The Economists article "Reaching the poorest" asserts that enrolling the world’s poorest children in school needs new thinking, not just more money from taxpayers therefore reflecting the article in the ATDF Journal on the importance of low cost private schools by James Tooley
Reaching the poorest
Enrolling the world’s poorest children in school needs new thinking, not just more money from taxpayers
In India, for example, research by the World Bank reveals that 25% of teachers in government-run schools are away on any given day; of those present, only half were actually teaching when the bank’s researchers made spot checks. That is dreadful but not unusual: teacher absenteeism rates are around 20% in rural Kenya, 27% in Uganda and 14% in Ecuador.
Despite the inspiring rhetoric that accompanied the adoption of the UN’s “Education For All” goals in 1999, progress has been patchy. The numbers of unenrolled school-age children dropped by 33m in 2007 compared with 1999. About 15m of that fall came in India alone (though UNESCO says statistics may understate the problem by up to 30%). In countries like Liberia and Nigeria the numbers have hardly budged since 1999. Of the 72m still outside school, 45% are in sub-Saharan Africa.
Read Reaching the poorest
Source: The Economist 2010
Abstract: Low Cost Private Schools as a Solution
Empirical research in Asia, Africa and Latin America strongly suggests that low cost private schools are part of the solution and definitely not part of the problem in global efforts to provide quality education for all. Education bureaucrats may be right to point out that there are still problems with access and equity, as well as the quality of pro- vision. Yet, compared to public sector schools, low costs private school seem to address the needs of the poor more effectively and exceed in performance by almost every measure. Even though the problems associated with low-cost private schools are real they are not insurmountable. This article discusses various policy instruments that helped to increase the incentives of low-cost private schools to improve teaching quality, student performance, responsiveness to local needs and reputation in the private sector and academia.
