How we came to publish a blog about low-fee private schools on the GPE website
As an active member of the private philanthropy constituency (which shares a seat on the board of the Global Partnership for Education with the private sector constituency), IDP Foundation were excited by the open invitation to contribute to the GPE blog which reaches over 10,000 readers around the world. GPE’s request for content was to help make it a “lively, useful and insightful platform where experiences and voices from a wide range of actors can be reflected.”
Recognizing that there has been controversy over the role of private schools within the GPE board in the past, resulting in a rather narrow Private Sector Engagement Strategy which forbids working with for-profit providers. We were keen to start a conversation that focuses on common ground rather than further the divide. When focusing on the topic of sole-proprietor low-fee private schools, we know there is broad agreement on the point that we should protect learners and their parents from putting profit ahead of delivering inclusive and equitable education. If we recognize this as a shared problem, alongside insufficient learning in most settings, then we are hopeful we can work together on shared solutions. Ultimately this should lead to progress that includes all learners, in all schools, in ways that attract more financing to increase access and improve quality.
As we put this blog together the GPE secretariat guided us and provided editorial support from their dedicated website and communications team to ensure it met their standards. For other’s interested in using the GPE platform to simulate productive discourse in the sector you can find their blog guidelines here. The support and guidance were hugely valuable, and we are grateful to GPE for their openness.