Publication: Bringing the School to the Children : Shortening the Path to EFA
Date
2003-08
ISSN
Published
2003-08
Author(s)
Lehman, Douglas
Abstract
Recent education planning initiatives in
West and Central Africa show that the path to EFA may be
shortened considerably by reconsidering the way basic
education is delivered in isolated rural communities. Since
independence, education systems have been expanding rapidly
and are now serving most of the easy-to-reach population.
For progress to continue, the focus must be shifted toward
the sparsely populated areas, which means adjusting the type
of schools used, and building them close to where children
live. Most out-of-school children live in rural areas.
Unfortunately, few rural schools offer the complete primary
cycle. A number of factors contribute to the
incomplete-cycle phenomenon. The most significant is that
the potential student population is insufficient for a
three- or six-teacher school. Having children walk to school
from neighboring villages also contributes to low enrollment
and low student-teacher ratios. Since teachers generally do
not teach more than 1 or 2 grades at a time in a classroom,
rural communities usually have low student-teacher ratios,
and education system administrators cannot justify sending
additional teachers to the school. In addition, schools with
incomplete cycles tend to have extremely low survival rates.
Citation
“Lehman, Douglas. 2003. Bringing the School to the Children : Shortening the Path to EFA. Education Notes. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/58cfece3-ee15-5fa5-bf0b-ee4af2d767a9 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”