A/HRC/29/30 B. Prohibitive regulations 99. Regulations must ban for-profit education and prohibit fee-based discrimination because it creates and entrenches social and economic inequalities.76 Prohibitive regulations can ban the registration of private schools as companies, the recruitment of unqualified teachers or those employed in public schools, the closure of schools during an academic year, indulgence in false commercial propaganda to lure insufficiently informed students and parents,77 the charging of capitation fees and the extraction from students or parents of any undeclared financial contribution over and above the approved fee. Regulations must prohibit school selection on the basis of ability, social or ethnic origin, or any form of psychometric tests. C. Punitive regulations 100. According to one scholar, “the failure to enforce and monitor the regulatory framework within which private schools are to function has left the educational landscape open to corrupt practice and manipulation”.78 In addition to being prescriptive and prohibitive, the regulatory framework should also be punitive, including withdrawal of operating licences for lack of compliance with regulations. This is necessary to control noncompliance with regulations as well as to take action against private providers who indulge in fraudulent and corrupt practices, such as false declarations of profits or of salaries paid to teachers and tax evasion. It is important that corrupt and fraudulent practices are investigated, and operators and owners of schools who act illegally or abscond with student fees are prosecuted in the criminal system.79 XI. Oversight and monitoring mechanisms 101. The lack of effective oversight and regulating mechanisms is one of the most significant failures of States. In spite of regulations for registration and recognition, the rapid growth of unregistered low-fee private schools in the developing world shows that implementation gaps remain. The State has the responsibility to establish an oversight mechanism for private schools and must ensure its laws are being complied with. 102. The Special Rapporteur urges public authorities, parent-teacher associations, civil society groups and teachers’ unions to closely monitor publicity and false claims that promote private providers in education. Public authorities should look into all cases of commercial advertising in education and take action in all cases of misleading claims as to quality education. 103. It is important that States carefully enforce laws, rules and regulations through monitoring and enforcement. Governments should strengthen national human rights mechanisms or ombudspersons to provide parents with a place to report suspected violations, and empower such bodies to investigate allegations. 76 77 78 79 See http://globalinitiative-escr.org/advocates-from-91-countries-call-on-governments-to-stopeducation-profiteers/. See in particular www.right-to-education.org/news/un-special-rapporteur-urges-states-ban-allcommercial-advertising-and-marketing-schools#sthash.0ahWXwSW.dpuf. “Private schools for the poor”, p. 54. Kenya highlighted that parents felt private schools could close down at any time because they existed merely on the “whim of an individual”. See “The role and impact of private schools in developing countries”, Day Ashley et al., “The role and impact of private schools”, p. 27. 19