Summary

Traditionally, school-related issues have been deemed administrative. Since basic school students are children and adolescents, the rights of the child shall be taken as a basis when making decisions in the field of education, as well as in the legal issues concerning teaching and education. Such an approach that emphasizes the need to respect, protect, and promote the human rights of the child in educational work is based on international human rights agreements and is still in the process of taking root in law.

The right to education is the main right of a student. It includes the right to high-quality education in a safe learning environment. The student also has the right to the freedom of expression, privacy, inviolability, their own language and culture, freedom of religion, protection of ownership, and legal protection. We are not accustomed to seeing school from the point of view of the rights of the child. The right to go to school was considered a privilege for a long time. The role of a student is more concerned with obligations than rights. The purpose of educational work is considered to be training and educating. School has mostly been seen as a place in which students are provided with the right to receive education – the obligation to ensure the wider human and fundamental rights of a student is not acknowledged in school. Human rights can be a part of the dominant culture only when they are being actively followed and passed on in school life.

In the article, the author views what exactly are the rights of the child and how they should be taken into account in school. Special focus lies in the main provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, on which legislation governing education and all actions of schools should be based.