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TEACHING OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN SCHOOLS: THE RIGHT CONSIDERATIONS

Article · January 1997

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 TEACHING OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN SCHOOLS:
THE RIGHT CONSIDERATIONS

BY

* Isa Hayatu Chiroma

"The issue of Human Rights, by definition, breeds
confrontation. Raising the issue touches on the very
foundation of a regime, on its source and exercise of
power, on its links to its citizens or subject. It is a
dangerous issue ... '"
Introduction:
Human Rights in its contemporary usage is recognised as the intrinsic
worth, equal and inalienable rights of all members of human family to a
dignified existence. It is appreciated that its observance is a necessity for
the promotion of social progress and better standard of life for all
humanity."
The quest for human rights and human dignity is a phenomenon of
contemporary life of universal dimension and immense significance. The
concept of human rights is a norm of international law jus cogens from
which no derogation is permitted. It restricts the freedom of states to
make any law in variance with these preemptory norms. With the
contemporary global dispensation, the human rights agenda has received
concrete attention and has gained immensely from diplomatic rhetoric.'
Human Rights emanated from the very old doctrine of natural rights.
Those natural rights have always been accepted as inalienable rights. Its
ramifications Cover political, economic, social and cultural rights. Almost
every nation has made constitutional provisions guaranteeing these
rights. For a number of reasons, the expression human rights is not quite
precise in meaning as its first sight appears to be."
Attempt to define human rights seems to have generated more
controversy than has existed. Various definitions have been advanced as
to what human rights is, each and every person see human fights from his
own perspective. There exist conflicting versions and perspectives of
human rights and sharp differences as to the priorities, mechanisms and
procedure for enforcing them because of different cultural patterns,
ideological inclinations and developmental goals of western, non-western
and .socialist societies."
The history of human rights is long, fo' it is possible to trace the concern
with these rights back to the Greeks and Romans and most of the
philosophical devices by which they were grounded like the doctrine of
natural law and social contract have like origin and evolution." Modern
development of human rights concept began during the late middle ages
in the period called the Renaissance, when resistance to political and
economic tyranny began to surface in Europe.
 It was during the 17th and 18th centurie ". a period called the
enlightenment that specific attention was drawn by scientific discoveries
to the working of natural law. This in turn, seemed to imply the existence
of natural rights which the state should not be allowed to interfered."
Various attempts have been made to define human rights. Each
definition's influenced by the perspective from which th» person making
such definition
views human rights.
Professor Eze defines human rights as;
"Demands or claims which individual or a group
makes on society, some of which are protected by law
and have become part of lex lata while others remain
aspirations to be attained in the future"."
In the opinion of Lien, human rights are; "Universal Rights or enabling
duality of human beings as human beings or as individuals of human race,
attaching to the human being whenever he appears without regard to
time, place, colour, sex, parentage or environment."
The concept of human rights engendered one of the most proround
actions ever to task the intellect. Discourse on the precise meaning and
concept of human rights has tasked the ingenuity of eminent scholars, yet
the issue raised more questions than answers on issues such as
Universality, relativity palaver as well as ethnic, moral, cultural,
philosophical, legal and ideological under pinnings of the subject matter.'?
This paper is an attempt to discuss the right consideration in the teaching
of human rights which is broader than ordinarily understood, whose
ramification covers political, economic and cultural rights.
Why the increased concern for teaching of Human Rights in schools?: The
increasing international concern for the promotion and protection of
human rights in contemporary world has brought about the increase in
scholarship in the field of human rights and fundamental freedoms. This
concern is necessitated by the fact that for any society to progress
meaningfully, its citizens must be free from wants, their rights and
fundamental freedoms must also be protected, and this can only strive in
an ideal democratic set-up where the rule of law is protected and people
are in position to express their opinions on issues no matter how stupid
this opinion may be.
For an ideal democratic society to exist, people must be in position to
know their rights and accordingly exercise these rights. Human rights by
nature is an issue which is complex even to experts in the field, talkless of
those who we not in position to appreciate these rights either because of
lack of knowledge, illiteracy or because these rights are so much
suppressed by the instrumentality of the state to an extent that the
beneficiaries of these rights view them as mere privilege to be granted or
withdrawn by the fiat of the State.
Writers, jurists and commentators on human rights after a careful
analysis of the factors militating against the promotion and protection of
rights allover the world are unanimous that for any person to appreciate
what these rights really mean, he must have the basic knowledge of
them. They agreed therefore that the starting point for the promotion of
these rights is the proper education of citizens on such rights. The need to
entrench human rights education in the curriculum of Nigerian
Universities is of great importance and relevance to the human race.
There is no field of law which is not connected in one way or the other
with duties, privileges, immunities and rights of man10*
As noted.'! human rights is the cornerstone of human development and
for a proper articulation of these developmental goals, citizens must be
aware of their rights, and these rights must be protected.
Teaching of Human Rights in Schools: Issues and Options:
In most institutions of learning in Nigeria, human rights is taught either at
the undergraduate or postgraduate level. One can easily see from the
course content of most of these schools that the way it is structured is
such a manner that students would not be in position to appreciate
human rights as it is in our contemporary Nigeria. For instance, issues
such as Right to Development, the enforcement machinery for the
protection of human rights at the Regional and International Level, Right
of a child etc are not taken care of. The course content is so structured in
a manner that it is only human rights in abstract that the drafters of the
Curriculum envisaged. For instance, in the University of Maiduguri, Human
Rights is taught only at postgraduate level, and the course content was
drafted as far back as 1981, whereas in actual sense, the postgraduate
programme only commenced barely less than a year aqo."
The Curriculum of most Universities on human rights as it is today is
grossly defective. One would have expected a Curriculum which would
have articulated human rights from its cultural as well as its religious
perspectives. This is because each and every culture or religion has one
form of right or fundamental freedom which it sees as sacred and must be
piotected. From there, one would now look at human rights from the
western perspective bearing in mind the position of religion and culture.
The teaching of human rights should be done from a practical point of
approach.
This will make the whole exercise interesting to the students and easy to
comprehend. Similarly, an interdisciplinary approach must be adopted.
Rights should not be looked at only from the legal point of view. Its
economic, political and social dimensions must be examined. This is
because they are intertwined with law. Academics on their own part must
make it a point of duty to structure these curricula to reflect the present
day realities. Article 7 of the Kampala Declaration" makes it mandatory
on them. It provides; "Teaching and researching members of staff of
institutions of education have the right directly and through their elected
representatives, to initiate, participate in and determine academic
programmes of their institutions in accordance with the highest standard
of education" There are a lot of problems which stand in the way of proper
teaching of human rights in schools in Nigeria. These include:
(a) The attitude of the State in relation to issues pertaining to human
rights. As stated somewhere, 'the issue of human rights by definition
breeds confrontation, mere mention of human rights no matter how
beneficial the issue is, makes government uncomfortable with it. The
nature of our economy as well as educational sector is solely
dependent on government. The universities aipd colleges are owned
and run by the government. If there is anything which the
government perceives as a threat or it is not comfortable with, all it
would do is to frustrate such an issue no matter the benefit.

(b)The attitude of students too does not help matters. Experience has
shown that some students do not select courses in some
universities based on their interest, but because of who teaches
what and what grade one would get at the end of the day.

(c) Teachers on their own part have resorted to preparing handouts to

their students without taking time to explain or give lectures
orr reas they are supposed to teach, this in turn leaves the students
confused and in doubt as to what they are expected to learn. Who
will blame their teachers? Morale is so low, the take home pay
cannot take them home, no books and journals in the libraries, no
funds to attend conferences, they are hungry!
But is that enough a reason? Chapter III Article 10 of the Kampala
Declaration on Intellectual Freedom and Social Responsibility 1990
provides:
"Members of the Intellectual Community are obliged to
discharge their roles and functions with competence,
integrity and to the best of their abilities".
They should perform their duties in accordance with ethical and
highest scientific standards. Anything short of that would render
one unfit to be an academic. Reasons given above are not enough
for an academic to abdicate his responsibilities.
(d) Parents do not encourage their children to participate in issues
relating to human rights or to take courses in that area. Most parents
are of the view that anything that has to do with human rights is anti-
government stand and that they don't want any confrontation
between their children and by extension, themselves with
government as a result of which their business or other interests will
suffer. Some are of the opinion that their children are in school to get
a certificate and not to engage in anything that would in one way or
the other be a clog to their graduation. One cannot find an
appropriate forum to relate this experience than here. One of our
students who was invited to attend this seminar wrote to her father
to intimate him of her plans to attend. What is his response? Your
guess is as good as mine:
My Dear-
RE: YOUR CRP LEDER AND THE TRIP TO ENUGU
 (1)
(2) Certified by the Federal Government?
(3) Whatever; in view of the prevailing political climate in the country,
especially government's discomfort with anything to do with human;
rights activity generally, I am discouraged to allow you participate in the
Seminar inspite of whatever intrinsic benefits and open recognition you
may stand to gain.
Love, Daddy

Do you blame him?

Recommendations:
After this iengthy discussion, one is bound to make series of
Recommendation as to how teaching of human rights in schools could be
improved. One would recommend the following:
(1) Teaching of human rights in schools cannot be done in schools
without adequate help from the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).
This should be done by way of training the teachers, provision of materials
and teaching aids in the area of human rights.
(2) Seminars/workshops should be organised to sensitise and educate
the students on the relevance and importance of human rights in the
contemporary world.
(3) Moot Trials, Debates, Essay competition in the field of human rights
must be intensified.
(4) Interdisciplinary-as well as pranical approach should be adopted in the
teaching of human rights.
(5) The most important recommendation is that educational institutions
must be given autonomy. Ideas only flourish in an ideal academic
environment devoid of any form of control or manipulation. Similarly,
research must be adequately funded. All these must be done in
conformity with Article 6 11 and 17 of the Kampala Declaration.
Teachers must be educated in the content and methodologies
appropriate to human rights. There should be provisions which
support human rights education."
(6) There is the need to redefine precisely the strategies most suitable
for our national circumstances without compromising the
internationally accepted standards.
(7) Schools too, must endeavour to provide an environment which
respects basic human rights norms, and which stresses the mutual
responsibility of citizens.
 END NOTES

* IsaHayatu Chiroma
Senior Lecturer and Sub-Dean, Faculty of Law,
University of Maiduguri, Nigeria.
1. S. Hoffman: The Hell of Good Intentions; Foreign Policy, 29 (1977-78)
p.8
2. A. H. Robertson and j.G. Merrills, Human Rights in the World: An
Introduction to the Study of the International Protection of Human
Rights, Manchester University Press, 23rd Edition (1992) p.1
3. O. Gye-Wado, Human Rights and Reconstruction in Africa, in Law
justice and Nigerian Society, Essays in Honour of justice Mohammed
Bello, Nigeria Institute of Advance Legal Studies, Commemorative
Series 1, Lagos, (1995) p.175
4. P. Nnaemeka - Agu, "The Role of Lawyers in the Protection and
Advancement of Human Rights 992) jRLP, Vol. 2 Nos 1& 2, p.2
5. Each writer views human rights from his own perspectives
6. R. Mcklon, The Philosophical Basis and Material Circumstances of
the Rights of Man, Greenwood Press, (1973) pp 36-37
7. Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia, Comptons Home Library,
Softkey Multimedia Inc; Cambridge, 1997
8. O. Eze, Human Rights in Africa: Some Selected Problems, MacMillian
Press, and NIIA, Lagos (1984( p.5
9. A. Lien, A Fragment of Thoughts Concerning the Nature and
Fulfillment of Human Rights, Greenwood Press, (1973), p.24
10. See Generally, j.W.F. Sundberg, What is Human Rights: The Universal
Declaration, Akron Law Review (1987) p.593; D.C.j. Dakas, The
Implementation of the African Charter of Human and People's Rights
in Nigeria, (1986-1990) Vol. 3 uju p. 39. A.H. Robertson and j.o.
Merills, Human Rights in the World: An Introduction to the Study of
International Protection of Human Rights, op cit p.310
lOa. A I. Adeoye, Need for Human Rights Education, Constitutional
Rights journal, january - March (1995) p. 13
11. Human Rights Education in Nigeria: Proposed Curriculum, Seminar
Report on the challenge of Human Rights Education organized by the
Constitutional Rights Project (CRP), 1995, p.21
12. See University of Maiduguri Postgraduate Prospectus
13. The Kampala Declaration of Intellectual Freedom and Social
Responsibility, 1990
14. See generally. Commonwealth Values in Education: Young People's
Understanding of Human Rights, Commonwealth Legal Education,
(Newsletter of Commonwealth Legal Education Association), No 76,
September, 1997, pp.33-38.

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