Universal Access to Education
Learning Outcomes
- Describe the concept of universal access to education
Access to Education
Another global concern in education is universal access. This term refers to people’s equal ability to participate in an education system. As called for by the UN’s Universal Declaration on Human Rights, all individuals around the world are entitled to a free education at the primary level, both to develop skills and to become more functional members of society through learning tolerance and a respect for freedoms.
However, on a practical global level, educational access might be more difficult than the United Nations hoped for when first drafting the Declaration on Human Rights in 1948, particularly for certain groups based on class or gender. This was the case in much of the United States–even in the mid-twentieth century–though substantial progress has been made since that time.
Watch It
Watch this video, or other videos from Unicef’s Education for All playlist to learn more about the importance of access to education.
Universal Education in the United States
The modern idea of universal access arose in the United States as a concern for people with disabilities. In the United States, one way in which universal education is supported is through federal and state governments covering the cost of free public education. Of course, the way this plays out in terms of school budgets and taxes makes this an often-contested topic on the national, state, and community levels.
A precedent for universal access to education in the United States was set with the 1972 U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia’s decision in Mills v. Board of Education of the District of Columbia. This case was brought on the behalf of seven school-age children with special needs who argued that the school board was denying their access to free public education. The board maintained that the children’s “exceptional” needs, which included mental retardation and mental illness, precluded their right to be educated for free in a public school setting. The board argued that the cost of educating these children would be too high and that the children would therefore have to remain at home without access to education.
This case was resolved in a hearing without any trial. The judge, Joseph Cornelius Waddy, upheld the students’ right to education, finding that they were to be given either public education services or private education paid for by the Washington, D.C., board of education. He noted that
Constitutional rights must be afforded citizens despite the greater expense involved … the District of Columbia’s interest in educating the excluded children clearly must outweigh its interest in preserving its financial resources. … The inadequacies of the District of Columbia Public School System whether occasioned by insufficient funding or administrative inefficiency, certainly cannot be permitted to bear more heavily on the “exceptional” or handicapped