O direito à educação e o princípio da proibição de retrocesso

Abstract

This is a Course Completion Work (TCC) in the field of pedagogy, with the primary objective of promoting the study of law and education, specifically the right to education. It aims to address the ongoing task of ensuring that such a fundamental right, like the right to receive and provide education, is not undermined, restricted, or even abolished. An educated individual transforms nature through their work and, in doing so, shapes society in the pursuit of equality with others. In the current context of the Rule of Law in our country, the right to education was enshrined through the legal frameworks established by the Federal Constitution of 1988, as this right had not always been guaranteed. However, there is a legal subtlety to be noted: it was with Constitutional Amendment No. 108 in 2020, through an amendment to Article 206 of the Federal Constitution (CF/88), which included section IX, that it was ensured the right to education could not be suppressed, under the penalty of violating a legal principle—the principle of non-retrogression regarding the human right to receive and provide education. Focusing on the history of education, research was conducted to trace the guarantees of the right to education over the centuries, revealing that education is often subject to the whims of those in power. The effort to domesticate such power, whether cultural, economic, or political, began to take shape in 1948 with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, I understand that one cannot discuss Human Rights without providing a foundation for their protection; there is no right if it cannot be safeguarded. This is why I have addressed the international systems for the protection of Human Rights: the global system (UN and its specialized bodies) and regional systems (European, African, Arab, Asian, and Inter-American), while also differentiating between education in human rights and education for human rights—another subtlety of the Portuguese language. The theoretical framework of human rights led to the creation of the principle of non-retrogression in society, and it was this principle that shaped the insertion of section IX into Article 206 of our Federal Constitution in 2020.