Chapter 2 | Page 76 economic accessibility), acceptability, and adaptability,154 which should guide State policy in ensuring the right to education. The State also has an obligation to make higher education equally accessible to all, to work towards progressive introduction of free education, and to encourage fundamental education for those who have not received or completed primary education.155 The continued development of a system of schools at all levels, adequate fellowship systems and continuous improvement of the material conditions of teaching staff are also to be undertaken by the State. The State is also obliged to respect the liberty of parents and legal guardians to choose their children’s schools, either public or private, which conform to the educational standards as approved by the State.156 States have an obligation to recognise the right of everyone to take part in cultural life, to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its application, and to benefit from intellectual property protection.157 Article 15(2) details the nature of this obligation, with particular emphasis on steps aimed at the conservation, development and diffusion of science and culture.158 The full realisation of cultural rights also obliges governments to adopt steps necessary for the ‘conservation, development and dissemination of science and culture’159 and other steps to ensure the freedom to enjoy these rights. The right to benefit from the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from one’s scientific, literary and artistic productions should be seen 154 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No 13: The Right to Education (article 13 of the Covenant), 21st sess, UN Doc E/C.12/1999/10 (8 December 1999), [6]. 155 ICESCR, above n 33, art 13(2c). 156 Ibid., art 13(3). 157 Ibid., art 15. 158 The right of everyone to take part in cultural life is also recognized in article 27 of UDHR, which states that ‘everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community’. 159 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No 21: Right of Everyone to Take Part in Cultural Life (Art. 15, Para. 1 (a), of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), 43rd sess, UN Doc E/C.12/GC/21 (21 December 2009), [46] [47].

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