LEGAL PROTECTION OF THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION IN ROMANIA AND EUROPEAN UNION

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document that formally recognized free and compulsory elementary education as a basic human right. Thus, the right to education is fundamental in the development of each individual and at the same time a key element in developing and enhancing wellbeing and quality of life for the whole European society. Considering the fact that education is both a human right in itself and an indispensable means of realizing other human rights, the objectives of this study are to identify barriers that need to be overcome and, at the same time, to raise public awareness on the right to education because, as is well known, if individuals knows their rights they are empowered to claim them. The importance of this study consists on the fact that the analysis is focused, in a first stage, on clarifying the essential features of the right to education as a human right, so that, in a second stage, to be presented the European and Romanian legal frameworks protecting the right to education. As a novelty, this study attempts to outline how it is implemented the right to education in Romania, highlighting achievements, but without trying to avoid weaknesses and the less pleasant aspects