School fees and access to primary education: assessing four decades of policy in Sub-Saharan Africa

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Periodical article

Title:	School fees and access to primary education: assessing four decades of policy in Sub-Saharan Africa
Authors:	Isan, Talan B. Rosenblum, Daniel Tinker, Katie
Year:	2015
Periodical:	Journal of African Economies (ISSN 0963-8024)
Volume:	24
Issue:	4
Pages:	559-592
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Subsaharan Africa Ethiopia Ghana Kenya Malawi Tanzania Uganda Zambia
Subjects:	education fees access to education primary education educational policy
External link:	https://doi.org/10.1093/jae/ejv007
Abstract:	In this article, the authors examine the relationship between primary school fees and education quality and access over the past forty years in seven sub-Saharan African countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia). 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. They find that the introduction of fees decreased primary school enrolment, without achieving significant quality improvements. They 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. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]