Improving Primary Education in Developing Countries

This work is the first comprehensive review of both the scholarly literature on improving primary education in developing countries and of donors' opinions. It provides an overview of primary education systems and argues that developing countries must do more to serve the needs of all children. The authors promote strategies for improving five aspects of education, including the inclusion of girls and children from poor and rural families--groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in primary schools. Enhanced by detailed tables, illustrations, and appendices, this work will be essential to those who work in education, development studies, and economic and social programs.

"This is an outstanding contribution to the literature of international education....A major source of reference on the state of primary education in the developing world."--The Times Higher Education Supplement

"An informative view of the problems of education in developing countries....A reader new to the subject can quickly grasp the essential points....Highly recommended for upper-division undergraduates and graduate students."--Choice

"An important contribution to understanding problems confronting primary education in developing countries and ways to improve the learning process....This book contributes significantly to understanding the problems of--and the prospects for--primary education in developing nations. The authors provide both analysis and concrete policy suggestions. The narrative chapters, combined with the statistical appendix and bibliography, provide an extremely valuable resource for students, scholars, and policymakers who are concerned with Third World educational change generally and with primary-level schooling specifically."--Journal of Developing Areas

"One of the most important comparative education publications of recent years."--Comparative Education Review