
Undocumented children and their right to basic education: ‘Once you learn to read you will forever be free’ - Frederick Douglass
“Unlike some of the other socio-economic rights, this right is immediately realisable. There is no internal limitation requiring that the right be “progressively realised” within “available resources” subject to “reasonable legislative measures”. The right to a basic education in s29(1)(a) may be limited only in terms of a law of general application which is “reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom”. This right is therefore distinct from the right to “further education” provided for in s 29(1)(b). The State is, in terms of that right, obliged, through reasonable measures, to make further education “progressively available and accessible.” - Governing Body of the Juma Musjied Essay NO 2011 (8) BCLR 761 (CC).