Never Too Late to Learn? Investing in Educational Second Chances for Youth

A strong foundation for learning through basic education has rightly been the top priority for developing countries in recent years. These efforts have led to a higher proportion of children entering primary school than ever before. While these successes should be celebrated, too many of these children are entering adolescence poorly prepared for work and life. In many countries, young people who complete primary education are barely able to read a sentence, which means that the quality of education being provided is low. To compound this problem, many drop out of school early, and in some countries, many of those from disadvantaged backgrounds never enter school at all. Should countries be spending their scarce public resources on helping these young people to recover from these false starts? This paper says yes because there can be high economic returns from investing in educational second chances for young people when policies and programs are well designed. In this paper, we present a series of principles on which interventions must be based to be effective. We also discuss the roles that government will need to play to meet the challenges ahead.