New page to follow the controversial outsourcing of private education to a private company in Liberia

As you may know, Liberia announced early 2016 its intention to entirely outsource its public pre-primary and primary school system to private actors, through a public-private partnership (PPP). The program is called “Partnership Schools for Liberia”. Most of the schools would be handed over to a single private for-profit commercial firm, Bridge International Academies, in a contract estimated at $65 million over a five-year period. 

This deal has created a huge controversy, and creates serious concerns for the realisation of the right to education in Liberia, with the UN Special rapporteur on the right to education declaring in March that “such arrangements are a blatant violation of Liberia’s international obligations under the right to education, and have no justification under Liberia’s constitution”.

GI-ESCR has created a dedicated webpage to follow the debates in Liberia and highlight the human rights arguments at play. You can reach it here: http://bit.ly/PrivatEducLiberia.

The aim is to keep up-to-date information on this important debate in one place. The page will be regularly updated. If you want to add or correct information, please do reach out to us. 

For more information about the role of private actors in education and human rights around the world, see our page: http://bit.ly/privatisationproject. For more about human rights standards applicable to private actors, see human rights bodies' pronouncements here http://bit.ly/synthesisprivatisationV5, and the UN Special Rapporteur's, Kishore Singh, report on PPPs, here http://bit.ly/1pJNWEA.