Compulsory Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Compulsory Education - Essay Example Parents are answerable to the authorities if their child is not receiving age-specific education, while 'it is their decision whether to use schools or provide education at home'. Parent was described as (a) who is not a parent of his but who has parental responsibility for him, or (b) who has care of him" (Section 576 of the said Act). The importance of parental duty to secure good education for the child is detailed only in Section 7. If the child is enrolled into a school, parents will have no other obligations or constraints. Under section 444 (3), a, flexi-time and part-time schooling is allowed. Home educating children with special education needs (SEN) including learning difficulty, or any other needs that might hinder the regular attendance at school or otherwise are mentioned in Section 7. UNESCO's report has brought out many salient points like integration of pupils with disabilities or learning difficulties into mainstream schools which it called 'mandatory pedagogic integ ration, or school-based integration and this pertains to only schools. 'Above all, integration in this sense involves dealing with the individual needs of each child, subject to the capacity of a mainstream school to meet those needs' http://inclusion.uwe.ac.uk/csie/unscolaw.htm The survey goes on to explain an important circular letter from the Minister of Education of the Flemish Community in Belgium in 1994 which accepted the 'equivalence' principle in integration. In other words, although some pupils could not follow all the lessons of the regular programme due to their disability, they could graduate with approved replacement lessons. The 1873 Act of Employment of children in agriculture was repealed by Lord Sandon's Act of 1876 about the compulsory education which said "It shall be duty of the parent of every child, to cause such child to receive efficient elementary instruction in reading, writing and in arithmetic, and if the parent fail to perform such duty, he shall be liable to such orders and penalties as are provided by the Act," Hancock (1879, p.457). It is believed that universalization of compulsory education is necessary for reduction of poverty all over the world. Is compulsion right in any matter Surprisingly it is the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights that has provided the political and moral support for compulsory education. Article 26 of this declaration says that 'Elementary Education shall be compulsory' and Dakar Frmaework for Action reiterated the same. European Association for Education Law and Policy says: "Legislation should provide for the goal of high standards in the provision of education and the development of mechanisms and policies, and adequate allocations of public funding, to support this aim; but it would probably need to leave the degree of specificity for national standards to be determined by individual states" http://www.ua.ac.be/main.aspxc=.ELA&n=47283 It also says: Under the UK model, the rules on inspection and teacher qualification have become intensified because these matters are seen as integral aspects of the new quality agenda for schools. At the same time, new risks of civil liability have