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INTRODUCTION
The United States Supreme Court stressed the fundamental importance of education for all in the famous case of Brown versus Board of Education and asserted that “In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he or she is denied the opportunity of an education” (Hodgson 1998:3). Similarly, a South African court, in the well known case Matukane and Others versus Laerskool Potgietersrus 1996 (3) SA at 223 (a case involving discrimination in an educational institution) referred to the provisions in the interim Constitution (the then supreme law) of the Republic of South Africa of 1993. These provisions protected learners’ right to education and stated that “every person shall have the right to basic education and equal access to educational institutions”. The court further stated that it was common cause that a school was prohibited from turning learners away on racial grounds (Matukane and Others versus Laerskool Potgietersrus 1996 (3) SA at 230). These two provisions were invoked in cases where school authorities discriminated against learners on the basis of their race and in so doing, violated the learners’ right to education because in the long term, these actions would impact badly on the learners’ right to education. As a result, it constituted an infringement of their right to education.
These statements made by the courts reflect the breadth of the scope of both international and South African interpretations of the right to education and possible direct and indirect infringements of this right. There have been many incidents in schools concerning the protection that school authorities offer learners with regard to their right to education, and the courts have had to intervene in order to protect this right.
Human rights are often in the news. It is common to see articles in newspapers reporting the violation of learners’ right to education or other human rights that impact directly on the right f learners to education. More often learners’ voices are silent, even if their rights may have been violated. The violation of learners’ rights does not only occur with regard to their right to education, but also in connection with other fundamental human rights. The following paragraph cites several events which occurred in schools and threatened learners’ rights to education.
The Cape Times (3 May 1999:8) reported findings of a survey on racism, which was conducted in 90 schools countrywide. It was found that blatantly racist, segregationist, and Chapter One: Orientation and background 2 discriminatory practices were flourishing in schools. The findings of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) indicated that 60% of school learners felt that racism existed in their schools. Roughly similar numbers of students observed that their schools did not have a policy or programme to eliminate racism (Vally & Dalamba 1999:6).
CHAPTER 1 ORIENTATION AND BACKGROUND
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Background
1.3 Rationale
1.4 Problem statement
1.5 Aim of the study
1.6 Conceptual framework
1.7 Delimitation or scope of the study
1.8 Research design
1.9. Research methodology .
1.10 Significance of the study
1.11 Limitation of the study .
1.12 Division of chapters.
1.13 Summary
CHAPTER 2 THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION AND OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS OF LEARNERS
2.1 Introduction .
2.2 Who is a learner? .
2.3 What are human rights?.
2.4 The right to education .
2.5 Principles regarding the right to education
2.6 The core contents of the right to education
2.7 The recognition of learners’ right to education in South Africa
2.8 Other human rights that have direct or indirect relevance to education
2.9 The realisation of the right to education
2.10 Limitation of human right
2.11 Conclusion .
CHAPTER 3 THE DEVELOPMENT OF LEARNERS’ UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN RIGHTS
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Scholarship on learners’ perceptions of (human) rights
3.3 International scholarship on the development of understanding of human rights
3.4 Aspects that play a role in the development of learners’ understanding of human
rights
3.5 Kohlberg’s theory of moral-ethical development
3.6 Scholarly criticisms or views concerning Kohlberg’s theory of moral-ethical
development
3.7 Conclusion
CHAPTER 4 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
4.1 Introduction.
4.2 Knowledge claim .
4.3 Research philosophy..
4.4 Working premises.
4.5 Research strategy
4.6 Data collection.
4.7 Sampling techniques .
4.8 Approval for the research.
4.9 Data collection instruments
4.10 Ethical considerations .
4.11 Methodological limitations .
4.12 Data analysis.
4.13 Summary of the research design .
4.14 Pointers
CHAPTER 5 PRESENTATION AND INTERPRETATION OF THE DATA
Research premises one and two
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Premise 1: Some learners have limited knowledge of their right to education
5.3 Premise 2: Some learners do not know how to exercise their rights to education
5.4 Conclusion .
CHAPTER 6 PRESENTATION AND INTERPRETATION OF THE DAT
CHAPTER SEVEN CONCLUSIONS: OVERVIEW, FINDINGS, IMPLICATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF MY ADVENTURE TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING
REFERENCES
