DUSHANBE, February 1, 2013 Asia-Plus  -- A February 1 meeting of the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) Committee on Science, Education, Culture and Youth Policy, presided over by the Majlisi Namoyandagon Deputy Speaker, Mirgand Shabozov, considered a draft law on education.

The meeting brought together parliamentarians as well as representatives of the government and the Ministry of Education.

Speaking at the meeting, Ms. Marhabo Jabborova, Chairperson of the Majlisi Namoyandagon Committee on Science, Education, Culture and Youth Policy, noted that the new education legislation had been drafted by the government.  The new education law provides for laying legal, organizational, social and economic foundations of the education system in the country as well as protection of the constitutional right of citizens to education, she stressed.

The discussion of the new education legislation will be continued in other committees and commissions of the Majlisi Namoyandagon.

The right to education is a universal entitlement to education, a right that is recognized as a human right. According to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights the right to education includes the right to free, compulsory primary education for all, an obligation to develop secondary education accessible to all, in particular by the progressive introduction of free secondary education, as well as an obligation to develop equitable access to higher education, ideally by the progressive introduction of free higher education.  The right to education also includes a responsibility to provide basic education for individuals who have not completed primary education.  In addition to these access to education provisions, the right to education encompasses the obligation to rule out discrimination at all levels of the educational system, to set minimum standards and to improve quality of education.