In many developing countries children have to pay to go to school. These direct costs are often referred to as 'user fees', and can include admission fees, exam fees or sports fees. On top of these there are many other costs, for example for books, stationery and uniforms.

Children might have to contribute towards a building and maintenance fund, or pay for transport or mid-day meals. Even where primary education is free, parents still make major financial contributions, some of which are effectively compulsory while others are supposedly voluntary, but are requested with considerable social pressure. Non-payment of even apparently voluntary costs can lead to victimisation, stigmatisation or even exclusion.

These costs add up, and become a significant obstacle to children from poor families across Africa, Asia and Latin America. More than 100 million children worldwide are currently missing out on primary school. Abolishing fees is an essential step towards ensuring that all children get basic education and has been dramatically successful in several countries:

• school enrolment in Malawi rose by 50% when they abolished primary fees in 1994
• enrolment in Uganda almost doubled overnight when the government ended primary education fees for 4 children per household in 1997
• over 500,000 children entered school for the first time when the Tanzanian government abolished fees in 2002 following a campaign supported by ActionAid
• 1m Kenyan children enrolled in school in early when their government followed suit.

Broken promises
Although rich donor countries are publicly committed to free education, their recent record on aid and debt relief exposes this as lip service. Only 2 cents in every dollar of aid goes to basic education, less than 10% of the total needed to achieve universal, free schooling.

ActionAid is calling for urgent action from the governments of rich and poor countries, and from international organisations such as the World Bank, which has reversed its former policy and now opposes fees for basic education.

We want developing country governments to abolish the fees and charges that keep children out of government primary schools, so that free basic education becomes a reality. We are asking international agencies, G8 leaders and rich developed nations to stop promoting cost recovery and privatisation of public education, and encourage governments to remove fees by covering any resource gaps they subsequently face.