The political economy of attaining Universal Primary Education in sub-Saharan Africa: Social class reproduction, educational distancing and job competition

Abstract

This is the first of two articles on the political economy of attaining Universal Primary Education (UPE) (in sub-Saharan Africa. It explores three key sets of factors which are powerfully influencing the degree to which the UPE goal is likely to be attained in SSA. These are the rapid emergence of new social class relations which are closely related to key educational developments in many countries, (in particular the rapid growth of higher education and private schooling provision) and the overall demand for primary education and especially the intensifying competition for jobs in the formal sector. This provides the essential contextual background for the second paper which draws on political settlement analysis to explore the politics of UPE in SSA and, in particular, the level of elite political commitment for the attainment of UPE.