Safeguarding Education as Public Good and Regulating Private Providers

Abstract

Mushrooming of privatisation which one witnesses at all levels in education aggravates marginalisation and exclusion. It has a crippling effect on the principle of equality of opportunity in education, which is a fundamental principle established by almost all international human rights conventions. Instead of supplementing education, private providers are supplanting it. Rather than controlling this phenomenon, governments even provide subsidy to private providers. There is widespread concern with the negative effects of privatisation in education in scholarly writings by intellectual community, civil society organisations and international organisations. Every child is entitled to education free of cost as an inalienable right, and access to education should not be based on capacity to pay fees which often are exorbitant. This also puts in jeopardy the principles of social justice and equity, which are key pillars of the United Nations system. Safeguarding education as a public good and fostering its humanist mission is of paramount importance. Under no circumstances education should be allowed to be mercantalised. States have the obligation to ensure that when education is provided by non-State entities, the principles and norms underlying right to education are respected, and education is not allowed to be reduced to business. They have the obligation to regulate and control all private providers in education and protect public interest in education. Abusive practices by private providers denote the failure of States to adequately monitor and regulate privatised education. This calls for strengthening human rights mechanisms to effectively address and sanction all abusive practices. In this, governments can be inspired by numerous decisions by courts and emerging jurisprudence.