Educating young people on human rights aids in creating a global rights respecting culture. A rights respecting culture signifies a society where people behave in ways that are respectful of others’ rights and are committed to fundamental principles of democracy and development. Human rights education embedded within schools’ curricula plays a central role in preparing young people to understand, appreciate and claim their rights. Even though schools in Ghana and Manitoba teach human rights topics through consideration of other subjects, in both contexts educators are unable to give the teaching of human rights topics the attention and effort required for maximum effectiveness.
International human rights instruments consider all persons responsible for ensuring that young people are not denied the right to know about their fundamental human rights. The objective of this paper is to explore other opportunities for human rights education through the Ghanaian school curriculum. The approach to teaching human rights in Ghanaian schools that I recommend involves a combination of the integrated approach and the co-curricular activities approach. This recommendation is based on my practicum experience from creating human rights education workshops at the Manitoba Association for Rights and Liberties (MARL). I conclude that employing a single approach in HRE is inadequate to promoting a human rights respecting culture among young people in Ghana. To be able to advance the co-curricular approach, the national human rights institution of Ghana, CHRAJ, should be equipped with enough resources to lead the development and facilitation of human rights education workshops in Ghanaian schools.