More about the Right to Education

Section 112 of the Constitution
Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Articles 13, 14 of the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Culture Rights
Article 2 of the 1st Protocol to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
The Education Law
The Comprehensive Education Law
The Professional Education Law
The Law on Higher Education Institutions, etc.

Section 112 of the Constitution guarantees to everyone the right to education; such guarantee includes positive duty of the State to establish education system, and negative duty to abstain from intervention in exercise of this right.

The duty to establish education system includes:

  • Availability of education system: the number of educational establishments and curricula has to be sufficient, and the State has to ensure their functioning ability (including provision of premises, teaching aids, educational staff, etc.);
  • Access to education: – discrimination-free education has to be physically and economically accessible;
  • Admissibility of education: curricula, methods of teaching, etc. have to be admissible to school children and students, and also to parents where appropriate; this criteria also extends to the quality of education;
  • Adequacy of education: education has to keep up with the changing needs of society, and it has to meet the needs of school children and students.

The Constitution expressly stipulates that the State has the duty to provide primary and secondary education free of charge. The mandatory nature of primary education also means that neither children nor their parents or guardians, or governmental authorities have the right to decide whether or not to provide primary education to the child.