Low-Fee Private Schools, the State, and Globalization - A Market Analysis within the Political Sociology of Education and Development

Oct 15, 2026

This study investigates how a market for low-fee private schools (LFPS) emerges and operates at the early childhood care and education (ECCE) level in a Lusaka slum. Using 1.5 years of collected data, it shows that over 90% of ECCE centers are private despite government support policies. LFPS providers are often former teachers, entrepreneurs, and religious leaders, charging about 2.5 times government ECCE tuition plus indirect costs. The findings examine teacher precarity, household tradeoffs among ECCE, food, housing, and other essentials, and parental school-selection decisions, linking local state dynamics to global capitalism.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages42

Reading Time1 h 46 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

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Citation

Special Issue Globalization, Privatization, Marginalization: Assessing Connections in/through Education education policy analysis archives A peer-reviewed, independent, open access, multilingual journal Arizona State University | Volume 27 Number 133 | October 21, 2019 | ISSN 1068-2341 | | --- | --- | --- | Low-Fee Private Schools, the State, and Globalization: A Market Analysis within the Political Sociology of Education and Development1 D. Brent Edwards Jr. University of Hawaii United States Taeko Okitsu Otsuma Women’s University Japan Peggy Mwanza University of Zambia Zambia Citation: Edwards Jr., D. B., Okitsu, T. & Mwanza, P. (2019) . Low-fee private schools, the state, and globalization: A market analysis within the political sociology of education and development. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 27(133). [https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.27.4534](https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.27.4534) This article is part of a special issue, Globalization, Privatization, Marginalization: Assessing Connections in/through Education, Part 2, guest edited by D. Brent Edwards and Alex Means. 1 We would like to thank Ivanda Canyon for assistance with the parental surveys, Eriko Yagi for assistance with the institutional surveys, and all the respondents who participated in this study. Journal website: [http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/](http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/ Manuscript)[ Manuscript](http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/ Manuscript) received: 2/19/2019 Facebook: /EPAAA Revisions received: 5/22/2019 Twitter: @epaa_aape Accepted: 5/22/2019 Education Policy Analysis Archives Vol. 27 No. 133 2 Abstract: This study investigates the emergence and supply-demand dynamics of a market for low-fee private schools (LFPS) at the level of early childhood care and education (ECCE) in a slum of Lusaka, Zambia. Based on data collection over 1.5 years, the study reveals that, despite a government policy to support ECCE, over 90% of ECCE centers are private; that school operators tend to be former teachers, businessmen/women, and religious leaders; and that LFPSs charge, on average, 2.5 times as much as government ECCE centers for tuition, not including additional indirect costs. The paper discusses how teachers in LFPSs are caught in the middle, making less than the average income earned by others in the surrounding slum, and are unable to afford LFPS fees themselves. Importantly, the paper highlights that lower income quintiles spend a greater percentage of their income on ECCE, and that a majority of families in the study must make tradeoffs between ECCE, food, housing, and other basic expenditures in order to afford private ECCE, which is a necessity given the inadequate supply of government ECCE centers. In addition to addressing school strategies for keeping costs down, this study reports on parental decision-making when it comes to school selection. Finally, beyond a straight market analysis of LFPSs at the ECCE level in Zambia, this article also comments on how this market fits into the dialectical nature of local and global contexts. That is, it draws attention to the workings of the Zambian state and its precarious position in the global capitalist economy. Keywords: Low-fee private schools; education market; privatization; Zambia; earlychildhood education; political sociology Escuelas privadas de bajo costo, el estado y la globalización: Un análisis de mercado en la sociología política de la educación y el desarrollo Resumen: Este estudio investiga el surgimiento y la dinámica de la oferta y la demanda de un mercado de escuelas privadas de bajo costo (LFPS) a nivel de educación y cuidado de la primera infancia (ECCE) en un barrio marginal de Lusaka, Zambia. Basado en larecopilación de datos durante 1.5 años, el estudio revela que a pesar de una política gubernamental para apoyar ECCE, más del 90% de los centros ECCE son privados; Considerando que los operadores escolares tienden a ser antiguos profesores, emprendedores

FAQs

What market dynamics does the study examine regarding low-fee private schools (LFPS)?

It examines the emergence and supply-demand dynamics of an LFPS market at the ECCE level in a Lusaka slum.

What does the study find about the share of ECCE centers that are private?

Despite government policy to support ECCE, over 90% of ECCE centers are private.

How do LFPS costs compare with government ECCE tuition, and what pressures does this create for families?

LFPS charge about 2.5 times government ECCE tuition on average, and families must make tradeoffs among ECCE, food, housing, and other basic expenditures to afford private ECCE.

Oct 15, 2026

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