Respecting and Promoting the Right of the Child to Education

Abstract

This study examined Bulgarian students', teachers', and parents' attitudes toward children's rights to education as set forth in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The data come from a pilot micro-project on respecting and promoting the child's right to education in the present Bulgarian socioeconomic context. The project combined empirical research with workshops and discussions specifically designed for the population concerned: high school students and their teachers and parents. The project was also stimulated by a national program "Children at Risk" initiated by the Bulgarian Association of School Psychologists. Study subjects were 111 ninth- and tenth-graders from two public secondary schools in Sofia, Bulgaria, and their teachers and parents. A questionnaire was administered covering: (1) the meaning subjects assign to the right to education; (2) attitudes toward specific articles of the Convention, and Bulgarian schools' and institutions' roles in promoting children's right to education; and (3) subjects' participation in discussion on the topic. Results showed that most students associate the "right to education" with the exercise of their "rights in education," namely the freedom of choice, respect for individual's views, and being allowed to express one's opinion in school matters. This may explain students' general disappointment in the schools revealed by the data. Adults focused on educational possibilities. There was a great similarity between subjects' subjective perception of the right to education and the approved international standards in the field.