The Political Economy of Education in South Asia

A comprehensive and thorough book, drawing on comparative and historical analysis in enlightening ways. - Mark Bray, UNESCO Chair Professor in Comparative Education, the University of Hong Kong As the focus shifts from universal schooling to 'learning for all, ' countries in South Asia face many challenges. This is a very timely book that addresses these issues and contributes to the growing body of research and analysis of what it will take to have every child in school and learning well. - Rukmini Banerji, Chief Executive Officer of Pratham Education Foundation and Recipient of the Yidan Prize for Education Development 2021 Combining empirical evidence with personal reflections, this book presents a refreshingly insightful and scholarly analysis of the educational crisis that South Asia is currently facing. The volume highlights how the complex socio-political dynamics has hindered progress in basic education even while the economy in several countries of the region flourished. It rightly foregrounds teacher development and governance reforms as the key action areas for moving forward. The Book is an immensely valuable addition to our understanding of education in South Asia from a multi-disciplinary perspective. - R. Govinda, Distinguished Professor, Council for Social Development Comprehensive and well-written, this book provides an invaluable addition to our knowledge about the achievement of Education for All in one of the poorest regions of the world. The South Asia region, home to a country of a quarter of the world's population, is marked by country diversity - of economy, social structure, language, religion and achievements in education. The authors explore the 'exceptional' case Sri Lanka whose public policy commitment to education is long-standing, has survived multiple swings of political power and now embraces fee-free open-access for all young people to Grade 13. But even exceptional performance belies 'stubborn challenges' - the reduction of within-country disparities in educational access and achievement by province, school type, medium of instruction and gender, to say nothing of the contribution of education to national cohesion in the past, and potentially, in the future. The authors demonstrate well the considerable progress that all countries, exceptional or not, have made in education. While all will face challenges in the years ahead, hope must not be dampened by despair. The authors' conclusion is an optimistic one. Teachers, parents, and young people must become the champions of education. - Angela W. Little, Professor Emerita, Institute of Education, University of London I have known one of the authors, John Richards, for many years. We have both worked to improve education for Indigenous peoples in Canada. This book goes straight to the point. Its first contribution is an insistence that South Asian governments spend more on public primary education. The second is that success of primary education means, by the end of the primary school cycle, students are able to read, write, and do basic arithmetic. Schools have many goals beyond literacy and arithmetic, but mastering these core skills is necessary for escaping poverty. Those responsible for managing social programs, in Canada or South Asia, must never underestimate the value of good schools. - The Right Honourable Paul Martin, Former Prime Minister of Canada In this era of post-truth and alternative reality, amplified exponentially by social media powered by digital technology algorithms, the idea of progress itself is under challenge.... The role of quality education - and of the larger education community, including teachers, parents, and students - in reclaiming the idea of progress itself is more important than ever. The present volume is a contribution to the necessary rethinking of education. - From the Foreword by Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, Founder of Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) and Recipient of the Yidan Prize for Education Development 2019 It is a terrific expose unraveling a rich palette of choices to improve learning in South Asia anchored in SDGs-Teachers as Pivots of Education Change and Political Economy of Education Reform. TheThis book is provocative, embedded in cutting-edge references from classics to meta-studies, Brown Commission, to contemporary COVID-19 work. Adequate, well prepared, skilled, caring and motivated workforce with career pathways is the key to sustainable high performing reforms. Examining, public and private/madrassah/NGO service delivery systems performance through equity and learning score cards, the authors highlight issues of social justice and governance through the lens of skill-capability, structural inequity, ideologically hemmed and complex political economy pathways. Focused on South Asia, it draws upon rich evidence-based trends across OECD countries, East Asia, Africa and Latin America for diversity of reform contexts. The ultimate relief for South Asia lies in the coming together of its key Change Makers, teachers-parents and young people as champions for common good and quality education. John Richards, Manzoor Ahmed, and Shahidul Islam The authors have produced a compelling work that is intellectually stunning and a must-read for policy-makers, universities, CSOs, and development partners. - Baela Raza Jamil, CEO, Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi, and Founder, Children's Literature Festival The outbreak of COVID-19 has prompted the international education community to consider what to do differently to enable the world to achieve the SDG4 in 2030. Based Drawing on extensive data analysis and policy review, the authors trace the root cause of the long-lasting 'learning crisis' in South Asia and offer innovative policy options in key areas such as teaching professionals preparation, financing and governance. This book is an excellent reference for education policy-makers and practitioners in all regions of the world as they struggle to make education systems more resilient and keep the SDG4 progress on track. - Qian Tang, Former Assistant Director-General for Education, UNESCO This is a thorough account of basic education in South Asia. I agree with the authors that the political economy of education is fundamental to realizing major improvements. - Cheng Kai-Ming, former Dean of Education, University of Hong Kong This is a very welcome addition to a growing body of work that locates failure to achieve global goals in the political economies of different education systems. More than 50 years after Coombs and Ahmed detailed the World Education Crisis in 1968 the recent World Bank index on learning poverty shows how far there is to go to realise the ambitions of the sustainable development goals. The need is to address both the explicit inequalities that correlate with low achievement and the many 'silent exclusions' that are concealed in large scale data sets. Analyses need to see beyond outcomes and gaze into educational process, professional practice and community realities. Unlike some, the authors avoid the trap of seeking 'best buys' for policy interventions dislocated from context and the basic arithmetic of public sector financing. They understand that sustainable reforms depend on the cultivation of fiscal states able to finance public goods from domestic revenues that are the basis for civic accountability. Education systems may be 'only as good as the quality of their teachers.' However, the clear contention in the book is that education systems should add much more value than they currently do to teachers' endeavours to manage learning successfully. The need is for new investment that is endogenously led, contextually tailored, and politically enlightened. This book should be essential reading for those engaged with education and development in South Asia. - Keith Lewin, Professor Emeritus of International Development and Education, University of Sussex