Private schooling for the poor? Assessing the regulatory environments and markets for private education services in Ghana and Nigeria.

• In Event: Equitable access to education: public - private school options

Abstract

In recent years, the private sector has grown significantly in its role supporting learning for all. Private schools have emerged in many developing countries in response to demand for affordable quality education services; and in some countries, even families at the low end of the income ladder have been identified as consumers of fee-based private education. Such findings have created increased policy interest in the role and impact of private schools on student participation and learning with particular attention to issues of equity. Some commentators have suggested that non-state schools are a viable means of reaching low-income households in Sub-Saharan Africa, and that they can have positive impacts on student achievement. However, much more research is needed. The extent to which affordable fee-based school services are spread across and within countries is still being investigated. In many places, the extent and activity of the private sector in education is not clearly understood.

Given the challenges facing education systems, the increasing policy interest in the private sector, and the existing gaps in knowledge, this presentation will discuss preliminary results from an international study of the role of the private sector in delivering basic education services in developing countries, with particular attention to data from Ghana and Nigeria. Education Markets for the Poor – a partnership between the World Bank and the UK’s Department for International Development – provides a classification of the existing types of private sector engagement, and benchmarks the regulatory environment in over 60 countries across Africa, South America, Asia & the Pacific, Europe, and North America.

This initiative includes three phases of research. Phase 1—policy intent—identifies which types of private education activity exist in each country, and examines the extent to which the current regulatory environment supports the involvement of private actors. Phase 2—policy implementation—assesses whether existing policies are practiced on-the-ground, and investigates the political relationships, organizational capacities, and channels of communication influencing private education policy. Phase 3—market and provider analysis—involves GPS mapping and surveying of private and public schools in a given locality to gain a thorough understanding of the supply-side of the education market, providing insights into important issues such as the affordability of education services, the drivers of growth in the private education market, the relative efficiency of public and private schools, school registration and inspection requirements, etc.

The results have implications for the regulation of the private school market, and could quite possibly influence government approaches for more directly involving and partnering with private actors for expanding access to basic education services.

Authors

• Donald Baum, World Bank Group

• Hugo Wesley, World Bank

• Oni Lusk-Stover, World Bank Group