While there is time, I recommend you have a look at the part of Newsnight last night about private education in a slum in Africa, presented by Professor James Tooley. The programme is here. The section concerned starts after 32 minutes - you can fast forward to it. I think this Newsnight will no longer be viewable after the next one appears tonight.
Posted by James Bartholomew • Indexed in Education • Foreign aid
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1. There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. Sending children to school means sacrificing the income they might have brought into the family. It also means additional costs -- fees, books, stationery, etc. In poor countries it all adds up to quite a lot. When you have only half a loaf, you can't eat cake. Raising taxes -- to provide "free" schooling -- means such families are made even poorer.
2. Experience shows that as output rises -- real incomes increase -- more children are sent to school, longer. Now, education is needed to get better jobs. And as boys are educated, they demand educated marriage partners.
Posted by: Sudha Shenoy at June 29, 2005 06:06 PM
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Yes, James Tooley's arguments are important and compelling. I worry about being absolutist about private education though. For instance, it is not obvious that private education will support universal education, as families may decide that some of their children are better used for labour in the home than sent for education, especially girls.
Posted by: Marc Sidwell at June 29, 2005 03:25 PM