Introduction

Inequality in access to education based on, for instance, wealth, location, gender, language, religion, ethnicity, and displacement, varies across and within countries.

In low- and middle-income countries, students with rural residence and belonging to the poorest 20% have significantly lower completion rates in primary and secondary education than those better off. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), only about two out of three primary and secondary school-age children, adolescents and youth attend school. Rural children are the most disadvantaged in enrolment and access to quality education. While boys are disadvantaged at the tertiary level in some world regions, girls are underrepresented at all education levels in SSA, which has the highest proportion of out-of-school children. The reasons for the observed gender inequality in access to education are manifold, including early marriage, teenage pregnancy and discriminatory gender norms. Compared to boys, girls’ bad school performance results more frequently in their drop-out while their good accomplishment contributes to prolonged enrolment, with other circumstances remaining equal.

Public and private schools

During the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) era, primary education improved considerably in SSA; yet, only a few of the countries achieved universal primary education as aimed for in 2015 argue that despite higher school attendance rates, inequality in access is increasing due to policies “that are influenced by neoliberal anti-people approach”. This “approach” has roots in the 1980s, when the International Monetary Fund demanded debt-ridden countries to adopt structural adjustment policies (SAP), such as currency devaluation, removal of government involvement, elimination of subsidies and free trade.

In many SSA countries, public education failed in quality and teacher motivation, with private schooling expanding in response to parental demand. Private engagement in education includes diverse forms, such as for-profit education, public-private partnerships, or initiatives by local communities, religious institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

The call for Education for All (EFA) aimed to meet the learning needs of children, youth and adults for a discussion on the EFA movement and the formulation of the SDG4); however, in 2015, more than 100 million children and adolescents were out-of-school. It is the state’s role to ensure children’s education and regulate the educational market, and parents have the freedom to choose education for their children. A recent literature review on private school delivery to the poor, including many countries in SSA, concluded that higher quality of teaching in private schools than public ones encouraged parents with the means to send their children to private schools. Yet, there are controversies on their reach-out to low-income families, gender disparity in attendance, and overall better quality.

During the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) era, primary education improved considerably in SSA; yet, only a few of the countries achieved universal primary education as aimed for in 2015 argue that despite higher school attendance rates, inequality in access is increasing due to policies “that are influenced by neoliberal anti-people approach”. This “approach” has roots in the 1980s, when the International Monetary Fund demanded debt-ridden countries to adopt structural adjustment policies (SAP), such as currency devaluation, removal of government involvement, elimination of subsidies and free trade

The MDGs aimed for high enrolment rates in primary education, while the SDGs underline the quality of education. Two theoretical perspectives, which aim to understand the maintenance of inequalities in education, reflect these differences in emphasis. According to the Maximally Maintained Inequality perspective, when access to education is scarce, students’ favorable socioeconomic background gives them advantages in access compared to those in a less favorable position. On the other hand, the Effectively Maintained Inequality perspective holds that inequalities are also maintained in settings with universal access to education when socioeconomically advantaged groups use their position to seek higher quality education. With these perspectives in mind, we will explore determinants for adolescents’ enrolment in public and private education in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau.

Aims of the study

Guinea-Bissau is a fragile state on the west coast of Africa. While education is emphasized as a public good in national policy, privatization of schools has been encouraged, or their private management. In a recent review of educational research since the independence of Guinea-Bissau, the authors identified 148 studies, primarily written in Portuguese.

The setting

Education system

In Guinea-Bissau, the education system is fraught with problems. An estimated 44% of 6-11 years old children are out of school, and just less than one-third start school at the correct age (UNESCO, 2017). The disparity in completion rates is broad, based on location, wealth, and gender, and increases with a higher level of education. Among young people aged 15–24 years, 41% of women have completed primary school and 55% of males. Prolonged teachers’ strikes have badly affected the public schools and contributed to an increased number of community schools. For example, in the academic year 2016–2017, 92 teaching days (46%) were lost to strike within the public education system, compared to 65% in 2015–2016.These struggle to bypass strikes, often with support from external organizations. The private schools, including FIS, have not suffered strikes and have an overall better infrastructure and teaching quality.

The education system is divided into pre-school, three cycles of primary education, and secondary level, followed by technical and tertiary university education. The academic year starts in October and ends in July the following year. While all schools apply user fees that increase with class, private schools are more expensive than public ones. For the school year 2016/2017, the academic year in focus in this research, the annual registration fee in public schools, depending on grade, was 11,250 FCFA to 17,250 FCFA (about 17 to 27 euros) compared to 126,000 to 172,000 FCFA (about 192 to 262 euros) in private schools. In response to the education system crisis, the national parents’ association has experimented with self-managed schools in some regions with a monthly fee of 500 FCFA (75-euro cents) per child. Irrespective of private (FIS or independent) or public administration, all schools are expected to adhere to the national curricula as decided by the Ministry of Education.

Results

In total, 1,989 (98%) of the respondents gave at least one answer to any of four questions on the financial situation of their families. In total, 794 (40%) reported no financial difficulties across the four questions, 622 (31%) reported at least one item of financial difficulties, 396 (20%) two items, 141 (7%) three items and 36 (2%) reported financial difficulties in all four questions. Respondents who reported financial difficulties in at least three out of the four questions were 3.91 times (95% CI 2.69–5.68) more likely to attend a public school than a private one.

In Guinea-Bissau, the education system is fraught with problems. An estimated 44% of 6-11 years old children are out of school, and just less than one-third start school at the correct age (UNESCO, 2017). The disparity in completion rates is broad, based on location, wealth, and gender, and increases with a higher level of education. Among young people aged 15–24 years, 41% of women have completed primary school and 55% of males

Access to and use of social media is costly in the setting (Gunnlaugsson et al., 2020) and reflects, albeit indirectly, the financial resources of the respondents. Those who reported having communicated through social media with family, friends, or someone they liked to get to know in the last 12 months were 1.93 times (95% CI 1.54-2.42) more likely to attend a private school than a public one.

Multinomial logistic regression

Based on the results, to identify significant determinants for attendance to a private school rather than attending a public one in Bissau, the following 22 variables were included in a multinomial logistic model: the place of birth (Bissau); gender (girl); age (age-appropriate class); location of school (not neighborhood school); household composition (2-headed household); parental education (at least one parent who had started or completed university or vocational/technical training); employment of parents (at least one working part- or fulltime outside the home); language spoken at home (Balanta, Fula, Kriol, Mancanha, Mandinga, Manjaco, Papel or Portuguese); religion (Catholic, Muslim, or Lutheran/Evangelist); and family financial situation (poor/cannot buy a car/lack of necessities/cannot pay for extracurricular activities; and usage of social media).

Discussion

The falling standard of the public schools in SSA has resulted in less confidence in the state-run education system.[…] it is no surprise that educated parents in Lagos, Nigeria, who aspire to provide their children with a good education, look for other alternatives, considering the dire state of the public educational infrastructures: educational facilities at all levels are in a terrible shape; schools are littered with battered structures, worn out equipment, raggedy classroom buildings, over-crowded classrooms, inadequate manpower in quantity and quality; instability in the academic calendar owing to incessant strikes, very low teacher morale due to poor remuneration and working conditions.

Such a deplorable condition of the public education infrastructure is not unfamiliar to Bissau-Guinean parents. As elsewhere, those with education and the means enrol their children in private schools. The best schools accessible to them are predominantly FIS, schools recognised to be less pro-poor than public schools.

The respondents in our survey are Bissau-Guinean millennials born in the wake of the 1998–1999 military conflict. Their parents are likely to belong to the first generation of the independent Republic of Guinea-Bissau, who took advantage of new educational opportunities within the country. At that time, young Bissau-Guineans were also offered study grants abroad, particularly in the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Cuba and Portugal. The education gained by parents in the post-independence public schools and abroad now benefits their children, who, in contrast, attend private rather than public schools. Despite offering the same curriculum as public schools and often the same teachers, the private schools have better infrastructure and are not impacted by recurrent teacher strikes. Thus, in a setting where attending upper primary school is already a privilege, socioeconomically advantaged parents use their position to secure both quantitatively and qualitatively better outcomes for their children.

One expression of access to financial resources is attending another school than the neighbourhood school, which was the second most important determinant for private school attendance in our study. Data from Soweto in Johannesburg reveal that only 18% of primary-school children attend the nearest school, indicating that families choose better schools despite longer distances. While this mobility may reduce racial segregation and increase socioeconomic segregation, it also indicates that certain families with limited resources invest in higher-quality education. Similar dynamics are observed in other contexts, where distance to school and quality influence parental choices.

In Bissau, attending a private school, most likely located outside the students’ residence area, requires resources for a private vehicle, taxi, public transport, or bike. Respondents who attended public schools in Bissau were roughly three times more likely to attend a school in the area where they lived than peers attending private schools. Thus, the dire state of public neighbourhood schools in Bissau contributes to increased travel costs and traffic congestions, negatively impacting environmental sustainability and public health.

Globally, parental wealth is an important determinant for children’s access to education, and the poorest lag behind in completion rates at all levels. Our results in Bissau are in line with these findings. Financial resources, measured by participants’ judgment of parental capacity to buy a car and a favourable family economy, were among the most significant determinants for attending a private school compared to a public one.

Access to social media is also a significant explanatory variable for private school attendance. Internet access is costly in Guinea-Bissau, and usage is an expression of financial resources restricted to about two-thirds of respondents in the sample. Limited access to and experience of digital technologies by students and teachers alike poses a problem to private and public schools. This resulted in modest efforts to provide distance learning when virtual teaching became crucial during lockdowns and school closures.

Research indicates that students living in stable family structures, preferably with two biological parents, are more likely to have successful educational trajectories than those experiencing disrupted family structures or living with a single parent. In SSA, the lowest school attendance rates have been found for children living in households with non-relatives. Our results are in line with these findings. Households with two caretakers in Bissau, compared to other household compositions, were significantly more likely to have their children attend a private school than a public one.

Globally, parental wealth is an important determinant for children’s access to education, and the poorest lag behind in completion rates at all levels. Our results in Bissau are in line with these findings. Financial resources, measured by participants’ judgment of parental capacity to buy a car and a favourable family economy, were among the most significant determinants for attending a private school compared to a public one

In low-income countries, overage attendance in lower secondary schools is high. In Bissau, about three-fifths of those enrolled were overaged, and boys more so than girls. The overage was significantly higher in public schools than private ones; yet overage attendance was also common in the best private schools in the country. This trend begs the question of whether overage could be a sign of resilience rooted in community efforts to keep the public schools going despite challenges.

The disparity in access to education may be reflected in the choice of teaching language. SSA countries use their local languages only for the first years of primary school or not at all, and the countries with an unusually high number of languages have the highest rates of illiterate adults. Some scholars argue that ignoring the students’ languages hampers their learning, thus contributing to cycles of marginalisation and discrimination, particularly for children from ethnic minorities.

In our survey, respondents reported speaking 13 ethnic languages in their homes. Despite rarely speaking Portuguese in their daily life, Bissau-Guinean secondary school students rank Portuguese as the most valuable language, bringing higher social status and access to education and work. Ethnic languages have a lower ranking as they restrict communication within that ethnic group. Students live in a multilingual context: Kriol is their common language and a corridor to Portuguese, which is rarely spoken in daily life. Hence, students and teachers alike are in dire need to improve their Portuguese knowledge.

In our model, respondents who spoke Portuguese were more likely to attend private school than public school; in contrast, those who spoke Balanta at home were more likely to attend public school. Balanta is the second largest ethnic group in Guinea-Bissau, whose elders traditionally banned education and trade, keeping young men away from the lures of modern life. Yet increasingly, they approve education of young people, who pay school fees trading agricultural products.

Despite rarely speaking Portuguese in their daily life, Bissau-Guinean secondary school students rank Portuguese as the most valuable language, bringing higher social status and access to education and work. Ethnic languages have a lower ranking as they restrict communication within that ethnic group. Students live in a multilingual context: Kriol is their common language and a corridor to Portuguese, which is rarely spoken in daily life. Hence, students and teachers alike are in dire need to improve their Portuguese knowledge

Most respondents identified themselves with the three major religions of the country. In the regression, two variables on religion were significant. Those who adhered to Catholicism were more likely to attend a private school, while those who reported being Lutheran/Evangelists were more likely to attend public school. Catholic FIS schools have a long tradition in Guinea-Bissau with colonial past and links to urban elites. In contrast, Lutheran/Evangelist churches have rapidly expanded their activities in recent years.

The gender parity index for higher education has reversed in many world regions, with more girls seeking tertiary education than boys For lower secondary education, the global gender parity index is 0,99 compared to 0.90 in SSA. In our survey in Bissau, girls were equally likely as boys to be enrolled in school and more likely than boys to be enrolled in a private school. However, the impact of gender disappeared in the regression model. Nonetheless, the results hint at greater gender parity in an urban setting than national statistics indicate. They also suggest that Bissau-Guinean girls might increasingly seek university education, resulting in a gradual reversal in the gender parity index for higher education in Guinea-Bissau. Still, the situation in rural areas is unfavourable for girls; almost no poor, rural young Bissau-Guinean woman completed 12 years of education in 2013-2018, which calls for further studies on the participation of girls in schools across the country.

Conclusions

All children have the right to free, equitable, and quality primary and secondary education. International donors have promoted the privatisation of education or public-private partnerships in low and middle-income countries. Discriminatory access to education has raised concerns about inequality and human rights violations, and the “effective maintenance of inequality.” Our results feed into such concerns.

The critical determinant for attending a private rather than a public school reflects parental socioeconomic background, i.e., education, employment status, and financial resources. The observed lack of gender disparity is likely due to participants privileged urban residence and social situation. Further, overage school attendance may illustrate the population’s resilience in seeking education.

The deplorable infrastructure of schools, particularly many public ones, and recurrent teachers’ strikes in Guinea-Bissau, mainly due to low pay and unpaid salaries, has contributed to the downgrading of public schools that leaves few options for parents with educational ambitions for their children. Injustices in this socio-demographic, including access to quality education and lack of access to communication technology, might further increase stress on the social fabric, ultimately threatening peace.

The lamentable educational opportunities available in Guinea-Bissau call for national and international collective action and policy revisions based on innovative thinking, including flexible forms of self-managed community-based schools. Otherwise, many children and young Bissau-Guineans will be left behind in realising their potential and adequately preparing for future employment opportunities, in direct contrast to the intentions of the SDGs.