An Analysis of State Compliance With International Laws Regulating the Provision of Basic Education in Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia

Abstract

Several member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have signed, ratified or acceded to the United Nations instruments that make provision for the promotion and protection of the right to education. In this article, the authors spotlight those international guarantees to remind policymakers and implementers of education across the region about their obligations concerning the provision of basic education. A human-rights-based theoretical framework for development to evaluate the integration of international human-rights standards into the education laws of five selected SADC states: Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia. This framework, which emphasises the indivisibility and interdependence of human rights, is particularly relevant in the context of education as it ensures that the right to education is not only respected but also protected and fulfilled. These countries were chosen because they have all accepted the human-rights-based approach to development and professed their adherence to international instruments that provide for the right to basic education. In addition, some of them have adopted supreme constitutions that expressly provide for the right to education. This study is limited to an analytical assessment of the applicable constitutional, legislative and policy frameworks governing basic education in the selected nation states, a research of utmost significance in the field of human rights and education.