Competing Versus Free

Posted: September 9th, 2013 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | No Comments »

Prof Mwangi S. Kimenyi is senior fellow and director of the Africa Growth Initiative. He wrote an op-ed in the Daily Nation, a Kenyan newspaper:

For most children from poor families, the only sure way to exit poverty and compete with others is by acquiring quality education. From this perspective, Kenya’s free primary education is an incredibly important policy.

But there is a great difference between attending school and learning. A number of studies and surveys that have been conducted in Kenya (and in fact in other Africa countries) reveal a sad story of public schools that are totally dysfunctional.

The children are attending school but very little learning is taking place. According to Uwezo Kenya findings from 2011, “only three out 10 children in Class Three can read a Class Two story [in English], while slightly more than half of them can read a paragraph. Four out 100 children in Class Eight cannot read a Class Two story.”

The findings are similar in numeracy, where 30 per cent of Class Three children are unable to complete Class Two division, and 10 per cent of Class Eight children cannot do Class Two division.

Such outcomes reflect a system that has broken down and is not preparing children for the 21st Century.

Although many policymakers may not want to admit it, the truth is that many public schools are literally in a comatose condition. The children from poor families who attend these schools are being cheated by the system.

The education may be free but the there is very little value that is added in many of those schools. It beats reason why a government would be investing such large sums and yet not focus on what happens in the schools.

Rise of low-cost private schools

The clearest evidence of the declining quality of public primary schools is the rise of private schools. Ordinarily, introduction of free public primary education should associate with a decrease in the demand for private schooling.

Yet, the response to FPE has been the opposite with a large increase in private school enrolment. Enrolment in Kenya’s private schools almost tripled between 2005 and 2009, from 4.4 percentage to 10.5 per cent.

Policymakers should wonder why offering a service for free associates with less demand for that product. Many do not want it even if it is free.

Unlike the traditional elite private schools, many of the private schools that have emerged since the introduction of FPE programme have been low-cost private schools — many in slums and rural areas.

You can read the whole thing here.