ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the role of formal schooling policies. It discusses two case studies, Bangkok and Bombay. Schooling in principle holds out the promise of equality of opportunity and, finally, of increased social equality. Yet in poor urban areas none of this is being achieved. The chapter focuses on a statistical presentation of the school situation in Bombay, paying particular attention to drop-outs and repetition. In addition to the problems of drop-out, failure, stagnation and absenteeism, a further major shortcoming in the education of poor children is their late start. The massive incidence of failure and drop-out in municipal primary schools is devastating evidence of the quality of the school performance of poor children and, of course, of the social and economic problems they and their families face. The Bangkok study synthesised a wide range of evidence on school achievement and its relation to various factors, namely: pupil characteristics; family factors; teacher and school factors; and community factors.
