PRIVATIZATION OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN AFGHANISTAN

Abstract

This study investigates the trends, nature, and driving forces behind the privatization of primary and secondary schools in Afghanistan. More specifically, this research investigates the role of national decision-makers and international donor agency representatives in influencing privatization policies. The study focuses on 20 years, starting with post-Taliban initiatives in 2002 to the fall of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the resumption ofof Taliban rule in August of 2021. An instrumental case study approach that combines a review of available policy documents and interviews with key national and international stakeholders is used to conduct this investigation. Interviews are the primary instruments used to collect data. The study draws upon international literature on privatization and aid dependency. Theoretically, this study uses a combination of Kingdon’s (1995) Multiple Streams Framework and the education policy transfer literature to understand the liberalization of private school policies and the discussion surrounding them in Afghanistan. The study uses Dolowitz and Marsh’s (2000) continuum of policy transfer to determine the level of coercion in educational policy transfer. It uses Cairney’s concept of ‘policy transfer window’ to operationalize the synthesis of the Multiple Streams Framework with the educational policy transfer literature. The study found that events in the problem and political streams opened a policy transfer window that allowed for the liberalization of private school policies in Afghanistan. These findings contribute to policymakers’ and other stakeholders’ understandings of the education policy transfer in fragile, aid-dependent nations. Moreover, this study is one of few in the field to focus on the critical role of policy entrepreneurs in joining together the multiple streams while also providing a nuanced view of the educational policy transfer process in a fragile state environment.