The Children's Right to Social Identity and Its Relationship to the Parent's Prior Right to Choose the Kind of Education and Training Given to Their Children

The fact that the parents enjoy some sort of freedom and prior right to choose the kind of their children’s education and training is in general accepted by religious texts as well as national and international laws and procedures. The main question raised by this article is that in case the parents or other lawful guardians of children including children of minorities, consciously or otherwise abuse this right –e.g. choose a way disordering the children’s social identity development process - how could this situation be reformed? This article tries to make it clear that based on the Islamic jurisprudence and legal analysis as well as some legal stipulations, the above-mentioned prior right of parents is not absolute and is limited to the best interest of the children. It is necessary, however, for the lawmakers to act more actively making more comprehensive and more explicit laws to secure the children’s rights.