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We know that ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education for all children is crucial to uplifting communities and strengthening economies. 

Yet, despite the education community’s best efforts, we are still woefully far off from achieving SDG 4 by the end of this decade.  

The estimates that 87% of children in Africa are unable to read and understand a simple sentence by the age of 10, while finds that two years after the COVID-19 pandemic, 250 million children and young people are still out of school.  

Whilst these figures are shocking, they should not be dispiriting. We can still make headway towards the global goal of education, but we have to move fast and bring all hands on deck to ensure that no child—regardless of their school—is left behind.  

The affordable non-state sector (ANS) is playing an increasingly significant role in delivering quality education for underserved children. On average, the ANS contributes to in all low- and lower-middle-income countries, the largest subset of which are low-fee private schools. That proportion rises amongst marginalized communities, which have a greater dependency on low-fee private schools due to limited access to state schools. These could be in rural areas, refugee camps, or informal urban settlements where governments cannot meet the demand that rapid population growth creates. In Lagos State, Nigeria, for example, the ratio of private to state schools is now .  

Despite its significant role in education delivery, the ANS is often forgotten or excluded from education planning—from high-level global policy setting to national-level systems planning, all the way down to local community monitoring and support. The state should, of course, ensure all children have equal access to quality provision, but we cannot turn a blind eye to the reality of how many children and families have to provide for themselves and depend on non-state schools.  

If we are serious about improving learning outcomes for all children, including those in more vulnerable communities, we need to recognize that mixed education provision is essential and the unspoken reality in many countries.  

As governments are already struggling to reach marginalized children, it makes sense to view the ANS as an extension of national systems and start tracking, supporting, and ensuring minimum standards are met so that every child is included under national responsibility. 

The good news is that there are signs that attitudes are already changing. Hearing from earlier this year, there is clearly a strong recognition and admiration of the work the ANS is doing in their communities.  

But what can governments and international partners do to truly provide a mixed provision of education that equally supports national education systems?  

Firstly, we need to ensure that all schools, regardless of their sources of funding, are recognized in data collection and included in national education systems which can help all countries better understand their education progress and needs. 

In Ghana, the government established the National Schools Inspectorate Authority (NaSIA) tasked with developing, promoting and enforcing high-quality standards and guidelines for both public and private pre-tertiary educational institutions. IDP Foundation sits on the Technical Working Group (TWG) that advises NaSIA and funded the development of their school licensing policy, which is currently being digitized. 

We also need to ensure all education providers in all settings have their voices heard to help build a resilient education system that works for everyone. By bringing representatives of the ANS into conversations —whether global, national, or local—we can be sure policymaking does not leave behind the millions of children enrolled in these schools.  

The Ghana National Association of Private Schools has also joined ±·²¹³§±õ´¡â€™s TWG and through their influence we have seen registration fees reduced and the process simplified, ensuring a more accessible pathway for low-fee private schools to become formalized. Additionally, NaSIA is now considering a graduated fees model based on the size and socioeconomic status of the schools' target population, demonstrating a commitment to equity and inclusivity. 

Finally, we need to strengthen education finance. We know that attracting private financing for public education systems has proven more and more difficult. In contrast, affordable private school models have been effective in attracting finance from the private sector. This can be encouraged and managed by central finance decision-makers, as the has shown with the creation of a reduced interest rate exclusively for banks lending to non-state schools. As part of the Bank’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF), these school improvement loans enabled proprietors to meet their school infrastructure requirements and reduce classroom sizes by taking on more teaching staff. 

If Ministers of Education and Finance see all children in their country as their responsibility, they can take achievable steps to ensure that all schools are supported to deliver a quality education for every child.  

Disclaimer: This blog section features insights and ideas from the SDG4 High-Level Steering Committee members and other education partners on transforming education and leading SDG 4. The opinions expressed are those of the authors alone.