The Many Faces of the Right to Education

Abstract

In this chapter we deconstruct the constitutional right to education into its various components in order to discuss its character and the problematics related to its application. We do so for the purpose of delineating the dilemmas associated with the realisation of this right. Some of those dilemmas are rooted in the right's definition as a social right while others flow from unique issues related to the right per se; the latter issues are thus dissociated from the conceptual issues surrounding social rights as a distinct, inclusive category. We likewise stress the specific reasons that justify the protection granted to the right to education in many constitutional documents.

Keywords: education, constitutional rights