Education Law Laboratory

Education Costs a Lot but Being Uneducated Costs Even More

On April 7, 2017, at the invitation of the Institute for Education and the Faculty of Law at the Higher School of Economics, professor Jan De Groof read a lecture "Modern and Future Challenges in Educational Law and Educational Rights, especially in Russia''.

Education Costs a Lot but Being Uneducated Costs Even More

On April 7, 2017, at the invitation of the Institute for Education and the Faculty of Law at the Higher School of Economics, professor Jan De Groof read a lecture "Modern and Future Challenges in Educational Law and Educational Rights, especially in Russia''.

Before talking about the lecture, it seems necessary to introduce its author. Jan De Groof is a professor at the College of Europe (Brugge, Belgium) and at the Tilburg University (Netherlands). He also leads the UNESCO Chair, that is in charge of the Right to Education. In 2007-2010, De Grof was the UNESCO Commissioner for the Right to Education. During his lecture in the HSE, the aspects of this subjective right were examined and the provisions of the Federal Law On Education in the Russian Federation were analyzed in detail. The lecturer noted the paramount importance of education in connection with the government regulation, pointing out that the principle of innovative education is not yet fully developed and, therefore, is not sufficiently implemented in Russia.

On the basis of his own experience (Jan De Groof was an adviser during the development of the Federal Law "On Education in the Russian Federation" (1990-2000) and worked in the Republic of South Africa (1995-2002)), the speaker told about the comparative aspects of legislative regulation of educational issues.

Speaking about the constitutional human rights, "the right to life," and "the equality of human rights and freedoms" are the most frequenly remarked. But we should not forget that without the right to education, without a sufficient level of knowledge, the implementation of other constitutional norms (the right to elect and be elected) can be significantly hampered. All conflicts that we see in the modern world, unfortunately,are emerging at school, where youth learns how to perceive the world. It was no accident that the first act of the President of the RSFSR, B.N. Yeltsin, was a decree on priority measures for the development of education in the RSFSR. This was the opinion of the respected professor.

In regard to the issue of international regulation of the right to education, it is necessary to note art. 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966, which fixes the right of every person to education. Education should enable all people to participate in the development of a free society, to facilitate mutual understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations and all racial, ethnic and religious groups, and to promote the work of the UN in the maintenance of peace. In terms of education, the government must respect the right of parents to chose and provide their child with such education that corresponds to their religious and philosophical convictions (Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms).

As part of the lecture, the issues about getting a fee-paying second higher education, education in private and public schools, rural schools were also raised. The problems of the correlation of teaching and religious education, the education of migrant children, and home education were examined.

Professor Jan de Groof analyzed the key decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, including Decree of April 19, 2016 No. 12-P "On the case of resolving the issue of the possibility of execution, in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, of the order of the European Court of Human Rights of July 4, 2013 in the case "Anchugov and Gladkov against Russia" in connection with the request of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation", noting that the practice of non-enforcement of the decisions of the ECHR, also takes place in a number of other states.

The participants of the meeting discussed a sensational case about the prohibition of wearing headgears inside the educational organizations(Определение Судебной коллегии по административным делам Верховного Суда Российской Федерации от 11 февраля 2015 г. № 15-АПГ14-11). The applicants appealed to the court to declare that this prohibition is unlawful due to its contradiction with the Federal Law: by refusing wearing the headgears, which is one of the rules of their religion (Islam), schoolgirls can not fully practice this religion.

However, this norm does not contain any regulations limiting the right of citizens with religious beliefs to education in state and municipal educational organizations, and cannot be regarded as a restriction of freedom of conscience and religion.

The rationale is the following. Accoridng to the paragraph ‘e’ of the 1st part of the article 72 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, all general issues of education are maintained by joint of the Russian Federation and the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, whose normative legal acts can not contradict Federal Laws (Article 76 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation). Education in state municipal educational organizations is secular (ph. 6 of the 1st part of Article 3 of the Federal Law "On Education in the Russian Federation"). The entities of the Russian Federation have the right to regulate of requirements for school clothing in state and municipal educational organizations. The school uniform forms a sense of belonging to a general educational organization, removes signs of social and religious differences between students, and strengthens the cohesion. Moreover, wearing headgears indoors might cause various diseases (Letter of Rospotrebnadzor of November 9, 2012 No. 01 / 12662-12-23).

The participants of the lecture also examined the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation No. AKPI13-810 of 18.10.2013 "On rejecting the application on accepting the order of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation from 01/31/2012 No. 69, Order No. 74 of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation from February 1, 2012 as inoperative" that established that the inclusion of the course "The Basics of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics" does not violate the parents' right to moral education of children. In addition, parents are provided with the right to choose one of the six modules of the course, including the possibility to study the foundations of world religious cultures and the foundations of secular ethics.

Acquisition of a decent level of qualifications today involves not only personal efforts, but also serious expenses. However, according to the speaker, although Education costs a lot but being uneducated costs even more. That is why providing conditions for equal and full access to education is the most important function of any state. The Faculty of Law of the HSE thanks Professor Jan De Groof and all the participants for discussing the legal problems of education in Russia and other countries.

Text: Anastasia Berbeneva