GI-ESCR Webinar: Are commercial private schools improving transparency in education?

The Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) webinar will introduce the research brief: “Transparency of private commercial education providers: A case-study of Bridge International Academies”. This brief will provide a starting point for a broader discussion on the role of the private sector in addressing transparency challenges in education. The dialogue will include perspectives from domestic experiences in Kenya and Liberia as well as the view of transparency and anti-corruption specialists on how to improve transparency to support the realisation of the right to education in all contexts.

GI-ESCR will be sharing an overview of the questions and findings related to the transparency of commercial models in education first by summarising the transparency standards that should be respected in education, then by looking at the transparency record of Bridge International Academies, one of the largest commercial chain of low-fee pre-primary and primary private schools, and finally by formulating recommendations on how to improve transparency and accountability for the entire education system.

Acknowledging the complexities of the discussion on transparency, the brief demonstrates that contrary to the wide-held narrative in development policy, commercial private actors do not automatically contribute to improving transparency and accountability in education and may indeed even increase transparency risks. It will furthermore provide a starting point for a discussion on the role and the limitations of private education providers for improving transparency in the education system, and highlight the importance of the role of the public sector, including for both national governments and donors to work together to improve the processes and capacities for public authorities to uphold transparency and accountability and strengthen the civic space.

The webinar will be chaired by Monica Kyria (PhD), Senior Adviser in Mainstreaming anti-corruption in public services and integrating gender in anti-corruption at the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre (U4).

Speakers will be:

• Ashina Mtsumi, Africa Representative at GI-ESCR and Zsuzsanna Nyitray, Programme Officer on the Right to Education at GI-ESCR
• Johnstone Shisanya, Project Manager Education Support Project, East African Centre for Human Rights
• Anderson Miamen, National Coordinator, Coalition for Transparency and Accountability in Education.