2025 has great potential to become a milestone year on our path to guaranteeing the right to education worldwide and strengthening SDG 4, as an initiative is currently underway at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva for a new treaty to strengthen the right to free education under international law.
In July 2024, a Human Rights Council Resolution, co-sponsored by 49 countries, including the majority of EU members, proposed a new optional protocol to the Convention of the Rights of the Child (the UNCRC), to guarantee free pre-primary as well as free secondary education.
This new addition would address a gap left by the 1989 UNCRC, which guarantees all children a right to free primary education, but says nothing about early childhood education or pre-primary education, and does not require governments to make secondary education free for all children.
For millions of children around the world, the cost of education remains one of the most significant barriers to education (see UNESCO on economic barriers to education). And – although nearly 90 percent of children now complete primary education worldwide – only 59 percent complete secondary education, and only half of pre-primary-aged children attend preschool. Globally, only two thirds of students achieve the minimum proficiency level in reading and less than half in mathematics at the end of primary school, with pre-primary education linked to better overall child development (2024/25 GEM Report, chapters 7 to 9).
Ireland is not among the 49 states who originally proposed the additional treaty. But there are many opportunities for Ireland to get on board with the growing number of supporters.
This is why INEW has launched our Campaign for Free Education Worldwide.
We will campaign to encourage the Irish government to build on its strong track record and deep commitment to realising the right to education for every child by publicly voicing its support for a strong treaty that guarantees free education for all children, from pre-primary through secondary. We will also work to ensure Ireland engages positively in the Intergovernmental Working Group developing the new treaty and to help advance this vital initiative.
Follow for more and stay tuned.
