UNCRC 1

This next section is about The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
The UNCRC is a human rights treaty especially for people under the age of 18. At this time, 196 countries have signed up to it and
need to report to it every year.
The convention sets out the basic rights of children and requires governments of countries to ensure these are upheld.
Although schools are not human rights organisations, it's important for teachers to know about the convention, children and human
rights in general, and to pass on this knowledge to learners where possible and appropriate.
In this section you'll become more familiar with the UNCRC.

UNCRC 5

Every child has the right to an education. Primary education must be free and different forms of secondary education must be
available to every child. Discipline in schools must respect children's dignity and their rights. Richer countries must help poorer
countries achieve this.

Education must develop every child's personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child's respect for human rights, as well as
respect for their parents, their own and other cultures, and the environment.

UNCRC 6

Have you seen the UNCRC before? Would you like to look at it in more detail now? How about your learners – are they aware of their rights?

Many teachers say that a lesson on the UNCRC can be motivating for learners. It allows a lot of discussion and can help as the whole school begins
thinking about child protection issues. Of course, any lesson will be different depending on the context and the age of learners. In the next section you'll
look at one way of introducing the UNCRC and establishing a child protection policy. You'll then think about what might work in your context, or how
you can adapt the ideas.

Child protection policy 1

As every school and situation is different, it's important to think about what's needed for child protection with your
colleagues, and to make decisions together for your context. You could also involve the children in making decisions about a
child protection policy.
Put the stages in order to read a suggested whole-school activity for designing a child protection policy.

Child protection policy 2

Once you have a child protection policy in your school, it's important that everyone knows about it: the children, parents,
other teachers and visitors to the school. One way to do this is by creating a poster.
Read the suggestions for different sections to include in a poster. Match each suggestion with what can be included in it.