It's the beginning of a new school year, and like every year, there's always moaning about school "donations" that seem compulsory even though they are called donations. Last week there was some mention of these "donations" on talk-back radio, and even this morning, the Wellington host of NewsTalkZB is bringing them up. Yet no one that I've heard so far actually understands why we have "donations" to schools that aren't voluntary. It's very simple. New Zealand has signed up to a whole lot of United Nations treaties, and in one of them, the Convention on the Rights of the Child which we signed in 1990 and ratified in 1993 , we guarantee the right of every child to have access to a free education. Article 28a of the Convention of the Rights of the Child states that we will: Make primary education compulsory and available free to all; Our reservations when signing the treaty were: Nothing in this Convention shall affect the ...