Statement by Kishore Singh, Special Rapporteur on the right to education at the 29th session of the Human Rights Council

Geneva, 18 June 2015

Mister President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour to address the Human Rights Council today as Special Rapporteur on the right to education. I take this opportunity to present my thematic report on the Protecting Education from Commercialization, as well as the report on my missions to Bhutan and Algeria.

Mister President,

During the past decade there has been a rapid increase in the number of private providers of education in many developing countries, with many schools and educational establishments not being registered and being funded and managed by individual proprietors or enterprises. Such providers are distinct from other non-State actors, such as religious institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community-based groups, foundations and trusts. As a result, education is being commercialized and for-profit education is flourishing as an attractive business, with scant control by pubic authorities.

In my report I look with concern at the commercialization of education, and I consider the negative effects that this has on the norms and principles and legal frameworks underlying the right to education.  I also highlight the repercussions of privatization on the principles of social justice and equity, and underline the need to safeguard education as a public good.

Mister President,

Recent studies on privatization show that education as a sector is increasingly being opened up to profit-making and trade, and to agenda-setting by private, commercial interests that conceptualize the learner as a consumer and education as a consumer good. 

Low-fee private schools in developing countries are a glaring example of the commercialization of education, characterized as “edu-business”. 

This neoliberal model of schooling, which is characterized by the withdrawal of the State in favour of privatization and market-anchored conceptions of schooling is a departure from decades of the welfare state.  Among others, UNESCO and the International Organization of la Francophonie have expressed concern with sweeping privatization in education reducing education to a commodity.

Mister President

We must understand that education is an entitlement, in that universal access is an essential prerequisite for the exercise of the right to education. However, privatization breeds exclusion, as those who are disadvantaged are unable to access private schools.

This aggravates existing disparities in access to education, further marginalizing the poor. Furthermore, voucher schemes purported to provide economically disadvantaged parents with the means to select a private school in fact promote group differentiation.

Education is also empowering, and enables children to realize all of their human rights.

However, private education has not been shown to provide better quality, or better learning outcomes, than public schools. 

Mister President,

In practice, privatization violates many of the norms of the right to education.  Although prohibited under international law, private providers often discriminate, directly or indirectly, based on race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Private providers also violate equality of access to education, by using wealth as a means to select their student body.  Even low-fee schools discriminate against the poor. By selecting students according to their socioeconomic status, such schools promote social fragmentation and the exclusion of certain groups, in contravention to the goal of education to erase social divides.

In the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, entitled “The future we want”, the General Assembly underlined the importance of the right to quality education and expressed the resolve of the international community to work for a world that is just, equitable and inclusive. I find it difficult to reconcile this vision with the social implications of privatizing education. Unless social policy becomes transformative in a spirit of redistributive justice, progress towards development goals is at risk and violent conflict may result. 

Mister President,

For-profit privatization should not be seen as the only alternative to present education systems.  Not-for-profit schools, NGO, community and religious schools all have different motivations, dynamics and outcomes.  Public policies can help communities and NGOs to establish schools. Community schools can play a meaningful complementary role in the realization of the right to education. Such schools may be sources of innovation, leading to new teaching methods, curricula or school management practices that can improve the public system.  Collaborations looking to pursue the social interest in education can lead to public education systems being reinforced. 

Moreover, educational establishments set up for philanthropic purposes, which are not profit-driven but promote education as a societal good, are valuable for generating social support for education. Public policies can promote the foundation of public utilities devoted to the cause of education. Corporate social responsibility can support education development and must be fully harnessed. All those valuing education as a public good and a social cause should be encouraged by an enabling environment and good governance for developing education, in such innovative ways as special trust funds created for the purpose of maximizing national investment in education.

Mister President,

Some exemplary regulatory systems show how States can manage the influence of privatization. 

We must recall that States remain primarily responsible for protecting the right to education. National legislation should reflect the obligations of the State under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other international human rights conventions.

Algeria places strict conditions on the establishment of private education, and regulations provide for sanctions for violations. Singapore’s laws provide an especially noteworthy example of how States can effectively regulate private education providers with sanctions in cases of abusive practices.

The Education Act of the Bahamas establishes that “the school shall not be established or maintained for the private profit of any person or persons”. In Qatar, private schools are required to be authorized by the Supreme Education Council and “shall not be profit-oriented”.  The Education Law of China provides that “educational activities must conform with the public interest of the State and society” and that “no organization or individual may operate a school or any other type of educational institution for profit”. 

The law in Finland states that “basic education may not be provided in pursuit of financial gain”. 

Mister President,

International and regional human rights monitoring mechanisms have noted that States have an obligation to protect individuals from human rights abuses committed by private parties. Public accountability of privatized schools and availability of remedies and recourse from their decisions should be specifically and unambiguously provided for by law. The regulatory role of the State is clearly within the scope of the obligation to protect.  Existing jurisprudence enables a better understanding of the obligations that the right to education imposes upon private providers.

The lack of effective oversight and regulating mechanisms is one of the most significant failures of States. In spite of regulations for registration and recognition, the rapid growth of unregistered low-fee private schools in the developing world shows that implementation gaps remain. The State has the responsibility to establish an oversight mechanism for private schools and must ensure its laws are being complied with.

Mister President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

In conclusion, my report offers some recommendations on how the right to education can best be protected from the undue influence of commercial interests.

I must first remind everyone that the State remains primarily responsible for fulfilling the right to education on account of its international legal obligations. Governments should not allow low-fee private schools where there is no public school option, and should ensure education remains as an essential public service function.

Where States wish to allow private, for-profit providers, they must establish elaborate regulatory frameworks that are prescriptive, prohibitory and punitive, in order to control private providers.

Prescriptive regulations clearly establish conditions under which private providers may be permitted to operate within a country, as well as minimum norms and standards with which schools must comply.

Prohibitory regulations are necessary to outlaw and stop discriminatory practices, for-profit education and false commercial propaganda.

Punitive measures are necessary to ensure compliance with standards and the law. Sanctions must be applied when private providers perpetuate social injustices, while criminal proceedings are necessary for fraudulent and corruption practices.

Such a framework is necessary to control abuse, which history has shown often occurs.  Nationally designated authorities should undertake full-scale investigations of fraudulent practices, including tax evasion.

My report also discusses how public education should be strengthened.  States must emphasize their investment in public schools, and should not subsidize private providers.

When States alone cannot fully meet public demand for education, community schools should be encouraged, as they can play a meaningful complementary role. Public authorities should, therefore, engage with communities for the realization for the right to education. Similarly, the foundations of public utilities established for philanthropic motives should be encouraged to contribute to education as a public good.

The humanist mission of education must not be reduced by private schools which only value the market economy. States must ensure that the education imparted in private schools is in conformity with the objectives of education laid down in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in international human rights conventions.

I urge governments to ensure that regulations should prescribe full financial and performance reporting requirements for all private schools.

Mr. President,

Governments alone are unable to fully oversee all private schools.  Governments should strengthen existing human rights mechanisms such as national human rights institutions and ombudspersons or create special mechanisms to regularly oversee operations of private providers. Such mechanisms should have investigatory powers, and mandates to look into alleged violations by private providers and any abusive practices. The State’s international obligations must be made part of their national legal systems. Rules and regulations that govern private schools must be easily available, and avenues outside of costly court systems must be created to allow parents, communities and civil society to bring complaints to public authorities.

The international community also has a role to play.  I urge the United Nations human rights treaty bodies to give special consideration during their dialogues with States to the negative effects of privatization, and whether there are regulations and controls in accordance with human rights law.  The universal periodic review should also consider the negative effects of privatization on the right to education in countries under review. State obligations for respecting, protecting and fulfilling the right to education should be a priority concern in such reviews.

Mr. President,

I call upon parliamentarians, particularly members of education commissions or committees, to play a key role in laying down regulatory frameworks for controlling private providers in education, as well as overseeing their implementation. I also call upon civil society organizations and the intellectual community, as well as students, parents and community associations, to expose the negative effects of private providers in education.

Mister President, Distinguished Delegates,

I am also here today to present my report on the visit I undertook to Bhutan from 26 May to 4 June of last year. This was the first visit by a Special Rapporteur. I must begin by thanking the Government of Bhutan not only for the full support provided during my visit, but also for the spirit of openness and cooperation demonstrated throughout.

I would first like to commend Bhutan for its commitment to strengthening its education system and for placing it at the heart of its national development plans. In particular, its success in achieving the education-related Millennium Development Goals and achievements in literacy for a least developed country such as Bhutan is praiseworthy.

Bhutan is also showing a path to development that seeks to escape the social and environmental damage seen in many other countries. The pledge by the Government to ensure “prosperity for all” through the effective empowerment of its people (wangtse chhirpel) must also be applauded.

I am also happy to see that the rich traditions of Bhutan have led to the development of the concept of gross national happiness. Educating for gross national happiness is a commendable national endeavour to instil into children the social and moral values that help to address the challenges which may arise with rapid economic development. The importance of a model of development founded upon concepts of happiness and well-being, which echoes the philosophic traditions of Bhutan, and which seeks to put the human being at the centre of development, must be recognized in terms of human rights values and a human rights-based approach to development. I believe that this concept is an invaluable contribution to the global understanding of the need for an alternative approach to measuring growth and development merely in terms of gross national product.

Based on my Report I would like to present some recommendations which I believe will further ensure the Government continues to strengthen the right to education within Bhutan.

I encourage Bhutan to sign and ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the UNESCO Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination in Education.  It should also adopt comprehensive legislation in keeping with the provisions on the right to education in the constitution and with its international obligations.  A legal framework for the right to education covering key areas, such as the right to quality education, the status of teachers, domestic financing of education and the regulation of private providers of education would ensure these critical areas are better defined and protected.

Despite recent improvements in this area, Bhutan should take further measures aimed at ensuring the enjoyment of the right to education by every child throughout the country, without discrimination or exclusion. The Special Rapporteur encourages the Government to take the necessary steps to ensure that all children, even in remote areas, are able to enrol in schools, continue their education and not to be sidelined by a lack of the support they need. He also encourages the Government to consider further ways whereby students with disabilities are given the opportunity to integrate into the regular system. Similarly, issues around the exclusion of some children lacking appropriate documentation must be addressed. The continuing existence of school or university admission policies or practices which make reference to citizenship or immigration status should be amended.

I would also encourage the Government to give special consideration to education aimed at the empowerment of girls and to take additional measures to improve the educational achievements of girls in the later years of education. Targeted measures are needed to ensure that girls have the confidence and support to reach their full potential in education and any barriers to that should be addressed. Efforts aimed at achieving gender parity in tertiary education should continue, as there are still only three women for every five men in tertiary institutions.

Despite Bhutan progress in improving education quality, I support the Government in its efforts to seek ongoing reforms.  Curriculum reforms which incorporate the values of gross national happiness and national traditions should be continued. Teacher training should be increased, particularly for teachers at the primary level, who remain underqualified. Improving the working conditions of teachers and enhancing their social standing, as well as their professional status, should be a key concern in education reforms.

I also encourage consultations with parents and communities for any reforms which are aimed at providing education to the largely rural and marginalized communities.

Mister President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to commend the Government of Bhutan for embracing the concept of education for gross national happiness and its efforts to give shape to it. The efforts to counterbalance increasing materialism and commercialization in society by attaching a high degree of importance to the humanistic mission of education are commendable, as rapid economic development and urbanization risk creating a generation which focuses solely on material well-being.

Educating for gross national happiness, curriculum reform and practical measures to ensure teachers are demonstrating gross national happiness in their daily actions, will all assist in operationalizing the overarching concept for creating universal values. The Government should continue to support efforts by universities and the intellectual community to conduct research to better understand the concept of gross national happiness and to find the most effective means of operationalizing it. Efforts made by the Royal University of Bhutan, the Centre for Bhutan Studies, GNH Research, and others  in that field deserve support.

I urge the Government to take steps to preserve and valorise Dzongkha as a national language, and to strengthen other traditional languages. Dzongkha should be a medium of instruction, particularly at the primary school level, and bilingual instruction with English, should be considered.

In keeping with my thematic report, I urge the Government to develop a policy and legislative framework to regulate private education institutions to ensure that education is safeguarded as a public good and is not reduced to a for-profit business.  The Government should regulate private schools to ensure they follow the public curriculum and that only qualified teachers are employed in them. It should also ensure that fees charged by private providers are well regulated.  Further, special care must be taken to ensure that private schools do not replace the public system for higher performing or wealthy students and thereby exacerbate the inequality within the country. That is best addressed by ensuring that public education remains the first choice of all parents owing to its high quality.

In order to promote economic development, the Government should ensure that a viable and attractive technical and vocational education and training programme is integrated into secondary education so that all students receive a high-quality education geared to skills development. It should also review its post-secondary educational investment priorities, with more funding for such programmes and institutions. They are of strategic importance in terms of skills development and can provide great leverage in addressing the present 12 per cent poverty rate by empowering students from poor families through technical and vocational education and training.

The rich traditions of Bhutan’s monastic education system remain an important part of national culture, and contribute some of the universal human values and philosophic traditions into the national education system.  At the same time, the Government should engage in discussions with the monastic authorities to ensure that graduates of that system receive the same basic education that will allow them to pursue post-secondary education along with all other secondary school graduates.

I would also like to emphasize that as the world moves towards the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals that there is much for the world to learn from the concept of Gross National Happiness, and I urge the Government of Bhutan to make every effort to share and disseminate those ideas throughout the world, recognizing that educating for gross national happiness is an important way to achieve the education objectives set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Mesdames, Messieurs,

J’ai rendu une visite en Algérie du 27 Janvier au 3 Février 2015 dans lequel j’ai noté les efforts du Gouvernement pour accorder une grande priorité à l’éducation : non seulement l’Algérie a ratifié les Conventions Internationales pertinent, mais Elle a aussi inscrit l’éducation dans la Constitution comme un droit fondamental tout en assurant la gratuité à tous les niveaux y compris le supérieur.

Je salue la priorité que le Gouvernement donne à l’éducation y compris par lui attribuer la deuxième position dans les priorités budgétaires (16% en 2014). L’investissement du Gouvernement dans les infrastructures scolaires et universitaires et en forme des bourses, manuels gratuits et services de transports, ainsi que les politiques et programmes éducatifs, ont permis que le taux de scolarisation en Algérie dépasse les 97% au niveau primaire et que la parité garçons - filles soi largement atteinte et même plus élevés pour les filles dans l’université et au niveau primaire.

Au même temps, l’Algérie face toujours des défis pour la mise en œuvre du droit à l’éducation, dont le principal -j’ai noté pendant ma visite- est la qualité. Le système éducatif souffre d’abandons scolaires, d’un taux important de redoublement et d’une surcharge dans les écoles. Les taux d’admission peuvent être plus faibles dans certaines régions comme les zones rurales et au sein des ménages les plus pauvres et il reste beaucoup à faire pour que les enfants porteurs de handicap atteignent l’égalité dans l’accès à l’éducation et pour l’enseignement du tamazight.

Sur la base de mon rapport, je voudrais partager quelques-unes des recommandations que je fais au Gouvernement de l’Algérie pour mieux atteindre la réalisation du droit à l’éducation. Je recommande d’envisager de signer et ratifier le Protocole facultatif du Pacte international relatif aux droits économiques, sociaux et culturels et consacrer la justiciabilité du droit à l’éducation dans l’ordre juridique interne. Il faudrait aussi répondre de toute urgence à l’impératif de la qualité et à la performance du système éducatif à tous les niveaux, tout en assurant que le system éducatif algérien soit dispensée est pertinente et que les performances et les acquis des élèves soient évalués régulièrement. La sélection et formation des enseignants doivent améliorer et des normes et des critères de qualité être adopté avec des indicateurs et un système de collecte et de traitement des données plus poussé et plus fiable pour un suivi et une évaluation adéquate du système éducatif. Des cadres du Ministère de l’éducation en charge des statistiques pourraient être développés et la participation des parties prenantes pourraient être pris en compte dans le développement d’un system éducatif meilleur.

Le grand investissement du Gouvernement Algérien en l’éducation doit toujours s’accompagner d’un cadre juridique qui fixe et garanti un niveau minimum du budget national avec une sous-section dédié à la qualité de l’éducation, d'autant plus que le pays dispose déjà d’un vaste cadre juridique qui couvre les diverses dimensions du droit à l'éducation. Je recommande aussi au Gouvernement de l’Algérie d’intégrer la formation professionnelle à l’enseignement général et d’améliorer l’image sociale d’enseignement et la formation professionnels et ses débouchés. Je voudrais aussi attirer l’attention sur la collaboration institutionnalisée entre les entreprises et les institutions d’enseignement technique et professionnel sur la base d’un cadre juridique approprié comme un moyen d’améliorer la réponse aux demandes de compétences et pour que l’enseignement et la formation professionnels puissent contribuer de manière efficace à l’économie et au développement du pays.

Du côté de la déperdition scolaire chez l’Algérie, je recommande de récupérer tous les enfants en dehors du système et d’assurer une scolarisation de 100% des enfants à l’âge réglementaire de 6ans en maintenant tous les enfants jusqu’à 16 ans. Le Gouvernement aura bien besoin d’une évaluation de l’état des déperditions scolaires pour en identifier les causes et de recenser les enfants en dehors du system en identifiant leurs profils. Je encourage aussi le Gouvernement de l’Algérie à adopter une stratégie nationale intersectorielle pour le développement de la petite enfance d’ici 2015 qui en plus intègre l’accès physique aux structures du préscolaire. De même, davantage de moyens humains et financiers pourraient être attribués à l’enseignement progressif du tamazigh à tous les niveaux pour qu’il soit traité plus équitablement au niveau national et les recommandations relatives à la langue amazighe du Comité sur l’élimination de la discrimination raciale et du Comité des droits économiques, sociaux et culturels devraient être mis en œuvre. 

J’apprécie énormément l’engagement du Gouvernement Algérien dans la formation d’excellence aux domaines techniques et professionnels suite à l’adoption en mai 2014 du « Plan d’action du gouvernement pour la mise en œuvre du programme du Président de la République ». Tout en poursuivant la mise en œuvre de ce Plan, l’Algérie pourrait moderniser la législation nationale et élaborer un cadre juridique sur l’investissement dans l’éducation ainsi qu’une nouvelle loi sur sa qualité. Pareillement, il serait important d’élaborer une loi qui remplace le décret exécutif du 24 mars 2004 pour réglementer l’éducation privée et sauvegarder l’éducation comme un bien public.

Finalement,  j’encourage le Gouvernement Algérien à garder à l’esprit la place centrale du droit à l’éducation dans les discussions sur le programme de développement pour l’après-2015, en particulier le rôle qui revient à l’éducation dans la lutte contre la pauvreté qui est l’objectif prioritaire de cet agenda. Dans ce contexte, l’Algérie pourrait mobiliser tous les acteurs afin que les priorités du continent africain aient une grande résonnance au sein de la communauté internationale. Elle pourrait jouer un rôle essentiel au sein de l’Union Africaine et des Nations-Unies.

Mister President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I look forward to the dialogue with the members of the Council today, not only to discuss the content of my reports and the follow up to the recommendations contained therein, but also to further elaborate on additional concerns I hope to address in future activities.
Thank you for your kind attention.