SABER Working Paper Series, Number 8 July 2014 S This paper provides an overview of what matters most for engaging the private sector in basic education. In many countries, private schools educate a substantial and growing share of the student population. The goal of this paper is not to advocate for private schooling, but to outline the most effective evidence-based policies that governments can use to orient these non-state providers toward promoting learning for all children and youth. The paper grounds the program, the World Bank’s Systems Approach for Better Education Results – Engaging the Private Sector (SABER-EPS), in the global evidence base and discusses the guiding principles and tools for analyzing country policy choices in light of this evidence.

SABER-Engaging the Private Sector (EPS) builds upon the framework for effective service delivery outlined in the World Bank’s World Development Report 2004, Making Services Work for the Poor, as well as in the World Bank’s Education Sector Strategy 2020, Learning for All. An education system is composed of all the learning opportunities that are available in a society—not only those provided by government schools, but also those offered by a diverse range of providers (government, communities, faith-based organizations, for-profit organizations, private institutions, non-governmental organizations) and funders (public and non-public). Because education is a human right and because it has social benefit beyond its private returns, governments must take responsibility for the outcomes of the entire education system, not only for the publicly provided services. SABER-EPS is a guide for governments that are committed to improving service delivery for all children and youth and have determined that non-state education providers have a role to play in achieving these efforts.