Hon Trevor Mallard
Minister of Education
Parliament Buildings
WELLINGTON
Dear Trevor Mallard,
I am a [teacher/parent
of a child at primary/secondary school.]
The New Zealand
Government is currently engaged in negotiations at the World Trade Organization
to extend the free trade agreement on services known as the General Agreement
on Trade in Services (GATS). It is due to table its initial ‘offer’ to commit
further services to these rules in Geneva on 31 March 2003.
This agreement covers education services, including at primary and
secondary schools. It aims to lock New Zealand into the market model of
education that has devastated our schools since the late 1980s. The idea of
education as a tradable service in a deregulated international market is
incompatible with the fundamental principle of quality public education that is
free and universally available, enshrined in international human rights
agreements to which New Zealand is a party.
It is very worrying that
your Government sees this as a way of promoting ‘education exports’, especially
more fee paying foreign students, at a time when it is admitting there are
serious concerns about the impact on our education system and the students
themselves.
It is even more worrying
that the Ministry of Education has done no real research into the effect of the
GATS rules on New Zealand’s education policy, including the right of foreign
education firms to access education subsidies and compete with public schools
that are already struggling.
It is totally
unacceptable that these moves have been taken without properly consulting the
education community, including the school boards. The Government issued a
technically worded consultation document on these negotiations on 30 January
2003, requiring a response by 28 February. This is simply not good enough.
Assurances from the
Government that education services will be protected cannot be taken at face
value. Back in 1994 the National Government brought primary, secondary and
tertiary education in private institutions under the GATS rules. The agreement
requires governments to engage in
‘progressive liberalization’, which means extending these commitments in
future negotiations. The New Zealand’s Government’s stated position in these
new negotiations is that all countries should make commitments on all services.
The GATS also contains
provisions that restrict the domestic regulations that governments can adopt in
professional qualifications, licensing and technical standards; these, too, are
currently being extended.
I understand that you
have received the recent report Serving
Whose Interests?, prepared by Professor Jane Kelsey for the Action Research
and Education Network of Aotearoa (ARENA). This report details the current and
potential implications of the agreement for New Zealand, including for
education (www.arena.org.nz/GATS
version 1.pdf). I would like to know your response to the specific concerns
which that report has raised.
I also urge you to argue
at the Cabinet that the Government takes no further steps in the GATS
negotiations pending full and informed consultation with the whole education
sector, including their professional and community constituencies. This
consultation should involve a full and participatory assessment of the domestic
implications of any existing or proposed commitments that may impact on the
education sector in the GATS or any other free trade and investment agreement.
If necessary, please
treat this as a request under the Official Information Act.
Yours sincerely,