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School Fee Waivers
If an across-the-board elimination of school fees is not an option, fee waivers may be a viable alternative as they are designed to allow only certain children to obtain free education (e.g., disabled children, orphans, rural girls). As for the elimination of school fees, important issues to be considered before engaging in such a program include:
- the financial feasibility and sustainability of the approach;
- the ability for the educational system to absorb the growing number of children at primary level without hampering the quality of the teaching;
- the ability to respond to the subsequent increased demand for secondary and tertiary education within a constrained resource context.
The following points should also be kept in mind when designing successful waivers programs ( see Social Safety Nets Primer Note; Waivers and Exemptions for Health Services in Developing Countries, World Bank, Washington, DC 2003):
- Government must provide adequate and prompt financial compensation to schools who allow students to use waivers and exemptions.
- Eligibility criteria must be kept simple and clear, be easy to monitor by the school and not stigmatizing for the family/child.
- Additional school-related costs should be accounted for (such as transport costs and forgone earning linked to child labor), as waiving school fees may not be enough.
- If eligibility is based upon household income, income thresholds should be adjusted annually to account for the impact of inflation.
- The existence of waivers and exemptions should be publicized so that the targeted beneficiaries are aware that they are eligible.
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