Education and Poverty Reduction Strategies

Book excerpt: The connection between poverty and lack of education seems entirely self-evident, yet real progress in overcoming the obstacles to education and economic affluence has eluded governments and social activists worldwide for decades. This title interrogates the link between education and poverty reduction and highlights the role of cross-sectoral co-ordination and policy coherence in breaking the poverty trap. The title has four sections. Section 1 examines various conceptual and theoretical frameworks in the discourse on policy coherence and looks at how research can impact on policy. Section 2 deals with poverty in higher education, showing how student income sources such as bursaries and loans, as well as higher education funding policies, create obstacles to access and favour more middle-class students. Section 3 explores the links between education and social development, educational infrastructure and learner performance, and offers practical suggestions for improving the impact of learner feeding programmes, school-based support for children at risk and infrastructure development on combating poverty at the local level. Section 4 offers a set of case studies of local and international best practice in the spheres of college education, state and business partnerships in educational enterprises, and media in education. The final section offers inspirational biographies of hope by people who have pulled themselves out of the poverty trap. Highly relevant for policy-makers, researchers, education practitioners, development professionals and activists in non-governmental organisations, this book offers some practical answers to crucially important questions.