Inclusive Education for Sustainable Development: The Implications of Low-fee Private Schools for Access and Quality

The Sustainable Development Goals（SDGs）reaffirm the importance of early childhood development (ECD). Target 4.2 states that the world should “ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood... [ view full abstract ]

The Sustainable Development Goals（SDGs）reaffirm the importance of early childhood development (ECD). Target 4.2 states that the world should “ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education.” ECD is also central to the achievement of sustainability because is has a multiplier effect and therefore impacts the other SDGs. However, ECD has been given neither sufficient attention nor sufficient resources in international education development. As a result, more than 200 million children under 5 years don’t receive the foundation they need in their early years due to poverty, poor health and inadequate care, and so fail to reach their potential in life.  

Simultaneously, low-fee private schools (LFPSs) have grown substantially in the developing South in recent years because of lack of capacity in government schools. Although studies have begun to emerge in recent years, the pre-primary level remains severely under-studied, despite the fact that early-childhood care is a significant area of growth for LFPSs. It is imperative that scholars examine this area because of the centrality of ECD to the SDGs but also because of the fervor with which LFPSs are currently being promoted as a way to increase access while ensuring quality. This paper makes a contribution by reporting findings from a mixed-methods study of LFPSs offering early childhood care and education in a slum of 100,000 people in Lusaka, Zambia. This study maps LFPSs and reveals the market dynamics that have developed among LFPSs and government schools, including the ways that parents, teachers, and principals interpret their options and respond to market signals. A central focus is whether LFPSs contribute to access for the poorest sectors of society, and with what implications for the quality of the education that is available to them.