Education and inequality: Implications of the World Bank’s Education Strategy 2020

This chapter analyzes the World Bank’s Education Strategy 2020 (WBES) to assess its likely impact on inequality. The chapter begins with a review of assessments of the Bank’s past education policies. It then compares four different theoretical perspectives on education policy: social class equalization, public goods, human capital, and neo-liberalism. Applying quantitative and qualitative content analysis to the WBES, we identify the World Bank’s approach as promoting a neo-liberal capitalist development ideology emphasizing private sector schooling and non-formal education along with standardized testing. Our analysis predicts that this strategy will not lead to major increases in educational equality in the developing world, and may even increase inequality.