu and A. C. Onuora-Oguno, “Ten years of the AU protocol on the rights of women in Africa: An overview of the girl child’s access to basic education in Africa,” in K. Brenda, S. Rainatou, and J. M. Faiza (eds), Journey to equality: 10 years of the protocol on the rights of women in Africa (2013), p. 74.
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K. Tomasevski, “Education denied: Cost and remedies” (Zed Books, 2003), 4; The same view is also shared by present UN special rapporteur Kishore Singh on the right to education as he canvasses the viability of judicial enforcement and holding of the state accountable in the manner issues bordering on the right to education is handled.
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See Beiter, “The protection of the right to education by international law,” 2006; Martinus Nijhoff, I. Robeyns, “Three models of education: Rights, capabilities and human capital,” Theory and Research in Education 4 (2006): 74.
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Robeyns, “Three models of education: Rights, capabilities and human capital,” 75.
- 58.
E. Mureinik, “Beyond a charter of luxuries: Economic rights in the constitution,” Heinonline 8 South African Journal on Human Rights 464 (1992). Mureinik argues here that when someone is hungry, then the person’s right to nutrition will be of more importance over the right to vote. This analogy can also be said to the necessity of the right to education as it pertains to the right to vote or rights of freedom of expression.
- 59.
See generally, E. Mureinik, “Beyond a charter of luxuries: Economic rights in the constitution,” Heinonline 8 South African Journal on Human Rights 464 (1992).
- 60.
E. Mureinik, “Beyond a charter of luxuries: Economic rights in the constitution,” 492.
- 61.
See Fons Coomans, “Justiciability of the right to education”; A. Skelton, “How far will the courts go in ensuring the right to a basic education?”; A. Skelton, “The role of the courts in ensuring the right to a basic education in a democratic South Africa: A critical evaluation of recent education case law.”
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Mureinik, “Beyond a charter of luxuries: Economic rights in the constitution.”
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See Head of Department, Department of Education Vs Free State Province Welkom High School & Governing Body of Welkom High School Case: CCT 103/12 [2013] ZACC 25.
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Onuora-Oguno, A.C. (2019). Human Right or Human Capital Approach: Walking the Path to Actualisation of Access to Basic Education in Africa. In: Development and the Right to Education in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90335-4_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90335-4_6
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