Malawi was the first country after the Jomtien conference to offer free primary education. Despite this policy, universal education has remained elusive. Many children do enroll in school, but not at the official/recommended age and drop out before completing school. Understanding these transition points--entry and completion--is critical to the…

This article begins an investigation of the educational system of Morocco and its context of language diversity. It examines the Moroccan cultural environment and the ways the multilingualism and education of its people has been and continues to be influenced by geography, colonization periods, religion, and history. The effects of the Educational…

The Education for All Fast Track Initiative (FTI) was launched by the World Bank in 2002 as a global initiative to help low income countries accelerate progress towards the MDG target of universal primary education by 2015. Over the past decade, the FTI has expanded to become one of the most important initiatives to emerge out of the Dakar World…

In most parts of the world today, the goal of providing all children with free and Universal Primary Education (UPE) has received broad national and international support and some educational systems have evolved from predominantly "fee-charging" towards "fee-free" status in recent times. In Ghana, for example, the endorsement…

This study investigated teacher supply and pupils' enrolment in public and private primary schools in Kwara and Ekiti States, Nigeria. The study population comprised all the 811 primary schools in Kwara State and 810 primary schools in Ekiti State. Out of the forty-seven higher institutions that supply teachers to primary schools in the two…

In light of compelling evidence that links expanded education systems and socioeconomic development while highlighting the importance of policies to offset inequality in access (UNESCO, 2007), and spurred by the donor community and such initiatives as the Millennium Development Goals and Education for All, governments in developing nations are, to…

This book is about the threats to education quality in the developing world that cannot be explained by lack of resources. It reviews the observed phenomenon of service delivery failures in public education: cases where programs and policies increase the inputs to education but do not produce effective services where it counts--in schools and…

Every year, the Joint Admission Board (JAB) is tasked to determine those students who are expected to join various Kenyan public universities under the government sponsorship scheme. This exercise is usually extensive because of the large number of qualified students compared to the very limited number of slots at various institutions and the…

This article discusses the theoretical relationships between inclusion in education and social justice. It draws on Martha Nussbaum's use of the capability approach is given as one of the few philosophical and political theories that places disability/impairment in the social justice debate. The article goes on to present findings from the initial…

This paper examines the significance of leadership and management in enhancing classroom practice and improving learner outcomes in two provinces of South Africa. It is increasingly recognised, internationally and in South Africa, that managing teaching and learning is one of the most important activities for principals and other school leaders.…

The rapid quantitative growth of higher education in Ethiopia has triggered considerable concern for quality. The present paper analyses why expanding the higher education subsector took precedence over quality against the backdrop of the current Ethiopian political discourse. This article argues that the growing public demand due to globalization…

This article outlines policies from multilateral organisations that advocate sharing best practices between developing nations. The article discusses the degree to which these best practices are implemented by small states as indicated by teachers, academics and policymakers in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. For the purpose of this article, a…

Policies and programmes pursuing the universalisation of elementary education (UEE) in developing nations have been influenced by a set of complex forces in international, state, and local arenas. This paper explores how a large-scale standardised assessment programme shaped by international and market-oriented discourses has been differently…

Social justice is a primary concern of politicians and human rights practitioners, but has lost much of its currency as it has been elevated through philosophical debates to the level of an idealised or "imagined social order" of modern state formations. This article is based on a conceptual analysis of social justice and the trajectory…

Open schools are not just concerned with increasing access to secondary schooling, but also with equalising educational opportunities for citizens regardless of their geographic location or socio-economic background. Through a well-articulated policy, broad consensus on the most appropriate direction for the future development of open schooling…