Haluwa PDF

Haluwa, a nutritious porridge-like meal consisting of a fortiﬁed wheat-soya blend with sugar and vegetable oil, is provided to young children during school hours every day. Because of the meal, children like Lalita are able to continue their studies and receive the nutrition they need, increasing their ability to learn and eventually [become] productive members of their communities when they grow up. Thousands of miles away the “little doctor” program delivers medical information throughout primary schools using children as peer educators. Everything from personal hygiene to nutrition to deworming programs are delivered through the schools. In the United States, school health centers improved children’s health and educational outcomes (Scientiﬁc American Editors 2022). With the advent of more new diseases, declining vaccination rates and educational outcomes, and increase in hunger, the schools as a vehicle for health care, nutrition and education makes sense. Corrupt oPicials in Kenya sell multiple deeds for the same land. They make extra cash, but children lose when a more lucrative developer buys a deed for the land on which their school stands (Gramer 2017). In Kenya, medium level in human development, people complete only 6.6 years of schooling on average, not enough to achieve their potential in life chances. Despite reforms in law and policy, land fraud in Kenya remains widespread and threatens education. In 2020, a road routed through Kibera displaced 30,000 people and 2,000 students were left without a school (TI 2020). Zainab, another primary school child, sits in the middle of a group of 50 girls. Born in Pakistan as a refugee, her family could not aPord to send her to school. On returning to Afghanistan, she is just starting school at 10 years old. Now, she loves school for the learning and the opportunity to be with friends. Her school in the Gamberi returnee settlement serves about 600 students with six teachers. More than 100 other children, aged 10 years to 15 years, do not get to go to school, including Zainab’s siblings. She worries that next year neither will she. “I don’t want to stop here,” she says. Across Afghanistan, returnees share the hope that their children can ﬁnally go to school (UNICEF Afghanistan 2017). But in Afghanistan, a mere 3.9 years of schooling is the national average. What chance do these children have? What chance does the world have? In comparison with some other countries, even Zainab’s situation seems fortuitous. Some children are in classes of well over 100 students, some go in the open air where there are no classrooms, some share textbooks with 10 or more other students, and the global shortage of teachers is so great that many are taught by untrained and poorly educated teachers. Many children with disabilities, 93 million, and even more girls do not go to school at all. Children with poor nutrition may go to school, but their malnutrition will cause cognitive stunting as well as physical stunting (Global Citizen 2014). Education, along with good nutrition and good health, is essential for the development of the individual and the society. The beneﬁts to individuals, their families, communities, and societies are indisputable. The whole world beneﬁts. Education improves personal health and the health of families. Even primary education can make a diPerence in health outcomes in the developing world. A person with just a primary education is much less likely to contract HIV than a person without any education. Just 6 years of schooling improves rates of prenatal care, assisted childbirth, postnatal care, and immunization. For each year of schooling in a poor country, a person’s income increases 10 percent. Not only the individual and their society, but the entire global order beneﬁts from a well-educated population. Because women bear primary responsibility for agriculture in the developing world, female education leads to more productive farming and decreases in malnutrition. Education promotes the growth of civil society and the economic growth of society. A study of 19 developing societies demonstrated that a country’s long-term growth increases 3.7 percent for every year’s increase in average years of schooling in the adult population (Roudi-Fahimi and Moghadam 2003). Global norms dictate that a modern and good society provides education suPicient for every person to achieve their full potential.In agricultural societies, people learned most of what they needed to know at home. Formal schooling was a private function rather than a public function. Gradually, from the late eighteenth century to the nineteenth century, education became a public concern as societies developed. Both in Prussia and in the United States, an inﬂux of immigrants convinced the reformers of the period, and eventually most of the public, that universal education paid for by the public, not parents, was necessary to transform immigrants into citizens and a productive workforce.1 Education, like other large formal organizational systems, followed the model of bureaucratic organization and scientiﬁc management principles that globalized in that period. The dual function of education, for citizenship and economic development, and the provision of universality achieved through public funding globalized, as did the bureaucratic model. Mass education spread gradually along with the internationalization of the state system—irrespective of a society’s levels of income or industrialization. As late as 1820, more than 80 percent of people alive had no formal schooling (Roser and Nagdy 2016). By 1870, nearly every developed nation had achieved more than 10 percent enrollment of 5 to 14 year olds in school. Until World War II, enrollments grew at about 5 percent annually on average; by World War II, only 10 percent to 15 percent of societies had reached the 10 percent enrollment mark. As nations integrated further into the system of states, schooling expanded, with enrollments growing at about 12 percent per year (Meyer, Ramirez, and Soysal 1992). After the war, the implied normative standard of mass schooling as an indicator of a good state became explicit with the United Nations (UN) Declaration of Human Rights, Article 26, which declares education a human right. During the twenty-ﬁrst century, primary school enrollment is almost universal and secondary is close. Primary school completion at the global level was 90 percent in 2020, up from 74 percent in 1970. However, the least developed countries lag at 74 percent, and among those, sub-Saharan Africa is only at 69 percent. Completion rates for lower secondary education worldwide in 2020 was 77 percent but ranged from over 95 percent in developed societies to 47.3 percent in least developed countries and only 40.6 percent in the heavily indebted poor countries (World Bank 2022a). For upper- secondary, completion rates vary from 21 percent in low-income countries to 90 percent in high-income countries (UNESCO 2022a). More females are out of school than males; reﬂecting conditions primarily in sub- Saharan Africa. The disabled are frequently segregated or overlooked entirely. It is also striking that the number of children out of primary school decreased signiﬁcantly from 2000 to 2007 and since has remained relatively constant, ﬂuctuating around 9 percent from 2007 to 2020 but the number increased from about 60.5 million to 64 million as of June 2022 (World Bank 2022a). Of these 64 million out of school children, 23 million will probably never enter a school. At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, 1.6 billion children were out of school (World Bank 2022b). The pandemic cost years of educational attainment globally, however, even then wealth made a diPerence; those who could aPord reliable internet connection and home computers—or whose schools provided them—fared much better. Everyone will suPer from the years of schooling missed. The economic return on investment in education is signiﬁcant—US$ 5 gained for every $1 spent in education. Globally, there is a 10 percent increase in hourly earnings for every year of school completed (World Bank 2022b). If every child in low-income countries achieved basic reading skills, 171 million people would be lifted out of poverty, decreasing global poverty by 12 percent (GPE 2017). Consider the costs of just the gender gap in the least developed societies. Women’s education has far-reaching ePects on the physical, economic, and social health of their families and the larger society that are lost if girls are not achieving their potential: A 1 percent increase in girls’ secondary education reaps a 3 percent payoP in gross domestic product (GDP). Every additional year of a woman’s education beyond the average raises her eventual income 10 percent to 20 percent. Every additional year of girls’ schooling adds one half to one third additional year to their children’s education, avoids two maternal deaths per 1,000 girls, and lowers child mortality by 5 percent to 10 percent. Females with secondary education are three times less likely to become HIV infected. An increase of 4 years of education reduces a woman’s fertility by one child. Educated women are less likely to be a victim of domestic violence, more likely to participate in political and civil aPairs, and four times more likely to oppose female genital cutting (Tembon 2008). Women’s education provides them with more control over resources, which results in more spending on food and education for children (Revenga and Shetty 2012). Women’s education leads to them having a greater voice in political decisions, which generally results in greater expenditures on public goods such as sanitation and water (Revenga and Shetty 2012). Primary school attendance fell short of meeting the Millennial Development Goal (MDG) of universal primary education by 2015 and will not meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of universal secondary education by 2030. Universal secondary education exists in only a few countries. Attendance rates in West and Central Africa are the worst, where primary school completion is about 60 percent (UNICEF 2021) limiting advancing to secondary. The main barriers of cost, distance to school, and the need to earn an income are relevant in both primary and secondary school but are more pronounced in secondary. In Ukraine, with over a year of horriﬁc war with thousands of homes destroyed, millions of Ukrainian students were eager and able to get online to attend school. In even the most developed countries, the COVID-19 pandemic cost years of educational attainment. Groups consistently most disadvantaged lost the most because they bore the greatest health, wealth, and educational burdens of COVID. Progress toward quality education is uneven, and inequalities persist. Inequality gaps in attendance by income, residence (urban or rural), and gender all increase as years in school increase. Secondary school completion rates in the developing world lag far behind those in the developed world. Gender equality has been attained in two thirds of countries, but in Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia more girls than boys are out of school, resulting in an overall gender gap in both primary and secondary education, posing a signiﬁcant barrier to their economic progress. In some societies in Latin America and in East Asia and the Paciﬁc, the gender gap now favors females. An estimated 244 million children, ages 6 to 18 were out of school in 2021, 118.5 million girls and 125.5 million boys. Although COVID increased the number of children out of school, progress had already slowed over the preceding decade. Although the world is close to universal primary education, 57 percent of children could not read and understand a simple text by age 10. School closures due to COVID pushed this ﬁgure higher, particularly among the most at-risk children. The impact of COVID on achievement in primary grades may negate 10 years of improvement. Lifetime income loss may be as high as 12 percent (Save the Children 2021; World Bank 2022c). Life chances with respect to physical and mental health and participation in civil society are also hindered. Whereas the period from 2000 to 2015 explicitly addressed gender discrimination, those years saw gender gaps in education close signiﬁcantly, with girls achieving higher levels of attainment than boys in a number of countries. Discrimination against minorities and lower socioeconomic classes in education need to be targeted with the same intensity to reduce inequality. Socioeconomic background remains the single most predictive factor of student achievement. The socioeconomic background of individuals within a school aPects educational outcomes. When students are segregated by background within schools, it creates richer and poorer schools and increases inequalities in outcomes. A World Bank study of more than 100 countries found that educational opportunity accounted for up to 35 percent of all disparities in educational achievement (Ferreira and Gignoux 2013). This held not only for developing societies but also for developed societies. Among the ﬁndings of the study is that increasing the share of public educational expenditures spent in early primary grades increases the level of equality of opportunity and the equality in the chance to achieve. Because children come to school with diPerent levels of preparation related to background factors such as parental education and income, targeting early years of schooling helps children make up for some of that disadvantage. The researchers also found that increasing tracking—putting students into diPerent educational programs as measured by vocational school enrollment in secondary education—decreased educational opportunity. A study of the dispersion of learning outcomes in school systems for more than 50 countries (Montt 2011) found that the distribution of teachers and of better teachers across the schools in a system, the absence of tracking, and the intensity of schooling all played signiﬁcant roles in reducing negative educational outcomes. The Montt (2011) study found that ensuring equal distribution of qualiﬁed teachers reduced inequality in attainment. Education from a rights-based perspective demands that policy and program work to give all children an education appropriate to their cultural, social, structural, and individual needs. The goals of global competence are to enable students to develop cultural awareness and respectful interactions in increasingly diverse societies; recognise and challenge cultural biases and stereotypes, and facilitate harmonious living in multicultural communities; prepare for the world of work, which increasingly demands individuals who are ePective communicators, are open to people from diPerent cultural backgrounds, can build trust in diverse teams and can demonstrate respect for others, especially as technology continues to make it easier to connect on a global scale; capitalise on inherently interconnected digital spaces, question biased media representations, and express their voice responsibly online; [and] care about global issues and engage in tackling social, political, economic and environmental challenges. (OECD n.d.) The right to education of children, of all children, is protected by national laws. However, globally, roughly 244 million are excluded. About 40 percent do not have access in a language that they understand. About three quarters of children who may never step into a classroom—9 million—are girls. Children with disabilities are two and one half less likely than their peers to go to school (UNESCO 2022d). In all nations but the wealthiest, for every 100 children in the richest families who complete secondary school, only 18 in the poorest do. And children with disabilities are often segregated. The majority of immigrant children attend schools where at least half the students are immigrants (UNESCO 2020). While primary education has just about achieved gender parity, only 70 girls are in school for every 100 boys. Including and retaining girls in school is critical for themselves and their societies. One year more of schooling can increase a girl’s adult earnings up to 20 percent and 10 percent fewer girls under 17 in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia would become pregnant if they completed primary education (Klaassen 2021). This sort of sidelining of groups is a form of separate and unequal. The right to education of children with disabilities is protected by national laws. They are less likely to start and less likely to transition to secondary school. Quality inclusive education is one of the SDGs for education. Inclusive education is necessary to accomplish all the other goals as well. The International Disability and Development Consortium (IDCC) designed action points help educators target reforms to make education inclusive for students with disabilities—early childhood education, proper teacher training, equal access to scholarships, disability-compliant infrastructure, access to appropriate vocational and tertiary education, and gender- and disability- sensitive learning environments that are safe for all. In 2020, the World Bank Group predicted that by 2030 two thirds of the world’s poor would be living in fragile, conﬂict ridden, and violent countries. For children this can mean lifelong physical and mental trauma and lost years of education, if education is not entirely lost to them (World Bank n.d.). In 2020, 456 million children lived in conﬂict zones, many of them at risk of recruitment as child soldiers, an increase globally from 2009 to 2020 (Kamøy et al. 2021). The Interagency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) sets minimum standards for children in these harsh situations. Education is even more important in emergency situations. Intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations have implemented the INEE standards around the world. The Community Education Committee was formed and sent female members to identify reasons for low female participation. INEE provides guidelines and toolkits that show how. The beneﬁts of preprimary education are undeniable. Both developed and developing societies beneﬁt from it. It improves educational outcomes of children from disadvantaged backgrounds, and it frees women to pursue income-producing jobs. The global gross enrollment in early childhood education grew signiﬁcantly from 28 percent enrollment in 2000 to 61 percent in 2020 but still leaving 175 million 3 to 6 year olds out of school. However, 90 percent of children from the richest quintile attend and only 58 percent from the poorest; 82 percent from urban areas and only 68 percent from rural areas. These gaps vary by region. The gap tends to be larger in regions that are poorer (UNICEF 2022a). One year of preprimary education would help close the gaps (UNESCO 2015a). One way to provide greater access is through contracting with private partners to deliver preschool education and paying the school fees for families (UNESCO 2015a). In Vietnam, for example, where preprimary education is mandatory for 5 year olds, there is a shortage of 45,000 teachers who meet the set standards (Vietnam News 2020). In urban sub-Saharan Africa, demand for preprimary education is strong. In some areas, more than 80 to 90 percent of children are enrolled—almost exclusively in private schools. Roughly 70 to 84 percent of children from the poorest quintile are enrolled. In contrast, in South Africa the government gives 1 year of preprimary education—the reception or grade R. In Soweto, nearly all the students—aged 5 and 6 years2—are in government schools. The instruction in the public and private centers is much more child centered, with play centers, group learning, and home language. Greater government involvement in sub-Saharan schools can increase the number of programs available, lower cost for parents, and provide better educational experiences (UNESCO 2015a). Public education campaigns concerning the nature of preprimary school and diPerences from primary schools have been successful in Thailand and Ghana. There were about 757 million adults (age 15 years and over) who could not read and write in 2013. This population is not conﬁned to developing countries. Illiteracy is found in middle- and high-income countries as well. In Europe, 20 percent of adults have poor literacy skills. Illiteracy prevents people from fully participating in the beneﬁts of society. They are more likely to suPer from unemployment, lower wages, and poor health. They are less likely to have a voice in the political life of their society (UNESCO 2016). As the global population ages, life-long learning for seniors can improve the four “geriatric giants’ immobility, instability, incontinence and cognitive impairments” (Vankova 2022). In any society, as industrial sectors change, vocational education and training for adults is critical for their employment and to maintain a workforce to meet a society’s employment needs. Schools for Life is a model arguably more attuned to the needs of developing countries but can be an important addition to schoolwork in developed societies as well. Rather than work toward achieving standardized learning outcomes, students learn how to have a positive impact on their communities—student-centered strategies that require them to work in teams tackling real problems; health modules, and entrepreneurship models are the centerpiece. They develop higher level skills and concepts through active learning (Epstein and Yuthas 2012). The Escuela Nueva model is such a school for life. Clara Victoria Colbert founded Escuela Nueva in Colombia in the 1970s to improve the quality of rural schools. Applying progressive, democratic education theories of Dewey, among others, the system helps students develop academic skills in meaningful contexts. Teachers can teach themselves the system using the guides. The model has spread across Colombia, and 16 countries have replicated it. It is now a global model (Kamenetz, Drummond, and Yenigun 2016). The schools of Finland have been a curiosity around the world. Their students are among the highest achieving in the PISA tests, although Finnish educators say that they don’t pay much attention to the tests because they don’t do much testing themselves. They do not pay their teachers the top salaries in the world, but their teachers are drawn from the top 10 percent of graduates, who then need to get a graduate degree in education. More than 93 percent of students graduate from an academic or vocational high school, and 66 percent go on to college. From 1999 to 2012, 38 countries increased funding by 1 percentage point of national income. “Education for All” and the MDGs set the target for national education funding at 15 percent to 20 percent of national budgets by 2015. Progress toward the goal was uneven. Sub-Saharan African countries allocated the largest median share of their budgets at 18.4 percent; East Asian and Paciﬁc countries allocated 17.5 percent. Ethiopia and Niger both exceeded the 20 percent mark. At the global median average of 13.7 percent reached in 2012, universal education cannot be attained (UNESCO 2015b). In 2015, the Education 2030 Agenda again asked countries to dedicate at least 4 percent to 6 percent of their GDP or 15 percent to 20 percent of their public expenditures to education. Donor countries agreed to assist poorer countries ﬁnance education by giving 0.7 percent of their income. 2020 global funding in education was US$ 4.9 trillion, including donations of US$ 18 billion. Although a record high in aid 43 donors including the United States and UK decreased their aid to education and the overall global budget remained equivalent to 2018 and 2019. Education budgets in low income countries, as of 2023, have not recovered to pre-COVID levels, and the gap may increase to US$ 200 billion. In low- to lower middle-income countries, households still bear 39 percent of the education budget, compared with 16 percent in high-income countries (World Bank, GEM, and UNESCO 2022). The GPE estimated that from 2018 to 2020 donor governments need to invest US$ 3.1 billion to meet the 20 percent budget allocation for education, and philanthropies and the private sector will need to increase their targeted contributions. This is to replenish the funding for education. After replenishment, $2 billion a year is needed to continue to scale up and maintain education. Health, prosperity, and peace will depend increasingly on education (GPE 2017). Providing quality education calls for a variety of strategies, at international, national, and local levels and coordination among governments and nongovernmental organization. The OECD (2010, 2017) proposed policy recommendations for improving education that apply to developed and developing societies. The Finnish model provides extra money for schools with a disadvantaged population. In Espoo, a school received an extra €82,000 to meet the ﬁnancial requirements of extra aides, special materials, and so forth. In Hedgehog Road, the oldest low-income housing project in Finland, the school receives an extra €47,000 euros each year. This positive discrimination money ensures that equality is the most important word in Finnish education. Its special education teachers are paid somewhat above the average teacher scale because they have an extra year, a 6th year, of university study. The result of the extra money, time, and attention is that nearly 100 percent of the ninth graders in Hedgehog Road go on to upper secondary school. Those who do not will go to one of the vocational schools, attended by about 43 percent of Finnish students. School fees that parents pay may cover everything from uniforms, books, and other learning and teaching supplies to teacher and administrator fees. These fees can add up to hundreds of dollars. The proposals listed here are stopgap measures. As the SDG for education states in target 4.1, education must be free. All barriers to cost must be removed or education will never be equitable and will never provide children with the life chances to which they are entitled. Education fees and other costs continue to make education unaPordable for many. Household expenditures on education in sub-Saharan Africa were nearly 5 times a greater proportion of GDP than in Europe and North America (UNESCO 2020). In Haiti, Kenya, the Philippines, and Uganda over 30 percent of households borrow to pay for education and in many low- and lower middle-income countries households bear from half to three fourths of the cost of education (UNESCO 2022c). Ugandan households bear 57 percent of the cost of education. In Benin (US$ 402 per child), Chad, Côte d’Ivoire ($637 per child), Guinea, and Niger, education expenses run from 20 percent to 25 percent of GDP per capita. It is more than 30 percent in Togo. In most rich nations, it does not exceed 5 percent. In some countries, even primary school can be expensive. In El Salvador, for example, it averages $680 per child (UNESCO 2017). In 12 African countries, learning and teaching materials ate up 56 percent of household budgets (UNESCO 2015b). in Kenya the cost of a uniform was about 2 percent of per capita GDP. In 2003, per capita GDP was US$ 850, so a uniform was about $17. To put this in perspective, in the United States in 2003, a uniform costing 2 percent of per capita GDP would have been about $900. The test programs had measurable results. Students stayed in school one half grade longer, reduced their absences, reduced dropout rates, and among sixth- grade girls reduced childbearing (Kremer and Holla 2009). Bolsa Familia is one of the most well-known programs. Begun in Brazil in 2003, the program gave subsidies to poor families in exchange for parents keeping their children in school and participating in preventive health care programs. The program successfully kept children in school—the chances of a 15-year-old girl being in school increased 21 percent by 2013. The World Bank credits the program with increasing school attendance and retention, reducing child labor, reducing child mortality, increasing prenatal medical visits, increasing immunization, and helping slash poverty. The program has been ePicient, costing about.6 percent of GDP while helping millions of families. Brazil, in conjunction with other aid agencies, exported the program around the world to more than 40 countries by 2013 (Wetzel 2013). Despite its successes, Bolsa Familia appears in danger. As of 2020, the number of people admitted dropped dramatically, and nearly three quarters of a million people lag on the waiting list (Belágua 2020). PROGRESA, a program instituted in Mexico, provides 3 years of monthly cash grants to poor mothers whose children maintained an 85 percent school attendance rate. Grants equaled about 25 percent of the average income for poor mothers. The program increased attendance in grades 1 through 8. Since primary education was near universal, the program adjusted to concentrate on the higher grades. This program expanded to 25 mostly middle-income countries. Hookworm, roundworm, whipworm, and schistosomiasis are particularly common among school-age children. They have serious health consequences such as anemia, protein malnutrition, and pain. Twice-yearly treatments dispensed by teachers in areas of high worm diseases improved school attendance by 8 percentage points. By 2030, it will require more than 1.5 million more teachers to attain universal primary education and more than 5 million more for lower secondary education If the current trend holds, not all these teachers will be qualiﬁed. In the United States in 2015, the pupil-to-teacher ratio, overall, in public schools was 16 to 1 and in private schools was about 12 to 1 (McFarland et al. 2017). In many developing societies, it is much higher— in the 30, 40, and 50 to 1 range. By 2030, it will require more than 1.5 million more teachers to attain universal primary education and more than 5 million more for lower secondary education If the current trend holds, not all these teachers will be qualiﬁed. In the United States in 2015, the pupil-to-teacher ratio, overall, in public schools was 16 to 1 and in private schools was about 12 to 1 (McFarland et al. 2017). In many developing societies, it is much higher— in the 30, 40, and 50 to 1 range. As it does for other occupations, the Philippines speciﬁcally trains teachers to be desirable for overseas employment. More than 250 teachers came from the Philippines on J-1 work visas. The National Education Association reported a “ﬁve alarm crisis” for the 2021–2022 school year, only 0.57 hires were made for every one teacher sought (JotkoP 2022). Many districts report shortages of science and math teachers (Pyle et al. 2021). Secondary math teacher shortage was reported by 46 percent of U.S. districts and secondary science shortage in 26 percent of districts (Buttner 2021). The United States needs another 15,000–23,000 physics teachers if 80 percent to 90 percent of students were to take physics (Physics Today 2022). The last recent Schools and StaPing Survey (2011–2012) showed that only 70 percent of public high school mathematics teachers had a major in mathematics, and only 46 percent of physical science teachers had a major in physical science (Hill, Sterns, and Owens 2015). A New York Times survey (Harris 2022) of over 1,000 teachers, even before the pandemic disrupted education globally, showed many schools had been neglected and teachers viliﬁed. England faces a similar dilemma in teacher shortages. In 2018, only 44 percent of mathematics teachers held mathematics degrees (Sibieta 2021). The Department for Education hoped to train 1,055 physics teachers for the 2015–2016 school year but got only 739. It also fell short on biology and chemistry teachers (Bawden 2016). School choice programs vary widely across countries. OECD conducted an extensive study of the ePects of school choice on equity and achievement in 71 countries (OECD and partner countries) using 2000 and 2015 PISA scores to gauge student achievement. Despite the wide variation of programs across countries, one conclusion is striking: Sorting students by ability or social status has detrimental ePects on disadvantaged students while not aPecting the achievement of advantaged students (OECD 2019). The schools may receive some assistance from public schools, such as in the United States where some states provide transportation, books, and special services such as speech and hearing specialists. Looking just at 15 year olds, the OECD study found that 4 percent of students were enrolled in such schools at the time of PISA 2015 testing. In the United States and Italy, about 70 percent of the private school students were in religious schools. In Austria and Denmark, all were in schools run by not-for-proﬁts. In Turkey, 70 percent were in for-proﬁt private schools (OECD 2019). Private government dependent schools, enrolling about 12 percent of 15 year olds in OECD countries are ﬁnanced by the government but run by other entities—religious, not-for-proﬁt organizations, and for-proﬁt organizations. In Ireland for example, all children attending such schools are in religious schools; in Austria, they are in other not-for-proﬁts. Across OECD countries, privately managed—government dependent or independent—schools receive 58 percent of their school funding from the government. The range is from under 1 percent in the United States, the UK, Greece, and Mexico (clearly independent) to almost 100 percent in Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands (clearly dependent) (OECD 2019). In the United States, charters grew from 5,300 to 7,800 and enrollment grew from nearly 1.8 million to almost 3.7 million students from 2010 to 2020 (NCES 2023). The majority of students enrolled in charters in the United States are in standalone elementary (K–6, 40.8 percent) and middle schools (6–8, 16.6 percent). Another 37.1 percent are enrolled in multilevel schools, which could be K–8, 6–12, K–12. It is safe to assume that most of these children are of elementary and middle school age. Only 5.6 percent of students are high school (9–12) charters. This decreased 7 percent from 2013 to 2023. The most extensive studies are those by Stanford’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO). From the ﬁrst study in 2009 to the most recent in 2023, charter school outcomes improved. In the 2009 study, charter school students lost signiﬁcant growth in comparison to public school students. The 2023 study found that students gained 6 days of learning in math and 16 in reading, showing that some charter schools improved over time. Students in virtual charter schools had signiﬁcantly worse results than traditional public schools or brick-and-mortar charters. They lost the equivalent of 124 fewer days of mathematics—a loss of almost 70 percent of a school year—and 60 days in reading, one third of a school year. Of the 214 virtual charter schools in the CREDO III study, 73 percent had weaker growth than the public schools in reading and 90 percent were worse in math. Students in urban charters (53.6 percent of charters) gained 28 days in math and 29 in reading in comparison to their peers in public schools. Suburban charters (29 percent) gained 14 days in reading and 3 in math. Rural (8.4 percent) lost 10 days in math and gained 5 in reading. Students in charters in 18 states had higher growth than students in public schools, and in 12 states it was similar. Only 3 states had worse growth for charter students. Blacks in poverty increase reading scores by 37 days’ growth and Hispanics 37 days’ growth. For math it is 36 days for Blacks and 30 days for Hispanics. Native American, White, and multiracial students experienced similar growth to public school peers in reading but were weaker in math. Asian/Paciﬁc Islander students performed similarly to their peers in both subject areas. In reading, about 37.7 percent of charters are low growth (Figure 5.10). In mathematics, about 45.6 percent of charter schools are low growth (Figure 5.11). Those charters are likely to fall behind or further behind in achievement unless they are improved. This is possible, particularly if they are taken over by a charter management organization (CMO) with high growth and achievement schools. High growth charters with high achievement are likely to continue in this quadrant. Magnet schools in the United States developed as a vehicle for voluntary desegregation and to improve both educational quality for racial minorities. As of the 2021–2022 school year, they enrolled about 2.2 million students. Integrating schools with respect to socioeconomic status is also important. Attending a higher SES school can relieve, at least temporarily, the ever-present stress of poverty, enabling students—to put it bluntly—to think more clearly. For magnets to work, integration must occur not only at the school level but also at the classroom level. Magnets can be an important source of community revitalization and stabilization, beneﬁtting the entire society. The Metropolitan Planning Council found that in Chicago, African American earnings increased by $3,000 annually, Chicago’s GDP increased US$ 8 billion, homicide rate decreased 30 percent, residential real estate value increased US$ 6 billion, and 83,000 additional college graduates increased regional earnings by US$ 90 billion (Chiles 2017 as summarized in Kapadia 2017). A Stanford University study found weak to no evidence that vouchers improved student achievement. In cases where there was some improvement in graduation or attendance at college rates it was usually associated with the private schools’ willingness to shed low performing students. The universal right to education is recognized in a number of international documents and treaties, beginning with the UN Declaration of Human Rights, which states in Article 26 that everyone has the right to a free education and, at least in elementary stages, that it be directed to the full development of personalities’ and that parents have the right to choose the kind of education they prefer for their children. Education is related to income, health, and even participation in democracy. Without educational opportunity, achievement in other important life dimensions cannot be fulﬁlled to a person’s potential. These basic rights have been expounded on in a number of international instruments— in particular UNESCO’s Convention against Discrimination in Education of 1960, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966, and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989. The right to a free education is guaranteed in 65 percent of constitutions and encoded into many national laws. UNICEF argues for a rights-based approach to education. The principles that inform a rights-based model recognize the unique characteristics of Indigenous peoples and minorities. Universality and inalienability: The rights belong to everyone; they may not be given up or taken away by anyone. In this context, the principle means that every measure needs to be taken to ensure that all people have access to an education appropriate for them. Indivisibility: All rights are essential to the dignity of every person. The right to education cannot be subordinated to any other right, nor can any right be subordinated to it. In this case, a parent’s right to choose other options for a child, whether that be the child’s right to security or health care, cannot deny the child the right to an education. For example, children in need of security must also be educated in a manner appropriate for them. Whether in a refugee camp, foster home, or homeless shelter, children must also be educated. Interdependence: Some rights are interdependent. The right to education might be dependent on the right to information. Knowledge of one’s rights is essential. Equality and nondiscrimination: This principle does not mean treating everyone in the same way. It does mean that as services are delivered, the unique vulnerabilities of every child need to be considered. For example, bilingual education, education sensitive to cultural values and customs, living arrangements, and a plethora of other distinctions need to be addressed in providing an equal education. Any element not manifesting this principle—for instance, a culturally biased textbook that reinforces power imbalances—needs to be eliminated. Gender stereotypes and negative representations of Indigenous or minority groups cannot be tolerated. Children with disabilities must be educated with the appropriate interventions such as Braille and sign language. Empowerment: The purpose of education is to develop the capacity of individuals and communities, thereby giving them power and control over their own lives. Children’s views should be valued, showing respect for their families, cultures, and traditions. All forms of humiliating punishments are forbidden. Empowerment primarily is the capacity of people to claim and achieve their rights. Accountability and rule of law: Institutions must be held accountable for fulﬁlling human rights and if they violate those rights. Those who hold the duty to fulﬁll the rights need to be identiﬁed, and their capacity to fulﬁll their obligations must be assessed. They must be given the tools to develop their capacity wherever weaknesses exist. (UNICEF/UNESCO 2007)

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