On 6 March 2024, GI-ESCR together with other members of the Privatisation of Education and Human Rights Consortium (PEHRC) held an online panel discussion entitled “Reclaiming Public Education: The movement to defend a sustainable, just and human future for all.” The panel discussion took place as part of the 2024 conference of the Comparative International Education Society (CIES) whose theme was “The Power of Protest”. 

Attended by 19 participants, the panel organised by GI-ESCR and chaired by Micheal Gibbons (American University), consisted of the following presentations: 

1. The Abidjan Principles and use of a human rights framework to regulate the private actor role in public education by Aya Douabou. Her presentation highlighted how the Abidjan Principles were developed as a response to the growing concerns about the privatisation of education if not monitored. It delved into their background, drafting process, adoption, recognition, main themes, commentary and use by various stakeholders.
2. Claiming the right to education through court-based intervention by Karuna Parajuli, ICJ. She shared the experience of working with the litigating lawyers in Nepal and building their knowledge on national and international laws on the right to education. Further, she underscored why it is necessary to claim the equitable access to public education on the one hand and regulation of the private educational institutions on the other hand. 
3. Civil society efforts to counter tech corporations’ attacks towards public education systems by Laura Giannecchini, CLADE. Her presentation provided not only a critical reflection on digitalisation of education, but also new ways to use technology to transform free public inclusive education for all, contributing to mitigate conditions of injustice and inequality in which the vast majority of the populations live in Latin-America and the Caribbean.
4. Advocacy for adequate public financing for education to ensure the right to access and quality by Maha Shoaib, GCE-US. Her presentation explored the critical topic of education financing and its pivotal role in promoting inclusive, quality education accessible to all learners. She equally highlighted, with concrete examples, the importance of advocacy and campaigning methods, recommended policies, and strategies to achieve equitable access to education.
5. Efforts to educate and hold accountable International Finance Institutions for the right to free quality public education by Johnstone Shisanya, EachRights. His presentation focused on how profit-making in education has adversely affected access to education, denying many marginalised and vulnerable children equal opportunity to enjoy their right to education. He shed light on the role of collective action by civil society actors has seen an upwards trend in informing and influencing IMF and World Bank (IFC) policies to revert the trends in financing for profit making education models to prioritize public education and strengthen public education systems. 

The aim of the panel was to reflect on how a broad coalition of education actors, PEHRC, are working together to resist trends of privatisation that threaten public education systems operationally and reputationally. It spoke to the importance of building collective power across modalities in education to stand up to powerful narratives that the private sector is the solution to problems in education and to protect the transformative, democratic, just and sustainable capacity of public education. 

 Visit the Abidjan Principles webpage: https://www.abidjanprinciples.org/