Summary and Policy Recommendations

A common trend emerging from the four country case studies has been the need to broaden the focus of educational development in rural communities from improving access to improving the quality of education and that teachers are at the heart of such improvements. While all four case studies show significant gains have been made in improving access to education in developing countries since the launch of Education for All (EFA), there remain significant challenges for improving the quality of education once the students are in the schools, particularly in rural areas.