10 oktober 2013 | In the run-up to 2015, GCE has two urgent priorities. First, we must build and maintain pressure to achieve existing goals – a target that is close or achieved for some goals in some countries, and woefully off-track for others. And, crucially, we must plan and campaign to ensure that any future global frameworks and goals, whether for education or more broadly, emphasise and advance the universal right to education.
Education at the UN General Assembly
Representatives of GCE, and many of its members, were in New York for education-focused meetings taking place around the UN General Assembly – notably including an event co-hosted by GCE on the Right to Education in post-2015 frameworks.
GCE, the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE) and Education International (EI) convened a meeting on the Right to Education post-2015, hosted by Open Society Foundations and co-convened by a further thirteen other civil society organisations and networks, representing thousands of organisations. The meeting, attended by more than 100 participants, demonstrated the powerful consensus within GCE’s membership and key allies on the need for a rights-based approach to education frameworks post-2015.
GCE-statement on education
Following significant consultation amongst members, GCE has published its own statement on education in the post-2015 development agenda. GCE believes that there must be a specific goal on education in a global post-2015 development framework, and continuation of the Education For All agenda after 2015, and that both must be grounded in a human rights perspective. What needs to be done has been well established in treaties, conventions, and previous declarations and frameworks; what is missing is a global political commitment to all that is implied by the right to education – that is, a comprehensive commitment to educational access, inclusion, quality and equity and the willingness to create the conditions for success.
Civil Society in agreement
In addition, GCE is one of twenty two civil society organisations calling for the human right to education to be recognised and placed at the heart of the post-2015 development framework by member states of the United Nations. Following several rounds of reporting from a variety of the groups informing the development of the post-2015 goals, there is real concern that the human right to education will not form the heart of the development goal on education.
The call covers fundamental principles that express an understanding of education as a fundamental human right:
- Every human being is entitled to the right to education.
- States are duty bearers and must respect, protect and fulfil human rights, including the right to education.
- The right to education begins at birth and is lifelong.
- Adult Education and Literacy in a Lifelong learning framework are an integral part of the right to education.
- A broad approach to quality education is needed.
- Equality and non discrimination are core elements of the right to education.
- Teachers are at the centre of quality education.
- The State must provide sufficient financing for public education.
→ Download the GCE statement ‘The Right to Education and Post-2015 Framework’
→ Download the Civil Society Joint Statement ‘The Human Right to Education in the Post-2015 Development Agenda’