A/HRC/35/24/Add.1
authority to supervise the utilization of the subsidy. Subsidy recipients are required to
maintain accounts of the subsidies, which are intended exclusively for educational
purposes. If profit-making in education is to be eliminated, those accountability obligations
need to be extended to all private educational establishments, whether or not they receive
subsidies from the State.
92.
It is also important to look into practices concerning the payment of rent for school
buildings in private schools and to regulate such transactions and school management,
taking a stringent approach based on legitimacy and fairness. The Special Rapporteur trusts
that any entity establishing a private school, irrespective of whether it receives a State
subsidy, is required to be duly registered with the competent public authorities as a
recognized legal entity with all the accountability that goes with that status.
93.
The need for a stringent regulatory system is demonstrated by the closure of the
Universidad del Mar. Following endorsement by the National Accreditation Committee in
2010 regarding the quality of undergraduate teaching and the institutional standing of the
university, students enrolled at the university were able to access State assistance
programmes to finance their education. In May 2012, an auditing and supervision process
culminated in legal proceedings against the university on the grounds that it had illegally
accessed accreditation. The charges included the concurrent use of State resources in the
university’s operations and serious non-compliance with its academic commitments. The
academic authorities were found to lack adequate training and some were operating with
fake degrees.17 Such cases must be avoided in other higher education institutions and steps
taken to prevent them from fraudulently accessing accreditation, or legally accessing
accreditation but for a few years only.
F.
Main parameters of the regulatory framework
94.
Abusive and fraudulent practices may be closely linked to the pursuit of education
for profit and should be effectively sanctioned. A comprehensive, sound regulatory
framework with a system of sanctions is necessary to ensure that “edu-business” has no
place in any education system. Such a framework should be prescriptive, prohibitive and
punitive. Prescriptive regulations should clearly establish the conditions under which
private providers may be permitted to operate within the framework of international human
rights law and constitutional law. Human rights instruments include binding minimum
norms and standards with which private educational establishments must comply.
95.
Prohibitive regulations are necessary to outlaw for-profit education and curb false
commercial propaganda. Such regulations must impose a ban on exorbitant fees such as
those currently charged in some Chilean private universities.
96.
Punitive measures are necessary to ensure compliance with the law and to ensure
that fraudulent practices are punishable and the perpetrators brought to justice. Nationally
designated authorities should undertake full-scale investigations of fraudulent practices,
defining appropriate sanctions. Sanctions with criminal proceedings may be necessary for
fraudulent and corrupt practices that jeopardize the realization of human rights.
X. Conclusions and recommendations
97.
It is of paramount importance to safeguard the right to education fully against
the forces of privatization, and to maintain education as a public good in line with
obligations under international human rights law.
98.
The unprecedented education reforms being ushered in in Chile are laudable in
that they will dismantle the legacy of market-based approaches in education that have
17
16
National Human Rights Institute, “Complementary report: International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights”, March 2014, p. 53. Available at http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/
CESCR/Shared%20Documents/CHL/INT_CESCR_IFL_CHL_18457_E.pdf.
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