A/70/342 reality by refusing to examine the power structures and vested interests that motivate players and must be critically looked into. 3 37. Various non-State providers or stakeholders in education — the private sector, NGOs, civil society organizations, communities and foundations — have different motives and interests and may pursue different objectives. The private sector generally pursues its business interests and is motivated by profit, whereas community and civil society organizations and foundations are often devoted to social services in a philanthropic spirit and should be distinguished from the for profit private actors. 38. The State has the primary responsibility for the provision of public education. Other stakeholders, including private partners, have a social responsibility when they offer to join hands with Governments to complement their efforts and serve education as a social cause. In all situations, public-private partnerships must be underpinned by State responsibility, as well as a societal interest in education. That responsibility is ignored by the proponents of public-private partnerships who advocate the need for an “enabling environment” conducive to the interests of the private sector. 39. With a wide range of arrangements and modalities, public -private partnerships in education, like privatization, are becoming endemic in education at all levels. Proponents of public-private partnerships see them as the best way to overcome ineffective government mechanisms and as a potential means to introduce innovations in teaching strategies, increase flexibility, broaden participation and complement the strengths and resources of the State through the provision of books, infrastructure and other goods and services for basic education. 40. Massive open online courses, portrayed as an alternative path to gaining access to higher education, can also involve “creating partnerships between educational institutions in developed and developing countries, Governments, development agencies, or the private sector”. 4 However, the commercial interests of providers, which enable them to “enter the higher education market using a [massive open online courses approach]”, can be the raison d’ê tre for offering such courses. 4 41. Cross-border higher education, which involves international branch camp uses and direct foreign ownership or investment in national educational institutions, is being promoted under the guise of public-private partnerships. 5 42. In her introductory remarks to an online workshop on the challenges of public private partnerships in realizing the right to education, organized by the Oxford Human Rights Hub and the Open Society Foundations, the Director of the Human Rights Hub stated that public-private partnerships, where States incorporated private sector actors in one form or another in the provision of education, were rapidly growing, often in areas of disadvantage and poverty. However, that move has not __________________ 3 4 5 15-12538 See Lou Pingeot, “Corporate influence in the post-2015 process”, Bischöfliches Hilfswerk MISEREOR, Brot für die Welt and Global Policy Forum (January 2014). Clara Franco Yanez, “DeMOOCrazation of education? Massive open online course, opportunities and challenges: views from Mexico, Thailand and Senegal”, NORRAG (De cember 2014). ASHE Higher Education Report, vol. 36, No. 3 (August 2010). 7/25