During the Transforming Education Pre-Summit, held in Paris between 28-30 June, RTE participated in a side session entitled ‘Public vs Private Transformative Solutions for Education’.
The aim of the meeting was to critically analyse the increasing role of private providers in education, and to discuss different approaches to improve public education to increase inclusion and equity, offering a gender-transformative education to meet SDG4. It explored actionable solutions to reduce teacher shortages and improve access and quality of education through adequate and sustainable financing, and equity and efficiency of spending on education.
The session, which was held on 29 June, featured participation from our Executive Director Delphine Dorsi alongside the following speakers:
Dr Koumbou Boly Barry, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education
Dr Manos Antoninis, GEM Report UNESCO
Antonia Wulff and Manuela Mendonca, Education International
Dr Maria Ron Balsera, TaxEd Alliance
Kira Boe and Ingrid Mikkelson, Oxfam
Delphine Dorsi discussed the Abidjan Principles, and the context in which the need for them emerged: primarily, the challenges faced by public education systems and the growth of low cost and commercial private schools. She explained the participatory and consultative development of the Principles, and highlighted their application across multiple fields and their use in academic publications.