Low-Fee Private Schooling and Poverty in Developing Countries

Abstract

In Low-fee Private Schooling and Poverty in Developing Countries Joanna Härmä draws on primary research carried out in Sub-Saharan African countries and in India to show how the poor are being failed by both government and private schools. The primary research is combined with additional examples from around the world to offer a wide perspective on the issue of marketized education, low-fee private schooling and government systems. Härmä offers a pragmatic approach to a divisive and ideologically-driven issue and shows how the well-intentioned international drive towards ‘education for all’ is being encouraged and even imposed long before some countries have prepared the teachers and developed the systems needed to implement it successfully. Arguing that governments need to take a much more rational and constructive approach to the issue, Härmä argues for a greater acceptance of the challenges, abandoning ideological positions and a scaling back of ambition in the hope of laying stronger foundations for educational development.

An Evaluation of International Finance Corporation Investments in K–12 Private Schools

“…The growing pressure caused by both forces has prompted school owners to seek long-term financing to expand and meet that demand. It has also fueled an expansion of low-fee schools (Härmä 2021). Yet in many countries, financing can be difficult to obtain and then only at onerous rates.…”

“…The small size and relative business-related immaturity of many K-12 private schools, particularly low-fee private schools, inhibit their scalability. Operators of low-fee private schools often have no financial training, lack access to capital, and rely on a single, uncertain revenue stream: tuition payments(Härmä 2021; Results for Development 2016). Because these small businesses cannot absorb large investments, private equity investments are rare and tend to be from local sources when they do occur.…”

Low-fee private schools and the teaching of mathematics in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…While debate rages regarding the desirability of this trend, individual school proprietors in ever-growing numbers go about their daily business of providing education after a fashion. It is now widely accepted that these schools exist, for better or for worse, and the debate moved on some years ago to whether these schools were providing reasonable quality (Härmä, 2021). Now questions swirl about their contribution to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (UNESCO, 2021), something the proprietors themselves likely are not much concerned about.…”

“…This article does not go in depth into questions of pedagogy or teacher training for the teaching of mathematics -these are questions for other articles in this volume. This article will consider the current situation of teaching mathematics in LFP schools in SSA drawing in particular on studies from Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria, and also on my many personal experiences in observing lessons in such schools during research studies on their incidence, costs and accessibility (my work can be found at www.joannaharma.net and in Härmä, 2021). The next section will provide some background on low-fee private schooling in sub-Saharan Africa.…”

“…Nearly all of the latter types have corrugated iron or tin sheet roofs and earth floors. Some schools are housed in a mix of structures because there have not been the necessary funds to build a substantial school building; some have to be split between different sites within the community because land is difficult Journal of Applied Learning & Teaching Vol.5 Special Issue No.2 (2022) to come by in dense, urban environments (Härmä, 2021). Some schools might have a few weak light bulbs, but often there is no source of power at all, or if there is wiring for lights, power cuts make this extremely unreliable.…”