EDUCATION

Education is the learning of knowledge, information and skills during the course of life. Teachers may draw on many subjects, including reading, writing, math, science and history. Teachers in specialized professions such as astrophysics, law, or zoology may teach only a certain subject, usually as professors at institutions of higher learning. There is much specialist instruction in fields for those who want specific skills, such as required to be a pilot, for example. Finally, there is an array of educational opportunity at the informal level- such as with museums, libraries and the Internet. Informal education also includes knowledge and skills learned during the course of life, including education that comes from experience.

The right to education has been described as a basic human right: since 1952, Article 2 of the first Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights obliges all signatory parties to guarantee the right to education. At world level, the United Nations' International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966 guarantees this right under its Article .

Systems of formal education

Education is a broad concept, referring to all the experiences in which students can learn something:

• Instruction refers to the intentional facilitating of learning toward identified goals, delivered either by an instructor or other forms.
• Teaching refers to the actions of a real live instructor designed to impart learning to the student.
• Training refers to learning with a view toward preparing learners with specific knowledge, skills, or abilities that can be applied immediately upon completion.

Primary education

Main article: Primary education

Primary school in open air. Teacher (priest) with class from the outskirts of Bucharest, around 1842.

Primary (or elementary) education consists of the first years of formal, structured education. In general, primary education consists of six or seven years of schooling starting at the age of 5 or 6, although this varies between, and sometimes within, countries. Globally, around 70% of primary-age children are enrolled in primary education, and this proportion is rising.^[1] Under the Education for All programs driven by UNESCO, most countries have committed to achieving universal enrollment in primary education by 2015, and in many countries, it is compulsory for children to receive primary education. The division between primary and secondary education is somewhat arbitrary, but it generally occurs at about eleven or twelve years of age. Some education systems have separate middle schools, with the transition to the final stage of secondary education taking place at around the age of fourteen. Schools that provide primary education, are mostly referred to as primary schools. Primary schools in these countries are often subdivided into infant schools and junior schools.