Children and Adolescent Rights: Education and Culture Laws

Chapter IV: The Right to Education, Culture, Sports, and Leisure

Article 53: Rights of Children and Adolescents

Children and adolescents have the right to education, aimed at the full development of their person, preparation for the exercise of citizenship, and qualification for work, ensuring them:

• I - Equal conditions for access and retention;
• II - The right to be respected by their educators;
• III - The right to contest assessment criteria, with the ability to appeal to higher school authorities;
• IV - The right to organize and participate in student entities;
• V - Access to free public schools near their residence.

Sole Paragraph: Parents or guardians have the right to be aware of the educational process and participate in the definition of educational proposals.

Article 54: State Duties

It is the duty of the State to ensure children and adolescents:

• I - Basic, compulsory, and free education, even for those who did not have access at the proper age;
• II - Progressive extension of compulsory and free secondary education;
• III - Specialized educational services for people with disabilities, preferably in regular education;
• IV - Attendance at daycare and preschool for children from zero to six years of age;
• V - Access to higher levels of education, research, and artistic creation, according to individual capacity;
• VI - Provision of regular night courses adequate to the conditions of the adolescent worker;
• VII - Assistance in basic education through supplementary programs providing school material, transportation, food, and health care.

Legal Provisions

• § 1 - Access to compulsory and free education is a subjective public right.
• § 2 - Failure to provide compulsory education by the public authority or providing it irregularly constitutes a responsibility of the competent authority.
• § 3 - It is incumbent upon the Government to identify elementary school students, call them to enroll, and ensure, together with parents or guardians, their attendance at school.

Article 55: Enrollment Requirements

Parents or guardians are required to enroll their children or wards in the regular education system.

Article 56: Reporting Obligations

Directors of basic education institutions must notify the Council of Guardianship in cases of:

• I - Abuse involving their students;
• II - Repetition of unjustified absences and truancy, once school resources have been exhausted;
• III - High levels of repetition.

Article 57: Educational Innovation

The Government shall encourage research, experiments, and new proposals regarding schedules, grading, curriculum, methodology, teaching, and assessment, aiming at the inclusion of children and adolescents excluded from compulsory primary education.

Article 58: Cultural and Artistic Respect

The educational process must respect the cultural, artistic, and historical social context of children and adolescents, ensuring them the freedom of establishment and access to sources of culture.

Article 59: Cultural and Leisure Resources

Local authorities, with support from the states and the Union, shall encourage and facilitate the allocation of resources and spaces for cultural, sports, and leisure activities geared toward children and youth.