Right To Basic Education

On 5 June 2008, the European Court of Human Rights handed down the judgement in the case of Sampanis and Others v. Greece. 11 Greek nationals of Roma origin claimed discrimination in violation of Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) in conjunction with Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 (right to education) and of Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) in respect of the treatment of their children by the educational authorities in Aspropyrgos, Greece. The applicants were refused permission to enroll their children in local primary schools. Subsequently, from the first day of school, the applicants' children faced protests, requiring police intervention, from parents of the non-Roma children who blockaded the school. The Court concluded that the conditions of school enrolment for those children and their placement in special preparatory classes resulted in discrimination against them and constituted a violation of Article 14 of the Convention taken together with Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 in respect of each of the applicants.

The Bhisho High Court ruled in the case of Equal Education v Minister of Basic Education (the “Equal Education” case) that several sections of the Regulations Relating to Minimum Norms and Standards for Public School infrastructure to be inconsistent with the Constitution and the Schools Act and therefore unlawful and invalid. It is hopeful to be regulated for improving the school infrastructure in South Africa’s under-resourced schools. The significant of the judgement is the jurisprudential impact that can be used by civil society advocates leveraging the transformative potential of the unqualified right to basic education which is instated under the Constitution.