International standards and national regulatory frameworks to realise the right to education

As a universally recognised human right, state parties to international conventions have the legal obligation to respect, protect and fulfil the right to education. From the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that ‘everyone has the right to education’ (article 26), successive instruments have reasserted that primary education should be ‘compulsory and available free to all’, 2 with due regard for accessibility, non-discrimination, acceptability and adaptability.