We are thrilled to share that Máire Ní Chuinneagáin, President of the Retired Teachers’ Association of Ireland, a member of INEW, has published an opinion piece in the Irish Examiner on the urgent need for a Fourth Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
In her piece, Máire reflects on her years of teaching and the progress Ireland has made in making education increasingly free. She highlights that Ireland now has a unique opportunity to help enshrine the right to free pre-primary and free secondary education in international law, giving every child — both here and around the world — the chance to learn.
Read the excerpt from her op-ed:
“Having spent many years teaching, I’ve seen how changes within the education system have created real opportunities for children. One of the most important developments in my lifetime is improved access to quality education here in Ireland, fuelled by making education increasingly free.”
“However, expanding opportunities to access education need not stop at our own borders. Ireland now has the opportunity to help enshrine the importance of free education more fully in international law.”
“Ireland should also be supportive. We’ve walked this road ourselves. We’ve seen how public investment in education transforms lives, communities, and the economy. We should now lend our support to this global initiative.”
This opinion piece underscores the role Ireland should play in leading on this new initiative for improving children’s rights worldwide.
Stay tuned for updates on our #FreeEducation campaign, including insights from this week’s Intergovernmental Working Group session. We were pleased to see Ireland participate following our engagement, and we now look to the Irish government to publicly affirm its full support. An analysis of the discussions and next steps will follow.
Read the full op-ed here — for those who don’t have access, please contact us and we’ll be happy to share the text.
And in the meantime, register for our upcoming online seminar on Education under Attack in Palestine, Ukraine, and Niger!
