HOME / HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION PROJECT / HUMAN RIGHTS CONCEPTS, IDEAS AND FORA / SUBSTANTIVE HUMAN RIGHTS / THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION AND CULTURE THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION AND CULTURE A. The right to education Education is imperative to the promotion of human rights; it is both a human right in itself and an indispensable means of realising other human rights. It is the precondition for the enjoyment of many economic, social and cultural rights; for instance, the right to receive higher education on the basis of ability, the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and the right to choose work can only be exercised in a meaningful way after a minimum level of education is reached. Similarly, in the ambit of civil and political rights, the freedom of information, the right to vote and the right to equal access to public service depends on a minimum level of education, i.e. literacy. As a vehicle for empowerment, education can give marginalised adults and children the means to escape from poverty and participate meaningfully in their societies. Education is vital to empowering women, to safeguarding children from exploitation and hazardous labour, to the promotion of human rights and democracy and to the protection of the environment. Education, however, is frequently discussed in the language of economics. Governments often simply equate an investment in education with an investment in the national economy. Educational services, especially at the tertiary level, are habitually considered tradable goods - removed from a wider human rights context. Concerted efforts are being made to reverse this approach. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, for instance, has said: ‘we need to start thinking once again about societies rather than the economy, and to understand that sound education begets sound knowledge and appropriate abilities. Clearly, all of us hope to gain economic benefits from education and literacy, but it is a different matter entirely to think that these benefits are education’s sole aim’ (2005 Activity Report). Consequently, the UN Human Rights Council has, for example, directed efforts towards the removal of discriminatory barriers and the realisation of universally free and compulsory primary education (Resolution 8/4