Factsheets & briefs

Key insights and strategic recommendations from a roundtable organised by  the Right to Education Initiative in July 2025.

العربية     ESPAÑOL     FRANÇAIS    

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are often presented as a miracle solution to the lack of funding in education. This policy brief, based a longer and more developed working paper, shows that these arrangements often generate higher hidden costs and widen educational inequalities.

It aims to support more informed and strategic decision-making regarding public-private partnerships in education, protect public resources, improve policy implementation and enhance accountability.

The right to education and lifelong learning is at the very heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development because education, knowledge and learning are central to the dignity, growth and development of the individual. For centuries, education has been the great equalizer, a driving force of nation-building, and the engine of social, cultural, economic and technological progress. Today, however, beset by twin crises of equity and relevance, education as we know it is no longer fit for purpose.

This report, jointly produced by Right to Education Initiative; La FAGE, Fédération des Associations Générales Etudiantes; and Global Students Forum, focuses on the right to higher education, questioning France’s compliance with its obligations regarding article 2.2 and article 13.2 (c) of the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

This brief was submitted to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights prior to the 7th Review of the United Kingdom, responding to the pre-sessional Working Group submission. It was submitted in January 2023 and focuses on UK international development cooperation in the area of education. Another report was submitted in 2024 with updates and recommendations.

This Right to Education Initiative brief explores ECCE related content from the reports of UN Special Rapporteurs on the Right to Education published between 1999 and 2021. 

Public education is often critiqued as ineffective and inefficient. However, where shortcomings in public education are identified, they can often be attributed not to lack of capacity, but lack of political will.

When working on human rights issues, you should consider a person’s right to decide whether they want to be featured in written, recorded or audiovisual work. 

It is an ethical consideration which protects individuals from exploitation. It is also a legal requirement:  in many countries you cannot share, store or publish content if consent has not been obtained. 

At the end of 2019, at least 13.4 million school-age children (5-17 years old) were internally displaced due to conflict or violence. These numbers are likely an underestimate with many internally displaced children unaccounted for due to lack of data. The periods of internal displacement are becoming longer, with years becoming decades and internally displaced children spending the majority of their school-years displaced. The majority of these children do not have access to quality, safe and inclusive education due to discrimination, financial, legal, and insecurity barriers.