Morning Star.png Pro-Privatisation Aid Cash ‘Harming Kids’ UN: poorer children get sub-standard schools Lamiat Sabin, The Morning Star, London, 11 June 2016 The United Nations warned yesterday that British aid money funding private education in developing countries leads to substandard state schools for poorer children. The UN committee on the rights of the child (CRC) released an unprecedented statement condemning the funding of a for-profit chain of schools called Bridge International Academies, which operates in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and India. According to its website, Bridge is also bankrolled by tech tycoons Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg as well as venture capitalists and the World Bank. The millions of pounds that the Department of International Development (DfID) spends on such schools every year should instead be used to establish free, high-quality primary education for all children regardless of their family income, the CRC said. Funding “low-fee” private schools, which cost around £4 a month for each child, could contribute to violating the rights of children in recipient countries under international law as only some families can afford them. It also channels money away from state schools, the CRC added, noting that they are often overcrowded and blighted by teacher absences. The National Union of Teachers (NUT) called for the government to launch an immediate review into DfID spending. The Commons will debate foreign aid on Monday. The CRC warning comes after the Star reported yesterday that only 2 per cent of the DfID budget reaches poorer people in need after corporations have taken their cuts. NUT acting general secretary Kevin Courtney said: “The British government, which claims in the UK that it is against profits being made from state education, should respond to this damning criticism and immediately launch a review of DfID’s financial support for and promotion of these privatised schools in the global South.” DfID funding to commercial schools in developing countries is “illegal” as they are “undermining children’s rights,” said Sylvain Aubry of the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Delphine Dorsi of the Right to Education Project added: “The CRC confirms the suspicion we had raised in our report that UK funding to Bridge International Academies and similar commercial chains could be violating international law.” From: http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-5111-Pro-privatisation-aid-cash-harming -kids/#.V2POort9601 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/yclsa-eom-forum/00b101d1c887%248427b530%248c771f90%24%40com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
