Abolishing School Fees in Africa is the product of a SFAI workshop, “School Fee Abolition: Building on What We Know and Defining Sustained Support,” held in Kenya in 2006. The book begins with a comparative overview of the processes, challenges, and lessons learned by five countries that had already abolished school fees: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Mozambique. The subsequent chapters delineate the actual experiences of each of the countries in planning and implementing their policies.

This report explores a range of innovative education budget work initiatives from Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Uganda, where civil society has monitored and challenged their governments over education expenditure in order to hold themaccountable for commitments to EFA and the MDGs. It examines the significance and impact of civil society budget initiatives by drawing on interviews and focus group discussions with a range of education stakeholders, including education coalitions, government officials, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), teaching staff and school pupils; and by reviewing research reports and budget manuals developed by civil society organisations (CSOs).

This paper intends to demonstrate the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) role in constraining countries from increasing public expenditure in education to meet the Education For All (EFA) goals and the education-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The findings are based on research and country case studies undertaken by ActionAid International offices in Guatemala, Bangladesh, India, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and Sierra Leone during 2004-05. These findings are complemented by similar research by the Global Campaign for Education GCE.

 

RESULTS Educational Fund’s report “From Free to Fee”, investigates World Bank’s basic education investments through its private lending arm (the IFC). The report seeks to explore if IFC investments in education reach the poorest groups and help reduce extreme poverty. From Free to Fee provides evidence from IFC funded schools in Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa, and presents recommendations for the World Bank, the IFC, and other investors on how to more effectively end poverty through basic education.  

À la lumière des normes relatives aux droits de l'Homme concernant le droit à l'éducation et de l'objectif de développement durable (ODD) 4, les organisations de la société civile signataires cidessous expriment de sérieuses inquiétudes quant aux implications potentielles de l’étude récemment publiée "Can Education be Standardized ? Evidence from Kenya" (L'Éducation peutelle être standardisée ? Données du Kenya). Nous exhortons les gouvernements et les autres parties prenantes à reconnaître les limites de cette étude, que certains chercheront à utiliser pour justifier l'expansion de l'offre éducative privée à but lucratif et des méthodes d'enseignement scénarisées1 . Il existe des approches bien établies pour relever les défis auxquels sont confrontés certains systèmes éducatifs et nous exhortons toutes les parties prenantes à se concentrer sur les stratégies et les politiques éducatives qui ont fait leurs preuves en matière d'éducation inclusive, équitable et de bonne qualité, et qui contribuent à renforcer l'éducation publique pour toutes et tous.

 

ENGLISH

In the light of human rights standards on the right to education and the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, the signatory civil society organisations below raise serious concerns about the potential implications of the recently released working paper “Can Education be Standardized? Evidence from Kenya". We urge governments and other actors to recognise the limitations of this study, which some will seek to use to justify the expansion of for-profit private provision of education and scripted teaching methods. There are well established approaches to address the challenges faced by some education systems and we urge all actors to focus on education strategies and policies that have been proven to deliver inclusive, equitable and good quality education, and that contribute to strengthening public education for all.

 

FRANÇAIS