PRAVO RODITELjA DA OBRAZUJU DETE U KONTEKSTU USLUGA OBAVEZNOG OSNOVNOG OBRAZOVANjA

Abstract

Mass, compulsory and free primary education is one of the most important achievements of civilization, which is recognized in a whole series of international treaties on human rights. In this sense, the minimum core obligations of states is to provide every child with access to primary education within the framework of the right to education, as an expression of formal education and a key segment of the child's right to education in general. On the other hand, the parents or guardians of the child have the duty to educate the child. Parents are granted the autonomy to do so in accordance with their religious and moral convictions if they do not violate the rights of the child and the aims of education proclaimed in international human rights treaties. In this context, parents have the obligation to make primary education available to their children, while retaining the right to choose a public or appropriate private primary school in accordance with the law. In an effort to enable the application of the best interests of the child to each specific child, the legislation of Serbia in the domain of primary education also recognizes forms of schooling at home or at a distance, but only if the child has previously been enrolled in primary school. Parents cannot refuse to enroll a child in primary school, although the sanctions provided for such behavior are ineffective. In this way, parents could not decide to take over exclusively the provision of primary education services to the child, referring to their religious or philosophical convictions. In such cases, the Family Law of Serbia can offer a more adequate approach to solving the problem in the form of measures of corrective supervision over the exercise of parental rights and, ultimately, court decisions on protecting the child's right to education or depriving the parents of their duty to educate the child.