"Many countries all over the world are struggling to achieve for all. As part of such effort, they have strategized to provide universal primary education which normally refers to the enrollment of all school age children in primary schools, namely achieving one hundred percent of the net enrollment. While such efforts have been realized in many developing countries, it is a major challenge in most developing countries, especially in Africa following the attainment of independence. This book focuses on the influence of donor agencies in setting for the development of education in Africa leading to the preliminary interventions by different African English countries through the provision of free primary education. It is noted that most of the countries which introduced fee remission through free primary education experienced massive enrollments as many children from disadvantaged groups took advantage of the policy intervention to send their children to school. However, the push for it came to be identified with increasing deterioration in the quality of primary education right from the provision of physical facilities, teaching and learning materials, deployment of teachers, performance and transition from primary to secondary education. The quality of infrastructure and teaching and learning materials were in a deplorable state, especially in the rural areas, where such enrollments were well above the official recommended number of pupils per classroom. It proceeds to provide an interesting and easy to read accounts of the development of universal primary education in selected countries analyzing successes and challenges. Among the key challenges identified in the implementation of the UPE policy include; the lack of adequate planning, financing, inadequate infrastructure, and the HIV/AIDS scourge. On the basis of the above challenges, it is important that policy measures are put in place to improve the quality of primary education in many countries"--

The Department for International Development (DFID) is the British government department responsible for promoting development and the reduction of poverty in sites in developing and transition countries around the world. This paper focuses on the education dimension of poverty reduction, and specifically the attainment of the International Development Targets for education, which are to: achieve Universal Primary Education (UPE) by 2015; and demonstrate progress toward gender equality and the empowerment of women by eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2005. Section 1 underlines the importance of education as a basic human right, a right which promotes other rights and responsibility that contribute to economic and social development. Section 2 defines the scale and geography of the challenge, noting that it is in sub-Saharan Africa that the size and complexity of the challenge is greatest. Section 3 posits the argument that the experiences of the past decade--positive and negative--point to a set of important lessons which should inform the work of governments and the wider international community, lessons that include the central role of government and the need for policies inclusive of all children. Section 4 identifies priorities and strategies for action, arguing that for targets to be achieved there must be sustained commitment by national governments to sound, long-term policies that recognize the strategic contribution of primary education to development. Section 5 outlines a broad, threefold strategy for DFID: (1) contributing to the development and coordination of international commitment, policies, and programs designed to achieve UPE and Education for All; (2) strong, well-targeted country programs that will provide strategic assistance to governments and societies committed to achieving UPE and gender equality; and (3) knowledge and research strategies and outcomes that will contribute to the ability of the international community to learn lessons, share experience, and monitor progress. Section 6 underscores the importance of developing capacity to monitor progress toward the targets, and for DFID to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of its contribution to achieving UPE and gender equality. (HTH)

School Construction Strategies for Universal Primary Education in Africa' examines the scope of the infrastructure challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa and the constraints to scaling up at an affordable cost. It assesses the experiences of African countries with school planning, school facility designs, and construction techniques, procurement and implementation arrangements over the past thirty years. It reviews the roles of the various actors in the implementation process: central and deconcentrated administrations, local governments, agencies, social funds, NGOs, and local communities. Drawing upon extensive analysis of data from over 200 250 projects sponsored by the World Bank and other donor agencies, the book draws lessons on promising approaches to enable African countries to scale up the facilities required to achieve the EFA goals and MDGs of complete quality primary education for all children at the lowest marginal cost.

Annotation This book seeks to provide answers to the following questions: Where do we stand today in relation to the target of universal primary completion? Is universal primary completion achievable by 2015? What would he required to achieve it? The book includes a CD-ROM containing a "hands-on" version of the simulation model developed by the authors and all of the background data used.

Achieving Universal Primary Education (UPE) has received considerable attention since the early 1950s. The concept of universal education is, however, not well defined and is used to mean many different things to different people. This book contains a five-year research work conducted by a group of African and Japanese researchers who have developed an equal partnership and network to review the expansion of primary education, some policies prompting the free primary education intervention, and the challenges of implementation based on the case study of two districts in four countries, namely, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Uganda. The first part discusses issues related to administrative, financial, and perceptive issues related to UPE policies in each country case, followed by the second part that focuses on quality of education and UPE policies. The book contains various lessons learnt and implications for future education policies in developing countries.

Despite great progress around the world in getting more kids into schools, too many leave without even the most basic skills. In India’s rural Andhra Pradesh, for instance, only about one in twenty children in fifth grade can perform basic arithmetic. The problem is that schooling is not the same as learning. In The Rebirth of Education, Lant Pritchett uses two metaphors from nature to explain why. The first draws on Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom’s book about the difference between centralized and decentralized organizations, The Starfish and the Spider. Schools systems tend be centralized and suffer from the limitations inherent in top-down designs. The second metaphor is the concept of isomorphic mimicry. Pritchett argues that many developing countries superficially imitate systems that were successful in other nations— much as a nonpoisonous snake mimics the look of a poisonous one. Pritchett argues that the solution is to allow functional systems to evolve locally out of an environment pressured for success. Such an ecosystem needs to be open to variety and experimentation, locally operated, and flexibly financed. The only main cost is ceding control; the reward would be the rebirth of education suited for today’s world.

In this revolutionary book, a renowned computer scientist explains the importance of teaching children the basics of computing and how it can prepare them to succeed in the ever-evolving tech world. Computers have completely changed the way we teach children. We have Mindstorms to thank for that. In this book, pioneering computer scientist Seymour Papert uses the invention of LOGO, the first child-friendly programming language, to make the case for the value of teaching children with computers. Papert argues that children are more than capable of mastering computers, and that teaching computational processes like de-bugging in the classroom can change the way we learn everything else. He also shows that schools saturated with technology can actually improve socialization and interaction among students and between students and teachers. Technology changes every day, but the basic ways that computers can help us learn remain. For thousands of teachers and parents who have sought creative ways to help children learn with computers, Mindstorms is their bible.