The right to education has been recognized as a human right in a number of international conventions, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which recognizes a right to free, compulsory primary education for all, an obligation to develop secondary education accessible to all, on particular by the progressive introduction of free secondary education, as well as an obligation to develop equitable access to higher education, ideally by the progressive introduction of free higher education.

Children’s right to education is recognized to every child as a legal right on the basis of equal opportunity, as informed by and consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. When the international standards related to children’s right to education are fully implemented, two things happen. One, children are given the chance to study by guaranteeing access to primary education and availability of school enrollment. Two, parents are also given the right to choose the education they see fit for their children. In addition to awareness of children’s rights to children and to adults, teaching children about their rights has the benefits of improving their awareness of rights in general, making them more respectful of other people’s rights, and empowering them to take action in support of other people’s rights. Knowledge of basic human rights education and the 30 human rights proclaimed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was found to have a tremendous positive impact on a child’s development. That’s because human rights teach you not only that you have rights, but also makes you understand that other people have rights too.

No matter the international standards and conventions on the right to education, the status of education around the world is troublesome. According to Our World in Data, 263 million children were not in school in 2014. And unfortunately, the statistics are not improving in 2020. Learning gaps remain high in countries in the sub-Saharan African region where many children are not going to school due to illness, malnutrition, and poverty. Same in countries like Pakistan, where a recent study showed that 2 in 5 Pakistani children over the age of 10 have never attended school.