IS EDUCATION THE KEY ELEMENT OF INTEGRATION?

Pursuant to the Convention on the Rights of the Child every child has the right to education. Nevertheless, 58 million children are dropped out of primary education and 500000 Syrian refugee children do not attend any schools based on the data of UNICEF. In addition to the infringement of the law, the lack of education has an impact on the society, in particular the economy, the social care system and internal peace of the country concerned. As declared in Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights "...education shall enable all persons to participate effectively in a free society, promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations and all racial, ethnic or religious groups, and further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace". The purpose of the paper is to point out that education may be the key element of integration. Therefore, the paper provides an academic analysis firstly regarding international and European law background of the right to education, migration and their connection. Furthermore, the paper presents the inevitable role of education in integration via the decisions of European Courts of Human Rights. Finally, it offers some good practices concerning educational integration to prove it is possible without the infringement of fundamental rights.