Collective Advocacy
Advancing the human right to education
PEHRC members raise concerns around the impact of privatisation of and in education on learners, education professionals and our societies more broadly through collective advocacy.
Collective statements and letters
Civil society organisations call on other investors in Bridge International Academies to divest urgently and to address concerns raised
19 April 2024
Civil society organisations call on investors in Bridge International Academies to immediately divest and to investigate and address concerns raised 47 civil society organisations receive with concern the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman’s (CAO’s) Compliance Investigation Report […]
Joint statement in Response to Reports of a Child Sexual Abuse Cover Up at the World Bank
19 October 2023
The undersigned organizations are gravely concerned about the recent media report of child sexual abuse at Bridge International Academies in Kenya, and allegations that the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) for years turned a blind eye to the abuse.
UK’s development finance ‘harming society and the environment’: civil society organisations respond to critical report by UK Parliamentary International Development Committee
29 September 2023
Joint civil society organisation statement in response to Report on Investment for development – The UK’s Strategy towards Development Finance Initiatives. The recent report by the International Development Committee (IDC) of the UK House of Commons, entitled [...]
Civil society organisations highlight limitations of new study on Bridge International Academies’ education model, and urge caution in interpreting findings
13 September 2022
In the light of human rights standards on the right to education and the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, 38 signatory civil society organisations raise serious concerns about the potential implications of the recently released working paper “Can Education be Standardized? [...]
Statement: Civil society groups applaud IFC’s decision to stop investing in fee-charging private schools, call on other investors to follow its lead
14 June 2022
Civil society organizations welcome the announcement from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) that it will not resume its investments in K-12 private schools, following the release of an independent evaluation by the World Bank Independent [...]
Statement: Civil society groups celebrate IFC’s divestment from profit-driven school chain Bridge International Academies
16 March 2022
The World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) has quietly divested from New Globe Schools, better known as Bridge International Academies (BIA), a for-profit school chain operating in four African countries and India. The IFC has invested a total of $13.5 million in [...]
Open Letter: Call on World Education Leaders to Use Multi-billion Dollars Funding to Support Public Education
27 July 2021
As Ministers of education and other leading stakeholders in education meet on 28-29 July 2021 at the Global Education Summit, 37 CSOs call on governments to make robust funding commitments for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and urge GPE and its partners [...]
Blog: Re-building resilient education systems: three lessons on the privatisation of education emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic
2 October 2020
It is well-known that the disruptions to education due to COVID-19 are enormous. In order to understand the full effects of the pandemic, members of the Privatisation Education and Human Rights Consortium, an informal network of national, regional and global organisations [...]
Statement: Endorsement of the International Finance Corporation Decision to Move Away from For-Profit Education Investments
10 April 2020
The World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) has set a new precedent in upholding the right to education in an official commitment to freeze investments in private for-profit pre-primary, primary, and secondary (also called “K-12”) schools. The [...]
Open Letter: World Bank – ensure development aid for education supports public provision
1 October 2029
In October 2019, over 170 organisations urged the World Bank to ensure that development aid for education is used to support the public provision of free, quality education that benefits all without discrimination of any kind, such as discrimination based on socio-economic [...]
Blog: What education activists say and do about the privatization of education
21 March 2019
Education civil society and human rights activists convened in Abidjan last month for the annual global meeting of the Privatization in Education and Human Rights Consortium (PEHRC). Delegates from all around the world met to discuss the adoption of the Abidjan [...]
Open Letter: Calling attention of investors to concerning evidence regarding Bridge International Academies
1 March 2018
In March 2018, a group of 88 civil society organisations sent a letter to all current and prospective investors in Bridge International Academies to call attention to a large body of evidence from various independent sources, including journalists, governments, former BIA [...]
Statement: Bridge International Academies must respect the right to education and comply with Ugandan Government order to close its schools
7 February 2018
(Kampala, Nairobi, Dakar) Following the decision of the Government of Uganda to close Bridge International Academies in in the country, after 18 months of investigation and court battles, civil society organizations call on the US-based company to comply with the Government decision [...]
Open Letter: Call on investors to cease support to Bridge International Academies
1 August 2017
In May 2015, 116 civil society organisations published a statement raising concerns about the costs, impact and quality of Bridge International Academies (BIA), and responding to misleading information about its approach. Since then, evidence from various sources, including [...]
Statement: Uganda judgement on the closure of Bridge International Academies must signal a move toward fulfilling the right to education
10 November 2016
The 15 organisations endorsing this statement take note of the decision taken by the High Court of Uganda sitting in Kampala on Friday 4th November which confirms that the process followed by the Ugandan Government to decide to close schools run by Bridge International Academies [...]
Statement: Response to World Bank President Jim Kim’s speech “Ending Extreme Poverty by 2030: The Final Push”
14 May 2015
Concerned community members and civil society organisations in Kenya and Uganda released this response to President Jim Kim’s speech praising the for-profit, fee-charging chain of private primary schools, Bridge International Academies. The statement rebuts the claim that school [...]