Innovative Financing of Outmoded Educational Practices through Dubious Pecuniary Machinations

Innovative Financing for Education (IFE) is examined in the light of public and private practices and responsibilities, of the dangerous irrelevance of economics to education, of the essentially unmeasurable nature of learning outcomes, of the challenges created and the responses made possible by contemporary technology, of the forthcoming and fundamental transformation of 'the school', and of the nature and rituals of bi- and multi-lateral donors and development banks. Evidence of significant and sustainable benefits attributable to IFE was far less in evidence than were its negative social as well as educational risks and consequences, in respect of which governments may neither delegate nor evade their responsibilities. Given the largely non-material objectives of education, rate-of-return and similar analyses were seen as, at best, misleading. Clearly, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have much potential in enabling (secondary and above) education to be learner-directed and as means of achieving universal participation, equity and enjoyment--yet this should not involve high (or developed world directed) expenditure. Wealthy countries and individuals, taking full account of the provenances of their riches, should, it is concluded, cede the definition and direction of international support to the beneficiary nations. This might be regarded as a provisional arrangement pending the replacement of conditional grants and loans by enabling, through substantial transfers of wealth and knowledge, those recipient countries to emerge soon from education sector aid-dependence, thereby going some way towards righting colossal age-old wrongs. Commencing with a consideration of Innovative Financing for Education (IFE), this paper proceeds to explore whether the dismal science of economics may usefully be applied to the joyful art of education. It addresses the extent to which, if at all, educational outcomes may be measured, leading on to a discussion of the transformed nature of education made necessary and possible through contemporary technology, and perhaps given impetus by the consequences of COVID-19. Attention is then afforded to the cost and other implications of universal digital age education, and to how development partners and banks now do--and soon should--operate in that scenario, leading to some reflections upon the underlying donor/beneficiary relationship. Finally, arising from the discussion, some general conclusions are offered as bases for hopefully heated discussion.