Who Gets What? Is Improved Access to Basic Education Pro-Poor in SSA?

Abstract

This paper explores changing patterns of access to basic education in six Sub-Saharan-African (SSA) countries: Kenya, Nigeria, Malawi, Zambia, Uganda and Tanzania. The research uses nationally representative data from two points in time approximately ten years apart. It explores whether participation rates in basic education have improved or deteriorated, the extent to which such changes have had a different impact on children in the poorest and richest households, and the extent to which the proportion of over age children in the school population have changed. The six countries in his data set have very different patterns of enrolment by grade and rates of progress towards universal enrolment and completion. These differences mean that a single set of policy relevant conclusions will not resonate with each national context. However, the paper does identify eight insights and seven policy options that can be used to inform policy dialogue around EFA.

Citation

10th UKFIET conference, Oxford, 14-17 September 2009. 32 pp.

Who Gets What? Is Improved Access to Basic Education Pro-Poor in SSA?

Published 1 January 2009