The Child`s Right to Physical Education

An enlightened and progressive society is committed to abide by the various international conventions related to human rights in general, and children`s rights in particular. Among the natural rights of children, the right to have physical education as part of general education is of great importance.

The first reference to children`s rights at an international level was in the 1924 Geneva Declaration. Then, in 1959 this statement was extended to the UN Declaration, which regarded the rights of the child as an integral part of the International Declaration of Human Rights adopted back in 1948.

The culmination of this ongoing development was the adoption of the recommendation by the NASP, the representative organization of physical education teachers in the United States, which stated that physical education is a basic human right. It was phrased by UNESCO in 2004 as `the right to get an education of the whole person`.

The purpose of this lecture is two-fold. On the one hand, to clarify the importance of physical education for the benefit of the wellness and normal development of children; and on the other hand, to outline the rights of children to physical education and sport, as the latter are reflected in various international treaties, formulated specifically to these needs, since the founding of the United Nations to present times.