The Political Economy of Education in South Asia

John Richards is an economist and a professor in the School of Public Policy at Simon Fraser University, and a scholar-in-residence at the C.D. Howe Institute. Manzoor Ahmed is professor emeritus at BRAC University, Chair of Bangladesh Early Childhood Development Network (BEN). and Vice Chair of Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE). Shahidul Islam served as Senior Education Advisor to USAID and is currently a consultant on education reform projects in South Asia. Sir Fazle Hasan Abed was the founder of BRAC, one of the world's largest non-governmental organizations.

Foreword
Preface


Part One: Diagnostics: Chronic Quality Deficit in South Asia’s Basic Education
Introduction to Part One
1. Growth, Wellbeing and Basic Education
2. From “Education for All” to SDG4
3. Primary School Performance in Reading and Mathematics
4. Why Low Quality Persists in South Asia’s School Systems
5. The Sri Lanka Exception and Its Stubborn Challenges


Part Two: Teachers: The Pivot of Educational Change
Introduction to Part Two
6. The Education Workforce – Numbers and More
7. Who should be teachers – Features of a High-Quality Education Workforce
8. How teachers can be professionals – Preparing and Orienting the Education Workforce
9. Governance and Management of the Education Workforce
10. Ethics and Values Education and Teachers


Part Three: The Political Economy of Educational Change
Introduction to Part Three
11. Private Schools and Public Good
12. Toward a New Education Governance Paradigm
13. Political Economy of Education – Leveraging Change