Affordable non-state schools in conflict-affected contexts

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Wednesday II)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: How can the non-state sector maximise its contribution to global education goals?

Proposal

An estimated 36 percent of the world’s 121 million out-of-school children live in countries affected by violent conflict. In many of these countries, the state is weak or incapable of reliably providing education to all school-aged children. In such settings, affordable non-state schools (ANSS) – religious, community, NGO, or private schools serving low-income populations – play an important role in providing children with access to education, as well as protective social structures. Because they account for a large proportion of enrollment in many conflict- and crisis-affected countries, ANSS occupy a significant role in education provision that governments and donors cannot afford to ignore. Despite the large amount of research dedicated separately to education in conflict and non-state education, little attention has been directed to their intersection. In this presentation, we will describe findings from a study of ANSS in conflict- and crisis-affected environments that included an extensive literature review and case studies in El Salvador and Kaduna State, Nigeria. We find that non-state schools have unique characteristics that cause them to interact with conflict in such a way as to mitigate or exacerbate violence, in a manner distinct from government-run schools. Based on these findings, we develop a framework for evaluating the benefits and risks that may accompany ANSS in conflict-affected environments.

Author

• Robert Francis, R4D