Initiatives: How the Private Sector Can Help to Improve Education

According to the UNESCO report on their 2017-2018 “Global Education Monitoring Report,” the investment and spends of the private sector on educational programs have increased. The private sector plays an important role to improve education and reach sustainability in issues surrounding education. Between 2009 and 2014, the quantity invested increased considerably around 450 million dollars. During the next five years, the spends on education are going to exceed the 200 billion dollars. The participation of the private sector needs to be regulated to assure quality and equity. The private sector includes education corporations, advocacy networks, private school chains, consultancy firms, and philanthropic organizations, and investors as the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

The private sector helps to provide auxiliary education services as tutoring, feeding programs and instructional materials.

·       The tutoring services include activities to compliment what students learn at school. These activities can help the students to understand better the class material. Private tutoring services might not be considered as equal because not all students have access to them. The supervision of the government to the tutoring services is not common. According to UNESCO, most of the governments do not monitor the tutoring centers.

·       The feeding programs require supervision by the government. These programs are designed to provide school meals to students from pre-primary, primary and secondary schools. According to data provided by UNESCO, about 368 million students are benefited with the meal program. These programs should guarantee the nutrition and well-being of the students. The government is responsible for establishing the policies to regulate the feeding programs.

·       The instructional materials are sold to schools and governments. Textbooks and teacher guides are the most common instructional materials. These materials can be found printed or digital. Providing textbooks to the students is an important tool to help them in their learning process. Every student may have access to a book. However, for low income countries, it is difficult to provide textbooks to their students. The governments are encouraging the private sector to reduce the cost of the book, so that they can access to them.

Reference

UNESCO. (2017). Accountability in Education: Meeting Our Commitments (Second ed., pp. 105-113). Paris, France: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0025/002593/259338e.pdf