"I Know What Mitochondria Are, But Not My Rights!" A Right to Education Case Study

• In Event: Rights-Based Approaches to Education

Abstract

Canada signed and ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, in which education is guaranteed as a core human right. However, the dialogue around education as a right is often focused solely on access ignoring issues of quality. This paper reports on the findings of a two year exploratory case study of a regional approach to defining the right to education in Ontario, Canada. It is grounded in a human rights-based approach to education. Between 2018-2020 we have engaged with human rights experts, students, educators, school boards, community groups, and government to explore the question – what does the right to education look like in Ontario beyond access?

Author

• Eloise Tan, People for Education