Right or Duty: Reinterpretation of the Nature of the Right to Education in the Compulsory Education Stage

Abstract With respect to the rights and duties of citizens to receive an education, as provided under the Constitution and the Education Law of China, academic circles have proposed three interpretations: the combined right and duty viewpoint, the right viewpoint, and the duty viewpoint. Through analysis of the course of the emergence, development, and evolution of the Constitution of New China and relevant articles of the Compulsory Education Law, this article argues that the understanding of citizens’ right to education in the compulsory education stage should uphold the combined right and duty viewpoint, regarding the right to education as the right to the starting point and the process of education, and the duty to receive an education as an outcome- and goal-oriented duty.