A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF NEO-LIBERAL APPROACHES TO EDUCATION DELIVERY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Conventionally, education delivery has been regarded as a social service that is provided by government with considerable public funding, to achieve equity and efficiency objectives. This has changed over the years. Due to budgetary constraints, governments in developing countries have faced considerable challenges in expanding educational facilities and improving upon their education systems. Many governments have been under pressure to undertake cost recovery measures through the introduction of various fees and the opening up of the education landscape for private participation in education delivery. As a result, many countries have embraced such neo-liberal policies and subscribed to various structural adjustment programmes. This paper explores the neo-liberal approach to educational provision and its impact on the demand for and supply of education and interrogates whether education can be treated as a commodity to which market forces should apply. The paper critically analyses the application of neo-liberal policies to education delivery and its impact on the demand for and supply of education. Whilst acknowledging the need for reform and policies that will provide equitable access for all school-aged populations, the paper concludes that the benefit of education far outweighs individual direct benefits.