“An education system based on public institutions is the best option to fully realise the right to education. That is why the State must consolidate education as being a real public good, promoting education as a bearer of not only individual and collective emancipation but of social justice as well.” This was one of the salient points from the final report on the study on the privatisation and commodification of education and training in Senegal, commissioned and presented by the Union Syndicale pour une Éducation de Qualité, USEQ (Trade Union for Quality Education), which brings together Education International’s affiliated unions in the country.
The USEQ comprises the Syndicat Autonome de l’Enseignement Supérieur, SAES (Autonomous Union for Higher Education), Syndicat National de l'Enseignement Elémentaire, SNEEL-CNTS (National Union for Primary Education), Syndicat des Enseignants Libres du Sénégal, SELS (Senegalese Union for Independent Teachers), Syndicat des Professeurs du Sénégal, SYPROS (Senegalese Union of Teachers), Syndicat unitaire et démocratique des enseignants du Sénégal, SUDES (Unified and Democratic Union of Teachers in Senegal) and Union Démocratique des Enseignantes et des Enseignants du Sénégal, UDEN (Senegalese Democratic Union of Teachers).
This diagnostic study on the privatisation of education in Senegal was financially supported by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, supervised by EI’s Office for the African Region and undertaken by EDUFORE’s office specialising in education, training and assessment. It aimed to take stock of the privatisation of education in order to gain a better understanding of the problem, find the most well-suited strategies to fight against the many abuses being regularly denounced by the education community and provide effective advocacy tools in order to develop education and training in the public sector.
Context
The study was commissioned by the USEQ in a context marked by an increased demand for education in an economic crisis and where the State has given more space to private education and training through strong liberalisation measures. This has been done despite different international and national commitments made by the country which focus on developing quality, inclusive and free-of-charge public education.
According to Abdourahmane Gueye, national general secretary of the UDEN and USEQ coordinator, it is “possible to achieve the goals of having significant, domestic and sustainable public funding for education and training using the expertise of unions through creating the most relevant arguments, union mobilisation, awareness-raising at the national level and extending this to the public authorities, as well as strong, intensive and sustained advocacy carried out through different means of union protest .”
Emphasising the point that “it is the State’s sovereign duty to jealously guard the most strategic sphere of the nation’s future: the education and training of its citizens”, he also noted that “currently in the private education sector, there are several education systems being developed that were created abroad. They have different missions, concepts and visions. Different bilingual schools -American, Turkish, Iranian, Middle Eastern, North African, amongst others – belong to this category.
Recommendations
It is in this context that the study’s report recommends, inter alia:
- An education system based on public institutions is the best option to fully realise the right to education. That is why States must consolidate education as being a real public good, promoting education as a bearer of not only individual and collective emancipation but of social justice as well;
- The fight against excessive privatisation and commodification. This is a major challenge faced by stakeholders and advocates for lifelong education for all.
Go public! Fund Education
The results of the USEQ study are perfectly aligned with the demands made in the EI campaign: Go public! Fund Education.
This campaign is an urgent call to governments to invest in public education, a fundamental human right and public good, and to invest more in teachers, who are the most important element to achieving quality education.
Conclusions shared
The USEQ also created a leaflet on the study report’s conclusions which will be used in their awareness-raising activities. These conclusions were also presented to the national media on the 16th and 17th of November. On the 30th of November an exchange forum on the study will be held with the participation of key education stakeholders. Finally, in December, meetings will be organised with the minister in charge of Education and Training, the Economy and Finance minister, the committees responsible for Education/Training at the National Assembly in Senegal, the High Council of Local Authorities and the High Council of Social Dialogue.