World Bank2024-08-142024-08-142022-07-31https://hdl.handle.net/10986/42045Zambia introduced free and compulsory general education in 2011, but its implementation has been incomplete. In 2021, the government introduced the “Education for All” policy which abolished all formal and informal fees in general education (pre-primary, primary, and both lower and upper secondary levels), with fees replaced by compensatory increases in grants to schools. This note presents simulation results of the fiscal implications of the Education for All policy from 2022 to 2035. However, the introduction of measures to reduce costs and increase further the share of the budget allocated to education are likely to make the successful implementation of Education for All achievable. The note presents a range of cost-saving policies, similar to those employed by other countries to reduce costs during periods of rapid system expansion without negatively impacting learning. These include rationalized use of teachers’ housing, administrative offices, and laboratories and improved utilization of secondary school teachers. Implementing these policies, alongside the increases in education outlined in the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) would make the Education for All policy more affordable. However, our most expansive enrollment scenario would only be affordable if these cost-saving policies were coupled with further increases in education’s share of the government budget.en-USCC BY-NC 3.0 IGOEDUCATIONEDUCATION ACCESS AND EQUITYEDUCATION FOR ALLEDUCATION FINANCEEDUCATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMICS OF EDUCATIONECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF EDUCATIONQUALITY EDUCATIONSDG 4BriefWorld Bank10.1596/42045