Profiting from the poor: The emergence of multinational edu-businesses in Hyderabad, India

This chapter describes the broad neoliberal underpinnings and the corporate interests in for-profit education and shows how these efforts undermine public education as a fundamental human right. It demonstrates how the privatization and commercialization of education through scalable chains of low-fee schools and selling educational products and services unfolded and evolved in Hyderabad, India. The chapter also shows that privatization leads to increasing inequalities based on gender discrimination and social exclusion, as well as the de-professionalization of teachers. Global multinationals have their country headquarters in the city, making it an attractive destination for global edu-businesses looking for commercially viable technology-based solutions in education. The chapter concludes by asserting that all children have the right to a free quality public education and draws attention to several compounding factors that have led to the decimation of public education in India.