A/HRC/29/30 consumer good.1 The reconfiguration of public services within neoliberal globalization has placed education squarely in the headlamps of the private sector2 and international trade agreements such as the General Agreement on Trade in Services and the Trade in Services Agreement.3 Low-fee private schools in developing countries are a glaring example of the commercialization of education, characterized as “edu-business”.4 A potentially very large proportion of these schools are unregistered.5 37. These developments have their genesis in the education sector strategies of the World Bank, which have stressed since the 1980s the key role of the private sector in education and compelled developing countries to initiate significant cuts under structural adjustments to their public services, including education. The most recent World Bank education strategy, the education sector strategy 2020 (released in 2011), gives increased prominence to private-sector engagement in education; as does the Global Partnership for Education.6 38. Promoting for-profit education, the International Finance Corporation considers laws as financial hurdles and provides guidance to private providers of education to be “very profitable and flourishing enterprises”.7 This is blatantly disrespectful of the human rights obligations of international bodies, including the World Bank, as described in general comment No. 13 (1999) on the right to education of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. 39. The commercialization of education and its unfettered liberalization, open to operators for lucrative purposes or objectives, is contrary to international human rights law. The introduction of private, for-profit education into the national education landscape has a number of serious repercussions. 8 Privatization leads to shrinking public investment. Its negative effects on education must receive foremost consideration in public policies, bearing in mind that education is a social good. IV. Widespread concern with the baleful effects of privatization in education 40. A number of scholars have critically examined the neoliberal model of schooling, which is characterized by “State withdrawal in favour of privatization” and “market- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 6 Ian Macpherson, Susan Robertson and Geoffrey Walford, eds., Education, Privatization and Social Justice: Case Studies from Africa, South Asia and South East Asia (Oxford, Symposium Books Limited, 2014). See concept note for the Commonwealth Ministerial Working Group on the Post-2015 Development Framework for Education (2013). See Education International, “Education is not a commodity”, 6 May 2015. Available from http://eiie.org/en/news/news_details/3517. See Geetha B. Nambissan, “Private schools for the poor: business as usual?”, Economic & Political Weekly, 13 October 2012, vol. xlvii, No. 41, p. 51. Laura Day Ashley et al., “The role and impact of private schools in developing countries” (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Department of International Development, 2014) p. 18. Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.. See Education investment guide: a guide for investors in private education in emerging markets (2010). Available from http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2010/07/18806919/educationinvestment-guide-guide-investors-private-education-emerging-markets. See http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2014/12/17/for-profit-school-chains-educate-africas-poor/.