Prof Jan de Groof, a vocal supporter of the right to education worldwide and role-player in many aspects of education and law, has called on the South African government to account for its citizens, especially with regard to the right to education. He said there should be an immediate fulfilment of the right to basic education as it is enshrined in section 29 of the South African Constitution. ‘Is the South African government immediately providing quality education, appropriate textbooks, proper technology, transparent policy, decent physical facilities, well-qualified and highly-motivated teachers?’ This was one of the questions he posed when he received an honorary doctorate in Education, conferred by the University of Pretoria (UP) in recognition of his extensive work in education and law.

Prof De Groof is the co-founder of the South African Education Law and Policy Association and collaborated with the Constitutional Court and South African Civil Society towards creating a better future for the children of South Africa.

He said that quality education for all is the most important tool to boost economic growth, to reach equity and social equality, to combat discrimination and to reduce poverty, and quoted former President Nelson Mandela: ‘education means liberation’. He continued, ‘This should be evident in this country. It is not acceptable that children attend a school where they do not have chairs to sit on and receive inadequate education, while five kilometres away other children go to a world-class school because their parents can afford it.’

Prof De Groof is a professor at the College of Europe (in Bruges, Belgium) and at the University of Tilburg (in the Netherlands). He is regarded as one of the most influential role-players in education law of the late 20th and the early 21st centuries, and is a tireless campaigner for justice and good governance in education. At the moment he is involved in establishing a university sector in Iraq.

Prof De Groof has written extensively on education and human rights issues following the new political dispensation in South Africa. He regards education and the right to a proper education as the supreme touchstone for the transition from a non-democratic state to a democracy.

‘Reconciliation in education is necessary because education touches the very heartbeat of the nation, the community of communities, its values and culture, its past, present and the future. The right to education appears to be one of the primary human rights, close to the right to life and the right to equality. It remains the precondition of most other fundamental rights and the first component of human dignity and human development,’ he said.

He acknowledged the recognition given to him by UP and has also lauded South Africa and its civil society for ensuring that the basic right to education is realised for many children in the country. ‘What binds us is our desire to understand what it means to be human, to seek the truth and to have courage to express the truth even when it may not be popular or is challenged by voices that may be louder than our own,’ he said.