A rights-based approach to inclusive early childhood education in South Africa

Abstract

This mini-dissertation focuses on how the South African government can apply the rights-based approach to realise the right to ECD for children with disabilities. The findings of the research show a significant gap in government-funded ECD services for children with disabilities, which means that children with disabilities do not enjoy the right to ECD on an equal basis with other children. The research attributes this gap to early ECD policy which did not create an enabling environment for children with disabilities. The research acknowledges government’s commitment to realise the right to ECD without discrimination as expressed in the recent National Integrated ECD Policy, but submits that given the gap that already exists, government efforts aimed at ECD must be intensified for children with disabilities. It also submits that the recognition of ECD as a right in the National Integrated ECD Policy necessitates the realisation of ECD from a rights-based perspective. The historical critique of ECD policy offered in this research shows how government discussions in the fledgling democracy envisaged a rights-based approach to ECD. However, subsequent ECD policy development and implementation did not guarantee the State’s accountability based on the normative framework guaranteed by the Constitution, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. The research submits that the National Integrated ECD Policy, which is rights-based, signals a return to the vision of realising services for children within a rights-based framework expressed in the 1996 National Programme of Action for Children. It argues that translating the commitments in the National Integrated ECD Policy into legislation would be a significant step towards ensuring the State’s accountability. The research agrees with ECD proponents that strategic litigation would also play a significant role in advancing children’s right to ECD. Recent litigation which focused on ECD funding is a way forward. Overall, this study contributes to the movement that seeks to ensure that children with disabilities enjoy human rights and freedoms on an equal basis with other children.