A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE RIGHT OF CHILDREN TO EDUCATION UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW: A CASE STUDY OF NIGERIA

ABSTRACT The importance of education of children in any given society is very critical to the social and economic development of that society. To deny a child its right to education is to deny a nation its critical development economically, socially, politically and otherwise. The needs of the child which include health, feeding, shelter, clothing and education hang on the shoulders of adults, parents, guardians and the government. Because of the vulnerability and inability to provide for themselves, they must be provided guidance, care and training for meaningful contributions in the society. The responsibility of educating the child for critical thinking and development lies on the society. It is in recognition of this, that the right of the children to education has been entrenched in several international and domestic legal instruments. However, there is a problem of implementation and enforcement of these laws as there are still so many uneducated, unfed and shabby children on the streets engaged in hawking, child labour and so on, the resultant effect of which is that the social and economic landscape of the future generation in Nigeria cannot be guaranteed. Making use of the doctrinal methodology, this work has found that lack of a legal frame work, illiteracy/poverty, non-justiciability of Chapter II of the Constitution are major contributory factors to the non-realisation and/or implementation of the right of children to education in Nigeria. The research proffered some recommendations which include the need for Constitutional Amendment to feature the right to education under Chapter IV of the Constitution, provision for enforcement mechanisms to ensure implementation of laws regarding education in Nigeria, empowering indigent parents through the provision of soft loans, organising and priotising strategic programmes on the enlightenment of the populace concerning education based laws in Nigeria.