analytical approaches.29 In this respect, the right to education epitomises the indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights.30 It is, therefore, important to study the link between the right to education and other human rights. The exercise of the right to education enables the individual to experience the benefit of other rights, including both economic, social and cultural rights and civil and political rights. The right to education has a particularly close connection with the right to work, the right to health and the right to freedom of expression and information.31 In regard to the right to work, the provision of various levels of formal education as well as vocational training allows States to compete in the global market and pursue economic growth. However, many human rights bodies and experts continue to emphasise that the benefits of education should not be measured in mere economic terms and that a human rights based approach to education is essential. Finally, since human rights do not exist in a vacuum, national plans of action for the implementation of each right should be interrelated. When steps towards the realisation of the right to education may have an unintended negative impact on the enjoyment of other rights, mitigating measures will be required. For example, if a child is working to contribute to his or her family’s income in order to buy food, forcing the same child to go to school might lead to hunger in his or her family. Thus, in circumstances like this, States have adopted programmes to provide food for children in schools and also provide financial assistance to their families. Such a response ensures that neither the right to education nor the right to food is compromised. Components of the right to education A clearly defined set of elements and components of the right to education can be garnered from international human rights law. The right to education comprises four levels of education: primary or elementary education; secondary education, including technical and vocational education; higher or tertiary education; and basic or fundamental education.32 29 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education E/CN.4/2003/9 21 January 2003 at para 29. 30 CESCR General Comment No. 11: Plans of action for primary education E/C.12/1999/4 10 May 1999 at para 2. 31 Some authors categorise the right to education as an “empowerment right” because the exercise of the right to education “enables a person to experience the benefit of other rights”: see Coomans “In Search of the Core Content of the Right to Education” in Chapman and Russel (eds) Core Obligations: Building a Framework for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2002) 217 at 219. 32 Each of these levels of education will be discussed in more detail under term of reference (iv). 42