Critical approaches to private education in the Global South

Abstract

This article highlights the key themes that animate the critical discourse on private education initiatives targeting poor children in the Global South. Scholars in the field remain skeptical that public-private partnerships, low-fee private schools, and various subsidy and voucher programs are best suited to addressing the underlying issues of equity and quality that plague public education systems in low-and middle-income countries. Most, however, tend to adopt one of two different, though complementary, lines of analysis in drawing attention to the issue. Some scholars, for instance, use empirical evidence to show how low-fee private schools fall short of delivering on promises to address the needs of all children and enhancing basic literacy and numeracy scores in comparison to public schools. Other scholars, however, map networks of people and money to reveal how private education in the Global South is guided by power and profit.The paper outlines the moral and analytic interests that guide these two approaches to the challenge private education presents, while also making the case for an additional mode of analysis that would test the democratic and social justice claims that feature in mission statements of larger foundations and institutions set in vulnerable societies.

A (mis)guidance of disabled youth: Post-secondary schooling transition experiences in South Africa

“…Moreover, high dropout rates remain a leading contributor to the deepening social, environmental and economic exclusion that people with disabilities experience (Lindsay et al 2019 ). In the global South, dropout rates within the education system are particularly high during transition phases (Hanushek, Lavy & Kohtaro 2008 ), and because of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), this has been exacerbated (Inglis 2023 ). This in effect has contributed to higher levels of unemployment and lower wages payable for youth with disabilities (Dhakal, Connell & Burgess 2018 ).…”