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RESEARCH PRODUCT

The cost of education in developing countries : the problem of cost recovery

subject

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International audience; Most developing countries have increased the amount spent publicly on Education at a very high rate during the 60ies. On the whole, this rate has gone sharply down in the 70ies but the trends are no longer uniform. Today, most poor countries find it extremely difficult to achieve their educational goals : sending to school all children at least for five to six years ; eradicating adult illiteracy ; providing enough trained manpower to satisfy their growth needs. As education has up to now been provided free or almost free to the students in a majority ot those countries, most gouvernments are desperately truying not only to reduce unit costs of education but also to find other sources of finance in order to be able to keep expanding their school système and, if possible to increase their quality. This paper will try to discuss some of the theoretical and practical issues in the field of cost recovery in education. But first, facts purpoting to prove the urgency of the cost issue will be presented in a first section, with special reference to sub-saharan Africa.