The School has joined the path to become a Rights Respecting School. I am explaining how this is a contradiction in the following paragraphs.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

The United Nations has put together a set of articles outlining the rights of children. A full version is available as well as a summary. Many of the articles address fundamental rights, like the right to life and the right to be with one’s parents. The cruelty that many people experience in the world require such fundamental rights to be articulated in a convention, which is shocking in the first place. The convention is obviously a really important document that must be respected by member states. Raising awareness of the rights of children is also important. Full-time primary education in Wales typically devotes significant amount of time explaining children rights to pupils. Therefore, in my view there is no need in the Greek School spending time on the same task, especially when time learning the Greek language on a weekly basis is so limited. However, I appreciate that language can be taught in many ways, so I do not object to the children rights being included.

Article 28

Article 28 of the Convention states:

  1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to education, and with a view to achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity, they shall, in particular: (a) Make primary education compulsory and available free to all; (b) Encourage the development of different forms of secondary education, including general and vocational education, make them available and accessible to every child, and take appropriate measures such as the introduction of free education and offering financial assistance in case of need; […]

This article clearly states that primary (and arguably secondary) education should be available for free to all. But the School charges fees. Is this not a contradiction? How can we advocate for free education for children and at the same time charging fees?

Argument 1: “Greek language education in Wales is not primary education”. I accept that this is how the situation is presented, but I truly cannot see why children of Greek families in Cardiff would have less rights to their mother tongue than other children in Cardiff.

Argument 2: “Being a right respecting school does not mean applying the convention, it only means teaching it”. If this is the case, then I would consider the whole effort as a publicity exercise and without any substance. A contradiction that we will need to explain to our children when they ask why we are paying fees when all children should have free education.

A note about the applicants

I welcome and recognise the School’s appetite to champion children rights, especially when in so many places around the world children rights are not respected. I would welcome at least vocal support for children in Palestine, Sudan or Ukraine. However, accepting the existence of fees and at the same time claiming support for children rights is simply incompatible.

The Greek Leek