Fee-free education policies

School fee abolition is seen as one of the strategies and as a major measure to improve the enrolment and participation rates. Tuition fees and other private costs of schooling are viewed as a barrier for many children to access and complete primary education. They are especially burdensome in countries where poverty imposes tough choices on families and households about how many and which children to send to school, and for how long.

Thus, Fee-free education policies must not only take into consideration the abolition of tuition fees but also the other costs for households such as textbooks, uniforms, transportation, etc. Fee-free education policies should also be embedded in a larger policy framework in collaboration with other institutions. Of course, the fee-free policy must ensure an education of adequate quality and even be an opportunity for a better education.

Our research is related to the implementation and outcomes of fee-free school policies. It will try to answer the following questions:

• What are the effects of school fee abolition on access, quality and participation in primary education?

• How to design and implement a school fee abolition policy which is affordable and sustainable with positive impact on access, quality and participation in primary education?

The outcomes of the study are to inform Governments on issues regarding fee free education measures and to help them implementing sustainable policies of fee-free education, anticipating the consequences of school fee abolition and other household cost reduction policies.

See also Households' costs for education