Quality education is a criticaldimension for the achievement of sustainable development.The renewed political commitment set out in sustainabledevelopment goal 4 (SDG4) is an opportunity to ensure strongcoherence between education policy and the right toeducation first articulated more than 70 years ago. Thispaper presents the results of a desk-based study on a humanrights-based approach to education (HRBAE) in the context ofSDG4. It explores the ways in which such an approach canguide policy, planning, and the delivery of education inobservance with agreed international frameworks providingfor the right to education. The paper argues that the humanrights conventions on the right to education are not passiveinstruments designed to remain only at the level ofdiscourse but, as legal obligations, require action from thestate and should be central in the development of educationservices, including in the context of large scaledisplacement and crisis. This paper outlines the legallybinding commitments of the right to education. It considershow these can be applied practically through a HRBA-E toaddress the continuing barriers to access and completion ofquality education and learning. The paper is structured infour sections that examine: (1) the promise of education andthe scale of unfulfilled obligations; (2) the conceptualroots of a human-rights approach and its application toeducation; (3) how a HRBA-E is central to issues criticalfor the achievement of SDG4, such as learning, equity, andfinancing; and (4) the issue of accountability: the WorldBank and human rights, final reflections on a HBRA-E and SDG4.
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