Examining Africa’s Right to Education

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to education. And yet, across the world today, more than 100 million children, most of them girls, don’t attend school, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In Africa, a little more than half of adults are literate, and only about 60 percent of children attend school.

But the numbers don’t tell the whole story, says Charles Glenn, School of Education dean ad interim. “We need to look beyond statistics that tell us how many millions of children are in school, because that information is meaningless. Instead, we have to look at results.”

In an effort to better define the right to education, SED this week is hosting a conference on education in sub-Saharan Africa. The conference will wrap up on Saturday, April 5, with a public forum on the topic.

The conference was organized by Jan De Groof, a representative of UNESCO, a UN agency that promotes international collaboration through education, science, and culture. One of several regional meetings to help De Groof’s UNESCO task force formulate legal supports and international standards for the right to education in Africa, the SED conference includes experts from several African countries, the United States, and BU.

“There is a lot of litigation about whether, in fact, children are receiving an adequate education,” says Glenn, who is a member of De Groof’s task force. “True, we have universal schooling, but courts are increasingly finding that those schools don’t translate into sufficient education.”

One reason BU chose to focus on Africa, Glenn says, is its well-established relationship with the continent. The University’s African Studies Center is nationally recognized, and SED has an international education development program that focuses on Africa.

But more important, Glenn says, is Africa’s dire need of aid. “Africa has lagged most seriously in development during the last 40 years,” he says, “and because education is key to successful development, we think it’s really important that Africa be our number-one focus.”

From April 2 through 4, conference attendees have been discussing different aspects of supporting the right to education in Africa, including the UNESCO document Indicators for Measuring the Quality of Educational Legislation, developed last year by a group of specialists. “We need to be very clear in what we define as a right to education,” Glenn says. “Clearly, it’s not just the right to go to school, because a person can go to school and not get an education. A right is only a right when you can vindicate that right.”

Promoting education for all is at the heart of UNESCO’s mission, according to Glenn. “We’re trying to gain consensus on what those international norms ought to be, so we can then apply them to countries like Africa and suggest policy changes,” he says.

Saturday’s forum will address successes and difficulties in securing the right to education in Africa, as well as ways BU students can participate in advocating for, and promoting, education on the continent and in other developing nations.

“We want to reignite the flame and tap into the idealism and commitment of BU undergrads by interesting them in social justice issues,” Glenn says. “It’s a big world out there, and there are a lot of exciting things you can do with your life to make a difference.”

The public forum will take place on Saturday, April 5, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Room 130 of the School of Education, 2 Sherborn St.

Vicky Waltz can be reached at vwaltz@bu.edu.