Elimination of School Fees Drives Student Enrollment
But Inadequate Revenues Lead to Poor Facilities, Crowded Classrooms
School days in Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, and several other nations in sub-Saharan Africa are now just that for more children than ever before. Millions who, in the past, were more likely to stay home or go out to work than sit in a classroom—especially girls and poor youngsters—now are crowding into government schools.
What’s changed is that expenses that historically have hindered access to education—tuition, textbooks, transportation, uniforms, and other costs—have been reduced or eliminated.
About 21 million fewer school-age children worldwide were out of school in 2004 than just five years earlier, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, which released its annual education report last month. Many of the new students enrolled after a number of countries, primarily in Africa, instituted free education, according to UNESCO’s...
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