Editorial: Education and learning for inclusive development.

Despite dramatic gains in school enrolment globally, with most countries reaching almost universal primary enrolment, studies from around the world continue to show high numbers of urban poor children lagging behind.([4]) Where access to state schools is the issue, an all-too-common scenario is the emergence of a private-sector response to education, with those who cannot afford sufficiently high-quality private schools being left behind, or settling for informal solutions that are under-resourced and unable to ensure a transition into higher levels of schooling. As in the case of education for migrant children, this trend has had unintended consequences in the face of government policies to promote educational equity. In urban areas, where both disparities and diversity can present particular challenges, education is a primary means for promoting inclusive development, and one of the more effective mechanisms by which social exclusion and growing gaps in equity can be addressed. It is still early days, and the COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenge, but Dodman's research suggests that the new hybrid school has been able to retain an emphasis on quality and values, while building on the strengths of the state system, with its greater resources and range of programmes for underprivileged students in an especially violent urban neighbourhood. [Extracted from the article]