|
|
|
About
mercantilization of education
The inter-relationship among human
rights is never as evident as in the case of educational
processes. For this reason, the right to education is an
individual guarantee and a social right having as it maximum
expression human beings exercising their citizenship. Vernor Muñoz UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education Education has its own ontology that feeds into all life manifestations; places diversity as the best methodology and nourishes from the creativity and dedication of the person who learns, be it the teacher or the student. Education must be the real process of Development, because it proposes the building of knowledge and of human tasks in the collective interaction of learning. The richness of education lies, precisely, in its aims, which encompass all the vital dimensions in relation to human dignity, cultures and peoples which have been taken by the main instruments that in international law refer to human rights. Nevertheless, the movement of education towards human rights faces the harsh resistance of reactionary forces that continue to see education as a disciplinary instrument serving the market and, as a consequence, as a kind of service (not right) that responds primarily to the interests of the economy rather than to the needs of the people. The structural, centralist and unidirectional imposition of patriarchy connects with an economic organization that denies the financial resources needed for the full realization of the right to education and it is part of a global development model that pretends to reduce the social and cultural phenomena to issues of market efficiency. It is not strange, then, that education is seen by some as an instrument that reproduces the accumulation mechanisms, focusing on the task of promoting, with an alleged neutral and aseptic character, the aims required by economic growth. It is for these reasons that many times, when talking about financing for education, the approach is that of “less cost for better profit”, as a vile negotiation that tries to buy gold paying with crystal beads; therefore, the installation of educational services continues to be the object of sought after negotiations by the international financial institutions, which, in spite of their discourse recognising the values of education, they do not agree to free poor countries from the unjust and un-payable foreign debt. We, as human rights activists, have for a long time criticized the alleged neutrality of education, used to hide the negative values, particularly the idea of education at the service of employers. An education that is neutral or that serves any other needs rather than the dignity of human beings cannot develop personalities that are respectful of human rights, as that neutrality potentially and actually validates inequalities. Financing education is an issue of equality, equity and justice, not necessarily an issue of resources, which exist but are badly distributed. The lack of connection between aims and actions in education operates within the framework of structural inequalities and lack of symmetry, and as part of this framework the false idea is also promoted that macroeconomic development is the main aim of education, this one being seen as an expense and not as a human right. It is true that we all expect economic results from education and literacy, but a different thing is to believe that these results are the main aim. It is for these reasons that many of the debates and demands around the need to invest in education reduce the rights of girls and teenagers to blurred components of the macroeconomic factors, like when some say that one of the main aims of female schooling is the possibility to increase per capita growth. Economic growth does not always lead to human development. Therefore, it is not appropriate to propose the fulfillment of the right to education as a condition for productive or market efficiency, as the income per capita also does not have a clear relationship to social equity, particularly in the economies of the periphery. This utilitarian perspective infringes on the dignity of human beings and conceals the essential aims of education; that is why it has failed as strategy to elevate the consciousness of governments and financial institutions. Furthermore, the right to education can neither be relegated nor made dependent on the fulfillment of other rights or situations. It is obviously true that educational systems must change their aims and strategies if they do not respond to the construction of citizenships of solidarity and equality, but it is also true that many of the big problems faced by education are not found in the school systems but in the socio economic environment, that is openly discriminatory. Investments in education of girls, particularly those that aim at improving quality and coverage, have a proved social benefit in terms of the reduction of mortality rate and of unwanted pregnancies, in the struggle against poverty, HIV/AIDS and malnutrition. These positive effects should lead to the decision of strengthening the integration of human rights in the actions and policies of the World Bank and the governments, rather than reducing the priorities of women and girls to an instrumental issue. The implementation of free and compulsory education is not only hindered by fees and other financial conditions but also by the exclusion that affects in particular women, girls and teenagers. The mechanisms by which school fees are kept or removed cannot be considered in isolation from the obstructions from patriarchy and the structures of social exclusion that are responsible for keeping boys and girls outside of school. The impact of economic quantification and its desperate urgency to make all processes according to costs and benefits is that government institutions are inevitably affected by financial elements. Without doubt, the economic international policies -indifferent to social needs- and the imposition of a political and socioeconomic model that sees itself as the only one -based rigidly on economic liberalism- have a big impact. They need a growing recognition of the need to developed models that are more flexible and sensible to the fulfillment of human rights. The desired process is to offer investments to education not only to facilitate economic development but also, and above all, to build values and knowledge with the aim to develop human dignity and citizenships committed with the rights of all people.
|