Share

Photo: A.M Faruqui

India has joined a growing list of countries legalising the right to free and compulsory education.  They have passed a law ensuring all children between the age of 6 and 14 have access to free and non-discriminatory education.  There are an estimated 8 million Indian children and young people between 6 and 14 currently out-of-school, the majority of whom are girls.

UNESCO´S 2010 Education for All Global Monitoring Report states that there are about 135 countries that have legalised a child’s right to free education.  However, despite the legal standing there are reports that many countries are still charging for some things, and that there are really only 13 countries that provide education without any fees at all.

This may come as a surprise to some people, but Chile comes in on top of the list, offering 15 years of free schooling from the age of 6 to 21.  Back in 1990 Chile was near the bottom, but since then they have seen great improvements with the implementation of better education systems.  There are seven countries including Germany, Belgium, Italy and Norway that offer free compulsory education to children covering their entire schooling period.

There are still over 50 countries, including the US, Malaysia and South Africa, which do not have any constitutional provision to provide free and compulsory education to children, but hopefully they will take inspiration from the majority and look at adopting some standards of free education too.

The report also recognises the extraordinary progress in the number of children dropping out from schools, which has declined by 33 million worldwide since 1999.  Let´s hope this trend continues.

Source: The Hindu

Tags: Chile, Education, India, UNESCO