Education and children’s rights

Being one of the major pillars of national development and growth, education is always guided by certain principles and policies to ensure that its objectives and goals are attained and maintained. Such can also change depending on current global and national circumstances and demands.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Being one of the major pillars of national development and growth, education is always guided by certain principles and policies to ensure that its objectives and goals are attained and maintained. Such can also change depending on current global and national circumstances and demands.

Globally, there seem to be four owners and participants to consider if education is to have any positive impact on national development and these include; government, teachers, parents and children. Each one of these groups have a specific role to play and indeed, the four have to be in harmony because without one, the whole system comes to a standstill.

Through their annual general meetings with national authorities, children or students present their concerns and problems they face. For instance, the violation of their rights especially from but not limited to teachers and parents characterized by corporal punishments that are hard to bear, defilement among others.

In a similar manner, through channels like, ‘Parents-Teachers Associations’ and direct phone calls made to concerned education officers, parents and teachers disclose their concerns about the safety and protection of children at school and home. This means that children’s rights need to be guarded against abuse of any sort. 

In response, governments must formulate, implement and amend policies and laws to ensure that, children are well protected and that their rights are promoted. This means that, legal action could be taken if anybody goes against the law related to such rights.

However, confusion comes in due to policies designed to guide and protect children’s rights. Some people including teachers and parents view such legal policies from another angle and hence create controversy.

To them, such policies limit their legitimate power and control over their children or students. This may partly explain why there may be poor communication for instance between teachers and children or even parents, leading to poor performance in the education sector.

Ends