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School Fees and Access to Primary Education: Assessing Four Decades of Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa

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  • Talan B. İşcan
  • Daniel Rosenblum
  • Katie Tinker

Abstract

In this article, we examine the relationship between primary school fees and education quality and access over the past forty years in seven sub-Saharan African countries. School fees were introduced as a means for revenue-constrained governments to fund the improvement and expansion of primary education. Recently there has been a move towards their abolition. We find that the introduction of fees decreased primary school enrolment, without achieving significant quality improvements. We also discuss the impact on quality of the major increases in enrolment following the abolition of school fees and identify the government funding shortfall amplified by this policy change.

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  • Talan B. İşcan & Daniel Rosenblum & Katie Tinker, 2015. "School Fees and Access to Primary Education: Assessing Four Decades of Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 24(4), pages 559-592.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jafrec:v:24:y:2015:i:4:p:559-592.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jae/ejv007
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    Cited by:

    1. Smith, William C. & Joshi, Devin K., 2016. "Public vs. private schooling as a route to universal basic education: A comparison of China and India," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 153-165.
    2. Langsten, Ray, 2017. "School fee abolition and changes in education indicators," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 163-175.
    3. Maluccio, John A. & Hussein, Mohamed & Abuya, Benta & Muluve, Eva & Muthengi, Eunice & Austrian, Karen, 2018. "Adolescent girls’ primary school mobility and educational outcomes in urban Kenya," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 75-87.
    4. Bennell, Paul, 2023. "The attainment of gender education equality: A preliminary assessment of country performance in sub-Saharan Africa," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    5. Staffieri, Irene & Sitko, Nicholas J. & Maluccio, John A., 2023. "Sustaining enrolment when rains fail: School feeding, rainfall shocks and schooling in Malawi," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    6. Jingyi Huang & Yumei Guo & Yang Song, 2016. "Intergenerational transmission of education in China: Pattern, mechanism, and policies," Working Papers 415, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    7. Sophia Kan & Stephan Klasen, 2021. "Evaluating universal primary education in Uganda: School fee abolition and educational outcomes," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 116-147, February.

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