On 29th of July, 2015, the Oxford Human Rights Hub and the Open Society Foundations presented a live workshop on the Challenges of Public-Private Partnerships in Realising the Right to Education.

The workshop was a pioneering multimedia event, including pre-recorded videos, a live studio panel, online Q&A with experts and live questions from participants all over the world.

The workshop was moderated by Professor Sandra Fredman, Director of OxHRH, who was joined by international experts both in Oxford and abroad.

In-studio panel participants:

• Dr. Kishore Singh, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education
• Professor Anne Davies, University of Oxford Faculty of Law
• Jason Brickhill, Barrister, Legal Resources Centre (South Africa)

Video conferencing participants:

• Jayna Kothari, Centre for Law and Policy Research (India)
• Angelo Gavrielatos, Education International (Australia)
• Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, Advocate Group 621 (South Africa)
• Conor O’Mahony, University College Cork (Ireland)
• Salima Namusobya, Institute for Economic and Social Rights (Uganda)

The workshop was a great success, with more than 100 active participants from around the globe.  Participants had the opportunity to ask questions and participate in the conversation on social media using the hashtag #Right2Education.  Some of the critical questions explored included:

• What is the role of law in structuring a PPP and in conceptualising the purpose of education?
• How can the state and private providers be held accountable for quality of instruction as well as issues of corruption?
• What enforceability measures are needed to hold actors in PPPs accountable?

For those who were unable to attend the live webinar a recording of the event is now available here.

A previous webinar by Professor Sandra Fredman on the Right to Education can be found here.

The online workshop was organised with the Open Society Foundations’ Education Support Programme, in close coordination with their Privatisation in Education Research Initiative (PERI). To learn more about the project, please visit PERI’s website, follow on Twitter and Facebook, and register to receive their monthly newsletter.