The right to education is a cornerstone of human rights frameworks, reflecting a nation’s commitment to fostering equality, empowerment, and development. The 2020 and 2024 Draft Constitutions of The Gambia both emphasize the importance of education but differ in their specific provisions for ensuring equitable access. While both drafts uphold the principle that education is a fundamental right, the scope and details of implementation, particularly concerning secondary education, have evolved.
This fact sheet provides a comparative analysis of the provisions related to the right to education in both drafts, emphasizing key changes and their potential implications.
2020 Draft Constitution
Chapter VI: Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms
Section 57: Right to Education
2024 Draft Constitution
Chapter V: Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms
Section 49: Right to Education
Comparative Analysis
Aspect
2020 Draft Constitution
2024 Draft Constitution<\/p>\n\n\n\n
General Right
Recognizes education as a fundamental right for every person.
Retains education as a fundamental right for every person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Basic Education
Free, compulsory, and available to all.
Free, compulsory, and available to all (no change).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Secondary Education<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Included as free, compulsory, and available to all.
Omitted from the free, compulsory, and available mandate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Technical and Vocational Education
Progressively introduced for free and made accessible by all appropriate means.
Retains the same provision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tertiary and Higher Education
Equally accessible on the basis of capacity and progressively introduced for free by all appropriate means.
Retains the same provision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Functional Literacy
Encouraged and intensified as far as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Encouraged and expanded to include numeracy alongside literacy<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Development of School Facilities
A system of schools with adequate facilities at all levels shall be actively pursued.
Retains the same provision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Key Changes
Secondary Education:
2020 Draft: Explicitly guarantees free, compulsory, and available secondary education.
2024 Draft: Removes secondary education from this guarantee, limiting the provision to basic education only.
Functional Literacy:
2020 Draft: Focuses solely on literacy.
2024 Draft: Broadens the scope to include functional numeracy alongside literacy.
Implications of Changes
Secondary Education Exclusion:
The omission of secondary education as a free, compulsory right in the 2024 draft potentially limits access for students from low-income backgrounds.
This may have long-term implications for the overall educational attainment and workforce development in the country.
Expanded Focus on Literacy and Numeracy:
The inclusion of numeracy reflects a more comprehensive approach to functional education, aligning with global education standards.
Summary Table of Changes
Provision
2020 Draft Constitution
2024 Draft Constitution<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Secondary Education
Free, compulsory, and available to all.
Omitted from free and compulsory guarantees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Functional Literacy<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Encouraged and focused on literacy.
Expanded to include numeracy alongside literacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Yankuba Corr and khadijah Sey Sawaneh <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Researchers <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The right to education is a cornerstone of human rights frameworks, reflecting a nation’s commitment to fostering equality, empowerment, and development. The 2020 and 2024 Draft Constitutions of The Gambia both emphasize the importance of education but differ in their specific provisions for ensuring equitable access. While both drafts uphold the principle that education is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fact-sheet"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/infochecked.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/infochecked.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/infochecked.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infochecked.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infochecked.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4807"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/infochecked.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4810,"href":"https:\/\/infochecked.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4807\/revisions\/4810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/infochecked.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infochecked.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infochecked.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}