Education and General Agreement on Trade in Services: preserving public education is the best way to achieve the Education For All program (original) (raw)

Officially, public services of education are not part of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). But more and more pressure is being put on the developing countries and on the less advanced countries to make commitments about their public system of education. The ‘Educational For All’ program, defined by UNESCO, is essential in guaranteeing the human right to free access to quality education. It is of the utmost importance that public systems of education contribute to sustainable development. It is also the best way to preserve cultural and linguistic diversity and to avoid a situation where English becomes the unique and universal learning language. This article shows the threats (from GATS, from international institutions, but also from private providers) that contend with public systems of education and looks for ways of avoiding the complete privatization of educational services. Is it possible to avoid a two-speed educational system that would allow free access, for...