A/HRC/41/37 that is the only status available, but be operated, for instance, by and for the community without actually extracting any profit. 15. Profit-making in education raises issues when considering the realization of the right to education and Sustainable Development Goal 4. A for-profit school may seek to maximize profits through high fees or to cut costs through reducing the most expensive parts of the curriculum, expelling learners that need the most support, or not properly maintaining school premises. For instance, studies in Kenya have alleged that schools operated by for-profit provider Bridge International Academies often have poor-quality infrastructure to the extent that it constitutes a violation of health and safety standards. 15 When the Ministry of Education in Uganda reportedly resolved to shut Bridge schools in the country, one reason provided was that poor hygiene and sanitation put the life and safety of the schoolchildren in danger.16 16. Another way to classify private institutions is to establish whether they are commercial in nature or orientation, making the learner a consumer and education a consumer good.17 The 2016 Appeal by Francophone civil society against the commercialization of education defined them as “educational institutions for which one of the primary goals (although not the only goal) is to trade education services and to protect their own interest rather than serving the public interest. They view education as a commodity, which results in a willingness to expand their activities and their model by competing with other institutions, increasing their turnover, or growing their profits.”18 Crucially, commercial institutions are defined by their commercial interest and orientation, rather than their formal legal structure. They are contrasted with institutions that fulfil a public service mission, which echoes general comment No. 24 (1994) of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on State obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the context of business activities, requiring that States impose “public service obligations” on private providers of essential services (para. 21). 17. States have increasingly used the concept of commercialization. In its resolutions 29/7, 32/22, 35/2 and 38/9 on the right to education, the Human Rights Council called on States to address any negative impact of the commercialization of education. In 2018, the European Parliament insisted that the European Union and its member States “must not use ODA to support private, commercial educational establishments, which do not uphold the Union’s principles and values”.19 In the 2016 Antananarivo Declaration, the International Organisation of La Francophonie also expressed concern about the development of academic and educational establishments with a commercial purpose.20 Equally, in its strategy for education, professional training and integration in developing countries for the period 2017–2021, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development committed to preventing the risk of commercialization of education. 21 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 See complaint to the International Finance Corporation Compliance Advisor Ombudsman by the East African Centre for Human Rights (2018), available at http://eachrights.or.ke/wpcontent/uploads/2018/04/CAO-Complaint-EACHRights-16-April-18-Public-1.pdf. See Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, “Uganda to close the largest chain of commercial private schools over non-respect of basic education standards” (2016), available at www.gi-escr.org/latest-news/groundbreaking-news-uganda-to-close-the-largest-chain-of-commercialprivate-schools-over-non-respect-of-basic-education-standards/. See Education, Privatization and Social Justice: Case Studies from Africa, South Asia and South East Asia, Ian Macpherson, Susan Robertson and Geoffrey Walford, eds., ch. 1, (Oxford, Symposium Books Limited, 2014). Available at http://nevendezpasleducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Appeal-eng.-againstcommercialisation.pdf. See European Parliament resolution 2018/2081 (INI) on EU development assistance in the field of education (13 November 2018), para. 12. See www.francophonie.org/IMG/pdf/som_xvi_decl_antananarivo_vf.pdf, para. 39. See www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/20170314_strategie_efi_20172021_mise_en_page_2__cle8c6f77.pdf, p. 17. 5