World Bank: Protecting Education Gains in Poor Countries During Crisis Will Require Global Partnership

The World Bank recently did a study on the role of publicly funded private schools in developing countries, including BRAC's non-formal primary and pre-primary education programs in Bangladesh. Here are a few of the findings:

* Publicly funded private schools are providing high-quality, low-cost education. In certain studies, the educational achievements of students in these schools have been higher than those of students in publicly-operated schools.

* Enrollments in private education institutions has grown enormously over the past 15 years. Between 1991 and 2004, enrollment in private primary schools grew by 58 percent, compared to only 10 percent in public primary schools. Globally, approximately 113 million students are currently enrolled in non-government schools, 51 million of which are studying at the secondary level.

* More than 90 education public-private partnership programs exist in 50 countries around the world. These programs serve both high- and low-income families OECD countries spend an average of 12 percent of their education budgets on privately managed education institutions.

* In Bangladesh, the Non-Formal Primary Education Program of the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) reaches over 1 million poor children. Launched in 1985 with 22 one-room schools; by 2007 it was serving more than 1.5 million children in more than 20,000 preprimary and 32,000 primary schools. Together, these schools account for 11 percent of all primary school children in the country.

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