Setting the Rules of the Game: how can regulations of private actors ensure the right to education post-2015?

Background:

In September 2015, world leaders adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), setting the development agenda for the next 15 years. In the context of implementation of these goals, governments will develop in 2016 national plans that set out their policies and strategies to realise the SDGs.  A key policy issue that will be central to the formation of national development plans on education will be to address the role of private actors in education.

Private schools, including in particular “low-cost,” low-quality private schools, have been expanding rapidly in developing countries in the last years, without the necessary supervision and regulation, leading to abuses and negative effects on the right to education in various contexts. In addressing this matter, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution in June 2015 calling upon States “[to put] in place a regulatory framework guided by international human rights obligations for education providers.”

Therefore, a central endeavour of the national development plans should be to define adequate regulatory frameworks for these private schools, taking into account the particular economic and sustainability needs of States and their obligations under human rights laws and standards. This panel discussion will explore what regulations should be adopted by governments in light of the post-2015 agenda in order to protect and promote the right to education for all.