This study investigates the emergence and supply-demand dynamics of a market for low-fee private schools (LFPS) at the level of early childhood care and education (ECCE) in a slum of Lusaka, Zambia. Based on data collection over 1.5 years, the study reveals that, despite a government policy to support ECE, over 90 per cent of ECCE centres are private; that school operators tend to be former teachers, businessmen/women, and religious leaders; and that LFPSs charge, on average, 2.5 times as much as government ECCE centres for tuition, not including additional indirect costs. The paper discusses how teachers in LFPSs are caught in the middle, making less than the average income earned by others in the surrounding slum, and are unable to afford LFPS fees themselves. Importantly, the paper highlights that lower income quintiles spend a greater percentage of their income on ECCE, and that a majority of families in the study must make trade-offs between ECCE, food, housing, and other basic expenditures in order to afford private ECCE, which is a necessity given the inadequate supply of government ECCE centres. In addition to addressing school strategies for keeping costs down, this study reports on parental decision-making when it comes to school selection. Finally, beyond a straight market analysis of LFPSs at the ECCE level in Zambia, this article also comments on how this market fits into the dialectical nature of local and global contexts. That is, it draws attention to the workings of the Zambian state and its precarious position in the global capitalist economy.

 
Key resource

Education is a fundamental human right of every woman, man and child. In states’ efforts to meet their commitments to making the right to education a reality for all, most have made impressive progress in recent decades. With new laws and policies that remove fees in basic education, significant progress has been made in advancing free education. This has led to tens of millions of children enrolling for the first time and the number of out of school children and adolescents falling by almost half since 2000. Important steps have also been taken with regard to gender parity and states have made efforts to raise the quality of education through improved teacher policies and a growing emphasis on learning outcomes. 

Despite these efforts, breaches of the right to education persist worldwide, illustrated perhaps most starkly by the fact that 262 million primary and secondary-aged children and youth are still out of school. Girls, persons with disabilities, those from disadvantaged backgrounds or rural areas, indigenous persons, migrants and national minorities are among those who face the worst discrimination, affecting both their right to go to school and their rights within schools.

To respond to the challenges, the Right to Education Initiative (RTE) with UNESCO have developed this handbook to guide action on ensuring full compliance with the right to education. Its objective is not to present the right to education as an abstract, conceptual, or purely legal concept, but rather to be action-oriented. The handbook will also be an important reference for those working towards the achievement of SDG4, by offering guidance on how to leverage legal commitment to the right to education as a strategic way to achieve this goal. 

FRANCAIS

The Latin American Campaign for the Right to Education (CLADE, by its Spanish acronym) is a pluralistic network of civil society organizations with a presence in 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, which promotes social mobilization and political advocacy to defend the human right to education. This collection of articles, essays and statements reflect on the vital role of public education in the region and the fault lines exposed by the pandemic, considering both the challenges public education in Latin America faces and possible solutions, alternatives and ways forward.

 

 

En la Cumbre Mundial de Educación, 37 OSC piden a los líderes mundiales de la educación que utilicen el financiamiento de miles de millones de dólares para apoyar la educación pública

 

Declaración conjunta, 27 de julio de 2021

En el marco de las reuniones de Ministros y Ministras de educación y otras partes interesadas en la Cumbre Mundial de Educación del 28 al 29 de julio de 2021, 37 OSC solicitan a los gobiernos que asuman compromisos de financiamiento robustos para la Alianza Mundial para la Educación (GPE, por sus siglas en inglés) e instan a la GPE a utilizar el dinero recaudado durante la cumbre para la educación pública y gratuita, y para garantizar que no se utilice ningún financiamiento para apoyar a los actores comerciales, de acuerdo con los requisitos de derechos humanos.

La GPE es el principal organismo de financiación multilateral dedicado exclusivamente a transformar la educación en los países de bajos ingresos. Desempeña un papel fundamental en el fortalecimiento de los sistemas educativos de decenas de países. Las y los líderes mundiales en educación se reunirán en la Cumbre Mundial de Educación con el objetivo de recaudar al menos 5 mil millones de dólares estadounidenses para el periodo 2021-2025, con el fin de financiar los planes educativos de los países en desarrollo.

 

ENGLISH   FRANÇAIS

L'enseignement public est souvent critique comme étant inefficace et inefficient. Cependant, lorsque des lacunes dans l'enseignement public sont identifiées, elles peuvent souvent être attribuées non pas à un manque de compétence, mais a un manque de volonté politique. En examinant sept exemples d'enseignement public dans les pays en développement, cette recherche montre que, contrairement aux idées reçues, l'enseignement public peut être l'approche la plus efficace, efficiente et transformatrice de l'éducation et, surtout, qu'il est possible de développer un enseignement public de qualité partout, y compris dans les pays du Sud.

 

ESPAÑOL   ENGLISH

La educación pública a menudo es criticada por ser ineficaz e ineficiente. Sin embargo, cuando se identifican las deficiencias en la educación pública, muy frecuentemente ellas no pueden ser atribuidas a la falta de capacidad, sino a la falta de voluntad política. Al revisar siete ejemplos de educación pública en países en desarrollo, esta investigación muestra que, en contraste directo con ideas ampliamente difundidas, la educación publica puede ser un abordaje mas eficaz, eficiente y transformador de la educación y - lo mas importante -, que es posible desarrollar una educación pública de calidad en todas partes del mundo.

ENGLISH   FRANÇAIS

In recent decades, governments have made considerable efforts to provide education for all. However, a large gap remains between international commitments, such as the Sustainable Development Goal 4, and the actual achievement of inclusive and equitable quality education for all. As a result, certain actors often critique public education as ineffective and inefficient, and thus incapable of addressing this issue. They argue for privatisation as a solution, deeming private providers as more innovative and effective than public ones. However, shortcomings in public education often arise not from lack of capacity, but lack of political will.

This review of examples of public education in low- and middle-income countries shows that, in direct contrast to widely disseminated (and empirically unvalidated) ideas, public education can be highly effective, efficient and transformative and, crucially, it is possible to develop quality public education everywhere. 

In recent decades, governments have made considerable efforts to provide education for all. However, a large gap remains between international commitments, such as the Sustainable Development Goal 4, and the actual achievement of equitable quality education for all. As a result, certain actors often critique public education as ineffective and inefficient, and thus incapable of addressing this issue. They argue for privatisation as a solution, deeming private providers as more innovative and effective than public ones. However, shortcomings in public education often arise not from lack of capacity, but lack of political will.

This review of examples of public education in low- and middle-income countries shows that, in direct contrast to widely disseminated (and empirically unvalidated) ideas, public education can be highly effective, efficient, and transformative and, crucially, it is possible to develop quality public education everywhere. 

En los países latinoamericanos, la necesidad de disponer de recursos adicionales para financiar los servicios sociales, la infraestructura y la inversión educativa ponen de manifiesto la urgencia de vincular fiscalidad y educación en las discusiones sobre las políticas públicas. Para incrementar la inversión social en educación es necesario que la comunidad educativa regional considere activamente la relevancia que la actual estructura tributaria y en específico el impacto que los flujos financieros ilícitos (FFI) tienen sobre el desfinanciamiento de la inversión social, ya que significan pérdidas cuantiosas en términos de ingresos tributarios no recaudados. 

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

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