[PeDAGoG] my blog on UNESCO's GEM Report on the privatization of education

Wed Jun 22 16:38:55 CEST 2022

Dear Steve 

Thanks for this article of yours. I am writing this letter to the whole group as I think there are some fundamental questions which might be of interest to everyone  in this group. . 

. You have said  and I quote “For the major existential problems the world faces today, we need another sea change, one that places governance in the hands of the public, of governments, of civil society and of a more participatory democracy.  Privatization is a scourge.  Climate and other environmental catastrophes, the pandemic, ongoing wars and violence, continued hunger, poverty, and inequality, rampant sexism and racism are not only not solvable by business but are  <https://www.johnhuntpublishing.com/zer0-books/our-books/conscience-progressive> exacerbated by the workings of neoliberal capitalism, perhaps by capitalism in any form.” 

1.      It seems  that you still have a lot of faith in “governments” , although you do mention civil society and more participatory democracy. Presumably you have some other form of “government “ in mind and not the 190 odd Nation States of today , capitalist or socialist ( when they existed )  

2.      While you have made your views very clear regarding this festering public vs private basic education debate, you do not seem to  critique “institutional education” ( public or private ) which Illich started so many years back. But you advocate for more funds, more professionals for “public primary education” which so many years back Illich had said is an inevitable outcome of liberal national  school educational reviews.   

3.      Incidentally in India both Gandhi and Tagore had experimented with education opposed to INDUSTRIALISM. All this  is relevant as very soon we are going to discuss Unitierra which owes a lot to Illich’s and Gustavo Esteva’s churnings on a different human destiny away from last two hundred years of spectacular industrial civilization , and the governments which have superbly coordinated this industrialism. The Zapatista movement is already experimenting with a very different school education which does not fall neatly in this public – private axis. 

Sujit 

From: GTA-PeDAGoG [mailto:gta-pedagog-bounces at lists.ourproject.org] On Behalf Of Steven J. Klees
Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2022 2:40 AM
To: PeDAGoG: Post-Development Academic-Activist Global Group <gta-pedagog at lists.ourproject.org>
Cc: Luci Attala <l.attala at uwtsd.ac.uk>; dan baron <danbaronmst at hotmail.com>; Laura Rival <laura.rival at qeh.ox.ac.uk>; Elizabeth Rahman <elizabeth.rahman at ctl.ox.ac.uk>; Amanda Janoo <amanda at wellbeingeconomy.org>
Subject: [PeDAGoG] my blog on UNESCO's GEM Report on the privatization of education

Dear Colleagues,

FYI.  NORRAG (https://www.norrag.org/) just published a blog of mine on UNESCO's 2021/22 Global Education Monitoring Report on non-state actors in education.  The Report has some things to commend it but I find it falls far short of what is needed as well as reflect on the privatization of education more broadly.  A quote from my blog: "Privatization is a scourge."  

https://www.norrag.org/the-privatization-of-education-reflections-on-unescos-gem-report-on-non-state-actors/

Best,

Steve

Steven J. Klees

Former President and Honorary Fellow, Comparative and International Education Society

University Distinguished Scholar-Teacher

Professor, International Education Policy Program

Affiliate Faculty, Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies 

Affiliate Faculty, Latin American Studies Center

Affiliate Faculty, Consortium on Race, Gender & Ethnicity

College of Education

University of Maryland

College Park, MD 20742

 <tel:301-405-2212> 301-405-2212

 <https://www.education.umd.edu/directory/steven-klees> https://www.education.umd.edu/directory/steven-klees

Recent Book:  The Conscience of a Progressive

Blog:   <https://blog.umd.edu/stevenklees/> https://blog.umd.edu/stevenklees/

Co-founder:  <https://www.thealternativesproject.org/> https://www.thealternativesproject.org/

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