ABSTRACT

Since the 1960s, there have been many attempts to universalise access to basic education, enhance equitable access and improve quality in low-income countries. The chapter uses cross-national data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and data from historic sources to unravel how participation has expanded and resulted in changed patterns of access at different educational levels. First, it explores how unequal patterns of participation in education in low-income countries evolved since Educating All the Children was published 27 years ago. Second, it considers the ways in which the challenges of efficient and equitable financing for education have changed since the 1990s and how the costs have changed. Finally, it explores the implications of these changes for the quantity and quality of aid to education within the new framework provided by ‘Education 2030’, the softening of the appetite for more aid to education and the re-emergence of constraints on debt-financed borrowing. Key financing issues that shaped the Education for All movement three decades ago are contrasted with those identified by the most recent initiatives to increase the resources available to invest in achieving the global goals for education.