A/HRC/41/37 for any purpose inconsistent with the obligation to respect, protect and fulfil the right to education” (Guiding Principle 54). 48. The use of regulations, for instance, as a disguised way of refusing to open educational institutions that may be critical of the Government (or of ideologies supported by the State), or of shutting them down, or as a way of denying minorities or indigenous groups obtaining an education that meets their cultural rights, violates human rights. For example, concern was expressed when the Government of Hungary changed legislation to the effect that made it impossible for the Central European University to continue its operations in the country, creating undue interference with academic freedom and independence.45 49. Guiding Principle 52 recalls that: “States should impose public service obligations on private actors involved in education to ensure that such private actors contribute to the realisation of the right to education.” That is aligned with general comment No. 24 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (para. 21). Irrespective of whether the provider is public or private, education remains a public service that plays a particular role in the fabric of society, social cohesion, democracy and the realization of other human rights. State regulations must ensure that where private educational institutions operate, they live up to those standards. 50. The impact of private educational institutions on the right to education is too often assessed at the school level on a narrow set of indicators. Each school is assessed separately and compared with other schools. However, adverse human rights impacts of the development of private schools, for instance, with regard to segregation, often appear at the systemic level when looking at the cumulative impact of a large number of private institutions on the whole range of human rights.46 51. Guiding principle 55 establishes a checklist of what is implied in the regulation of private actors. The checklist draws from State practice in countries around the world, such as Algeria, Japan and Singapore, as reported, for example, by the previous Special Rapporteur (see A/HRC/29/30, paras. 83–85). 52. Similarly, as quality should improve in public education, Guiding Principle 56 outlines the obligation of States to increase progressively the requirements of minimum standards for education. That may be particularly relevant for contexts where the State has had historically low standards, for instance to allow the formalization of private schools that have historically operated informally. 53. The standards in the Alternative Provision of Basic Education and Training programme in Kenya offer an interesting illustration. According to information received, the standards make it easier for informal schools to register with the Ministry of Education. They are intended “to integrate the [non-formal] education and training institutions into the mainstream programme” and facilitate the registration of institutions that are established “for the provision of basic education or vocational training to children and youth who, due to difficult circumstances, are unable to access public or private schools in informal settlements and other hard to reach areas”.47 However, such standards should include clear plans to rapidly increase the requirements on such schools to meet the standards of other schools, a point that is still unclear in the policy. The Special Rapporteur also warns that such regulations may be misused by commercial actors, which may seek to register under the Alternative Provision Standards in Kenya and to use such regulations to increase their profits and gain market share rather than to formalize historical informal provision. 45 46 47 12 See letter from the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression to the Permanent Representative of Hungary, dated 11 April 2017 (HUN 1/2017). See Martin Carnoy and Patrick McEwan, “Does privatization improve education? The case of Chile’s national voucher plan” (2003). See Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, “Registration guidelines for alternative provision of basic education and training” (2015), available at https://doj19z5hov92o.cloudfront.net/ sites/default/files/media/resource/alternative_provision_of_basic_education_and_training_apbet_opti on_2_cover.pdf, pp. 8 and 9.