School Fees: A Roadblock to Education For All There is increasing momentum on the road to Education for All (EFA), but school fees are still a roadblock for too many children. Several African countries have recently abolished school fees outright. The dramatic surge in enrollments that followed is strong evidence that the payment of fees can be a major obstacle to enrollment. August 2004 The World Bank does not support user fees for primary Tuition fees are only part of the story. Households fre- education. Such fees are an important factor keeping quently face a wide range of user fees for publicly the poorest children out of school in many countries, provided primary education, including textbook fees reducing momentum towards EFA. Fees for textbooks or costs and/or rental payments, compulsory uni- and other materials can also block access to learning forms, PTA dues, and various special fees such as for many more children. However, the availability of exam fees and community contributions to district funds at the school level can improve teaching and education boards. learning. For this reason, World Bank programs increas- ingly support efforts to ensure that, as fees are elimi- Prevalence of Fees nated, other sources of financing are available. Fees represent perhaps 20 percent of all education Increased Attention to spending, and as much as 30 percent in Africa and User Fees as a Policy Issue even 40 percent in the former Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Eastern European social- ist countries. A survey of user fees in 79 World Bank User fees have gained attention in recent years as a client countries was conducted in 2001. Of these policy issue, in part because progress toward achieving countries, only Algeria and Uruguay do not have universal primary education has intensified the focus fees of any type, while another eight countries allow on enrolling the remaining out-of-school population. only PTA or community contributions. Fees for text- When Malawi abolished tuition fees in 1994, enroll- books or compulsory uniforms exist in about half ments increased about 51 percent. A similar decision the countries. Tuition fees are collected in almost 40 in Uganda in 1996 led to a 70 percent increase in percent of countries. enrollments. Following the elimination of school fees in Cameroon in 1999, the primary gross enrollment The type of fee charged varies from region to region. rate went from 88 percent to 105 percent. Tanzania In Africa, community contributions and PTA dues are saw an even greater response; when it abolished fees the most common type (81% of countries surveyed). in 2001, the net primary enrollment rate soared from Other fees are less common but nonetheless signifi- 57 percent to 85 percent within one year. When cant: tuition (41%), textbooks (37%), uniforms (48%), Kenya eliminated fees the following year, 1.2 million and other activity fees (41%). additional students entered primary school. Tuition fees are common in the transitional economies of Europe and Central Asia (ECA). Many ECA coun- Table 1: Summary Fee Survey Results tries have shifted costs formerly paid by the public Countries Percentage of sector to households. These fees are often collected Percentage with Fee-charging unofficially and can represent a very high proportion Countries of Countries Unofficial Countries with with Fees in Survey Fees Unofficial Fees of education expenditures. Fees for books are common in the former socialist countries. Compulsory At least 77 97 na na uniforms are much more common in Eastern Europe one fee (all the former socialist countries) than in the CIS Tuition fees 30 38 11 37 where Azerbaijan is the only country in the survey to Textbook 37 47 12 32 mandate uniforms. PTA and community contributions charges are required in almost all countries. Compulsory 39 49 0 0 uniforms Based on the survey, there are only a few countries with PTA/community 56 71 22 39 contributions tuition fees in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Textbook fees are also relatively rare (29% of countries Activity Fees 34 43 13 38 surveyed), but compulsory uniforms (76%) and PTA or Source: World Bank Survey, 2001. community contributions (65%) are the norm. In most of the countries in the Middle East and North Fees are often the main source of qualitative inputs. In Africa region, there is a disconnect between the con- India, for example, textbooks and learning materials stitutional right to a free education and the reality of account for 76% of the fees collected. Therefore, fees. Tuition fees are collected in Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia when fees are abolished, it is important that other and Yemen. In addition to PTA and community contri- sources of financing be available at the school level. butions, textbook fees are charged in half of the coun- Where and how fees are collected, and used, conditions tries; fees for uniforms are relatively rare. the type of substitutes one could use, since for exam- ple, simply provisioning schools with some of the inputs Fees are commonplace in South Asia, including for pri- they might have purchased with their own free income vate tutoring. Public schools in both India and Pakistan might not always be perceived by schools to be as effi- charge tuition fees for primary education, as do cient as purchasing their own inputs with their fee schools in Bhutan and Nepal. Public schools in Sri income. The textbook sales and rental schemes in Lanka and Bangladesh do not charge tuition. Over half Africa supported by the Bank appear to have been of the countries in this region also impose textbook unsuccessful in reaching the poor. Even with a subsidy fees and require PTA and community contributions. on the price, for instance, most rural primary students Uniforms are not generally compulsory, except in in Togo do not have books, a full set of which repre- Pakistan. A striking trend in recent years has been the sents more than twice the average annual family increasing popularity of private schools, particularly in spending on education. urban India and urban Pakistan. At private schools, fees are about the same as at public schools; however, Impact of Fees parents perceive the quality as higher. In East Asia and the Pacific (other than the former The burden on households as a result of fee payments socialist countries), textbook fees (70% of countries), is significant. The poorer the family, the greater the uniforms (80%), PTA and community contributions burden of education spending. In Thailand, for (80%) and other activity fees (70%) are common. instance, poor households spend 47 percent of their Tuition fees are less common but exist in Indonesia, income on education while the average for all house- Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands, in addi- holds is 16 percent (Table 2). tion to China and Vietnam. Table 2: Household Expenditures on Primary Education as a Percentage of Household Spending Utilization of Fees All Households Poorest Quintile Fees can account for a very high proportion of total ECA Bulgaria 24 36 educational expenditure on primary education. In 12 Macedonia 13 17 countries reviewed, the proportion ranges between 8 percent in Indonesia to 80 percent in Cambodia. The East Asia China 19 29 highest proportion of household spending on educa- Indonesia 17 17 tional fees is generally for textbooks and uniforms, Mongolia 6 8 rather than for tuition. In most countries with fees, the Thailand 16 47 fees are collected at the school level, especially textbook Vietnam 12 22 fees (although fees collected from the sale of books are normally sent elsewhere in the education system), PTA South Asia Nepal 16 29 and community contributions (always), and activity fees Source: World Bank Survey, 2001. Mark Bray, Counting the Full Cost: (usually). Uniforms tend to be mandated nationally. Parental and Community Financing of Education in East Asia, World Bank, 1996. Tuition fees offer a more mixed picture. In China, Egypt, and Kenya, for instance, fees are collected at the school, but not used by the school; in most other cases, There may, of course, be factors other than fees that fees are collected and used by the school. contribute to low enrollments. A lack of supply (a lim- ited number of schools within easy walking distance, have been put in place in many countries and demon- or a limited number of schools offering the full primary strate the potential usefulness of these approaches. cycle), the opportunity costs of attending school, the perceived low returns from schooling in the labor Lessons Learned market, and other factors may contribute to low enroll- ments. For girls, the absence of female teachers, and the failure to provide separate toilets may be additional The World Bank is actively involved in attempts to elim- obstacles. However, fees tend to act as an intensifier, inate user fees, and to provide alternate sources of making these other issues assume greater importance. financing. Some important lessons are being learned Countries that have reached full enrollment even while from these efforts: allowing school fees may also regress during periods of economic decline. Fee abolition alone can bring large numbers of chil- dren into school, but it cannot keep them there. It The two regions in which user fees appear to have the must be part of a broad government commitment greatest negative impact on enrollment are Africa and to achieving universal primary enrollment, with com- ECA. These regions have experienced prolonged eco- plementary measures such as teacher recruitment, nomic stagnation and decline in the last two decades. professional development, bridging courses and pro- Inequality is high in Africa and increasing in ECA. Such vision of teaching and learning materials, with circumstances tend to create a vicious circle--as gov- strong political leadership from the highest levels. ernments find it harder to raise revenues and are more likely to resort to fees, parents simultaneously will find Indirect costs can be an even greater obstacle than it harder to pay fees out of reduced or stagnant house- fees. The World Bank has helped more than 30 hold incomes. Lower enrollment rates will in turn con- countries to introduce stipends, targeted vouchers, tribute to reduced economic productivity over time. bursaries, and other demand-side financing mecha- nisms to encourage the enrollment of the poor and of girls at all levels of education, in an effort to Offsetting Fees offset indirect opportunity costs. Many countries recognize that fees can be a burden on Fees cannot be abolished without consideration of the poor and may deter enrollments and learning. As a whether, and how, they should be replaced by an result there are many measures in place to mitigate the alternative source of income. Replacement revenues effects of fees, including a reduction or elimination of can be provided by simply increasing expenditures tuition fees for the poor, scholarships, free textbooks on education, by improving the efficiency of educa- and other learning materials, and free uniforms. Some tion spending, or by use of debt relief funds to countries provide targeted subsidies to offset transport close the financing gap (as in the case in and other costs; others provide bursaries and stipends Cameroon). The Fast Track Initiative (FTI) Catalytic to enable poor families to overcome the indirect oppor- Fund also represents an extraordinary opportunity tunity costs (in terms of lost contributions to the house- to provide temporary financing to EFA countries hold economy) of attending school. The effectiveness of working towards the elimination of fees. these mitigation strategies is mixed. Some countries, particularly in Latin America, have developed relatively Regardless of the source of fee replacement successful targeting mechanisms. In many other coun- revenue, it is critical to help countries develop the tries, mitigation strategies are generally ineffective. capacity to make these funds available at the Capitation grants (Uganda) and small grants programs school level. This note series is intended to summarize lessons learned and key policy findings on the World Bank's work in education. The views expressed in these notes are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank. For additional copies of Education Notes, please contact the Education Advisory Service by email at eservice@worldbank.org or visit the web site: http://www.worldbank.org/education/ Principal Authors: Raja Bentaouet Kattan and Nicholas Burnett. Photographer: Trevor Samson, 2002.