Know your Rights

Access to education for children with disabilities

The Centre for Child Law, in collaboration with Down Syndrome South Africa, has developed Your Guide to School Support to assist parents, caregivers and educators in understanding how the Screening, Identification, Assessment and Support (SIAS) Policy should work in practice.

The booklet is grounded in a rights-based framework and affirms every child’s constitutional right to basic education, including children with disabilities and those facing other barriers to learning. It explains that ordinary public schools may not unfairly exclude learners and have a legal duty to provide reasonable accommodation and appropriate support.

Key themes addressed in the booklet include:

• Inclusive education and non-discrimination, with a clear explanation of learners’ rights at admission

• An overview of the SIAS process, including screening, assessment and progressive levels of support

• The roles and responsibilities of teachers, School-Based Support Teams (SBSTs) and District-Based Support Teams (DBSTs)

• The development and review of Individual Support Plans (ISPs)

• The meaning of “support”, including classroom adjustments, curriculum adaptations, assistive devices and professional services

• The rights and responsibilities of parents and caregivers, emphasising their role as equal partners in decision-making

• Accountability, review and appeal mechanisms where support is delayed, inadequate or refused

This booklet is intended as a practical tool to empower families, strengthen collaboration between schools and caregivers, and promote fair, inclusive and equal access to education for all learners in South Africa.

Access to education for undocumented learners: A caregiver’s guide

This booklet is a practical resource developed by the CCL  to support parents, guardians, and caregivers in securing children’s constitutional right to basic education in South Africa. The booklet affirms that every child, regardless of documentation or immigration status, has the right to attend school, as guaranteed by the Constitution. It combines clear legal guidance with practical tools to help caregivers navigate and challenge unlawful barriers to school admission, empowering them to advocate effectively for children who are denied access to education.

Key themes and information covered in the booklet include:

• Right to Education: Every child in South Africa has an immediate right to basic education under section 29 of the Constitution, regardless of nationality or documentation status. Schools may not refuse admission due to lack of a birth certificate or ID.
• Unlawful Refusal of Admission: Provides clear steps for caregivers, including a template letter requesting admission, guidance on asking for written reasons for refusal, and escalation to district offices or legal support within 48 hours.
• Matric Learners: Grade 12 learners do not need an ID to write matric exams. An affidavit may be used as proof of identity, in line with Umalusi’s approach.
• Guidance for Children (Ages 12–17): Explains learners’ rights to a safe, respectful learning environment and encourages seeking help from trusted adults if access to education is blocked.
• Support and Resources: Includes contact details for free legal and government support bodies such as Lawyers for Human Rights, the South African Human Rights Commission, and the Department of Basic Education.
• Fees and Administration: Clarifies that public schools may not charge fees that prevent access to education and must assist with learner placement even where prior school reports are unavailable.

Children in the street situation: ‘What are my Rights on the Street?’

This booklet is a child-friendly version that discusses the rights and responsibilities of children in street situations in South Africa, highlighting that they have the same fundamental rights as all other children under national law and international conventions. Key rights covered include access to basic needs, education, protection from abuse, identity, family care, participation in decisions, and safety. While not held to adult legal standards, these children are encouraged to respect others, seek support, engage with services, and take care of themselves. The booklet also provides contact information for various South African organizations and government departments offering support to these vulnerable children.

Child-friendly version for South Africa: United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child – General Comment No.26 on children’s rights and the environment with a special  focus on climate change 

This is a child-friendly guide to understanding climate change and its impact on children’s rights, drawing from the United Nations Committee for the Rights of the Child’s General Comment No. 26. It explains climate change in simple terms, highlighting how human activities, particularly the burning of fossil fuels, lead to global warming and extreme weather events. The guide/booklet further details various rights children possess, such as the right to clean air and water, education, and a safe home, explaining how climate change threatens these fundamental entitlements. Furthermore, it outlines responsibilities for governments and businesses in mitigating climate change and protecting children, while also suggesting actions children can take to contribute to environmental protection. Ultimately, it emphasizes that all children have the right to a healthy planet and encourages collective action.

ZEP and Children’s Rights: What You Should Know!

Are you a child of a Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) holder living in South Africa?

This booklet is designed to provide answers to questions about relevant documents and rights. For a deeper understanding of documentation for minors, we recommend the guide ‘How to Attain Documentation: A Comprehensive Manual for Acquiring Birth Certificates, Citizenship Papers, and Immigration Visas for Children in South Africa’.

You can easily find this valuable resource online by searching for its exact title.

Now available in isiNdebele and chiShona.

UNICEF, 2023. ‘Free and Safe to Protest: Policing of Assemblies Involving Children’

The Centre for Child Law (CCL) is delighted to announce the publication by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) of a paper titled “Free and Safe to Protest: Policing of Assemblies Involving Children”.

Stanley Malematja, an attorney at CCL and Professor Ann Skelton (former director of the CCL), Professor at the University of Pretoria’s Private Law Department, UNESCO Chair on Education in Africa and Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) formed part of the advisory group members who played a fundamental role in the production of the paper.

Children have been organising and acting to promote and defend their own rights and the rights of others, and there is documented evidence that they have been doing so since the 1880s. The paper articulates child rights in the context of policing assemblies involving children, framed against states’ more general obligations regarding children’s right to freedom of peaceful assembly (RFPA). Article 15 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) sets out the RFPA specifically for children. The paper, inter alia, covers, specific importance for children of exercising their RFPA as part of their overall development, and the particular challenges they face in doing so and recommendations for states to take into account before, during and after assemblies take place.

Access to Justice for Children in Conflict with the Law: Child Justice Act 75 of 2008 (CJA)

This booklet discusses the rights of children who are in conflict with the law and accused of committing offences and how they must be dealt with in terms of the Child Justice Act 75 of 2008 (CJA). The CJA provides for a child-specific approach to responding to these children and builds on section 28(1)(g) of the Constitution, which provides that:

“g. not to be detained except as a measure of last resort, in which case, in addition to the rights a child enjoys under sections 12 and 35, the child may be detained only for the shortest appropriate period of time, and has the right to be –

i. kept separately from detained persons over the age of 18 years; and

ii. treated in a manner, and kept in conditions, that take into account

the child’s age; …”

Furthermore, the CJA provides for the child justice system that ensures that the procedures followed when dealing with children in conflict with the law and accused of committing offences safeguard their interests.

National Summit on Harmful Sexual Behaviour in Children 2023

A 2016 nationally representative study on child abuse, neglect, and maltreatment in South Africa2 found that 35.4% of children had experienced some form of sexual abuse in their lifetime, with prevalence being slightly higher for boys (36.8%) than girls (33.9%). The forms of abuse differed across genders – girls reported more contact sexual abuse or being forced to engage in some form of sexual activity, while boys reported more non-contact abuse, such as unwanted exposure to sexual materials. Online sexual abuse is also on the rise in South Africa – the number of reports of suspected online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA) increased by 51% between 2017 and 20193.

How to Get Documented!

The South African Human Rights Commission (the Commission) and the Centre for Child Law (the Centre) bring you this simple, but comprehensive guide on documenting children in South Africa. Both the Commission and the Centre receive hundreds of requests for help with documenting children each year. This guide aims to compile what we have learnt about assisting children into one easy to use guide for parents, social workers, and even children themselves.