Giving Compass' Take:

• World Bank funding is currently going to a private school program in Pakistan where the children most in need are excluded.

• How could this program be restructured to incentivize taking on the most at-risk children instead of shutting them out? How many other programs around the world are reinforcing existing social hierarchies? 

• Find out why many parents are satisfied with poorly-preforming schools. 

A World Bank-supported education partnership in Pakistan is failing to enroll the most marginalized children and incentivizes schools to exclude pupils who are less academic, according to a new report by Oxfam.

The provisional findings on the public-private partnership  “highlight some of the unintended consequences that can result in a high-stakes results-based financing model where schools are rewarded and sanctioned based on how they perform under scores,” according to Oxfam senior policy adviser Katie Malouf Bous.

It builds on a major debate about the role of for-profit companies in global education. Supporters say the approach can help to reach the 264 million children worldwide who are out of school. However, many remain convinced that education should be delivered only through government and have campaigned strongly against investments in for-profit school companies by development financiers.

Responding to Oxfam’s findings, Scherezad Latif, a World Bank education specialist, stressed that 95 percent of the bank’s education funding goes to supporting public education.

Read the full article about World Bank support for private education by Sophie Edwards at Devex International Development.