The core content of public school learners' right to a basic education in terms of Section 29 (1)(A) of the Constitution

Abstract

This study attempts to address a complex question: What is the content of the right to ‘a basic education’?. In 20 years of democracy the Constitutional Court has been unwilling to determine the minimum core content of the socio-economic rights in the context of the Constitution. The study explored the scholarly debate and case law from the year 2009 up to and including 2014 where High Courts have started to determine the content of a right to ‘a basic education’. The study concludes by suggesting that the core content of the right to a basic education, more especially when that right is in issue, should be determined by using all the relevant policies and legislative measures the government had put in place since the new constitutional dispensation in the country in 1994 in order to give effect to the right. In so doing, the State should at the very least include school governing bodies, teachers, parents and learners and meaningfully engage with them to ensure that the content of a right to ‘a basic education’ is sufficiently tailored to their needs.