Leave No-One Behind in Education: A Collaborative Working Paper

The latest addition to the CGD working paper series "Leave No-One Behind in Education: Terms of schooling inclusion for Tuareg communities in Libya and child miners in Bolivia" came about as a result of some excellent MA essays! Waad Treki and Elias Sanchez were both students on Caroline Dyer’s Education in Global Development MA module, during which they were introduced to her ‘terms of schooling inclusion’ (ToSI) framework. Both of them submitted outstanding essays in response to the set question’s provocation to think about education’s role in addressing and mitigating persist inequalities. Caroline’s idea of bringing their work to a wider audience with interests in education and LNOB via this CGD paper series was met with enthusiasm by Waad and Elias, and by the co-CGD directors. The authors then co-developed the paper: Caroline revisited her ToSI framework; Waad and Elias re-wrote their cases to highlight its application in the light of Agenda 2030 pledges; we met to discuss our framings and findings; and Caroline led on editing the piece to submission.  

Elias, whose Master’s programme is in Global Political Economy, offers the case of child miners’ education in Bolivia. He says: 

In 2018, amidst a sevenfold increase in public spending on education, President Evo Morales inaugurated a lavish executive palace, even as images of child miners in Potosí revealed a parallel reality shaped by extractivist exploitation. This dissonance prompted me, as an economist, to interrogate the institutional logic underpinning such persistent exclusion. Why do these children remain structurally unable to ascend the social ladder? During my Master’s studies, particularly in Professor Caroline Dyer’s Education and Development module, I became increasingly interested in the epistemological foundations of modern education. Through readings of Ivan Illich and the libertarian-anarchist work of Professor Alberto Benegas Lynch (Son), I began to critique state-centric schooling as a mechanism that can perpetuate, rather than reduce, inequality. This reflection later evolved through the application of the ToSI and Adverse Incorporation frameworks, which revealed how centralised agendas—such as “Leave No One Behind”—often result in symbolic rather than substantive inclusion. This led to a core question: whose knowledge is legitimised, and who ultimately benefits from inclusion? The conclusion drawn is that, in institutional contexts shaped by extractivism, education—if left unreformed—risks reinforcing the very inequalities it purports to address. 

Waad, whose Master’s programme is Global Development and Education, had encountered the issues she highlights as a practitioner working for civil society organisations who are supporting education inclusion for mobile populations in Libya. She examines the case of Tuareg tribes, a nomadic pastoralist community primarily residing in Libya’s southwestern region, where they have historically lived by herding livestock and navigating the desert using indigenous knowledge passed down through generations. Their mobile lifestyle, deeply tied to the rhythms of the desert and cross-border social networks, has shaped a distinct cultural identity that often contrasts with the sedentary norms of modernity expected by formal schooling. She says:  

The main driver behind exploring this case study arose from the growing instability in the Sahel region and the involvement of young people from marginalized communities—such as the Tuareg—in high-risk activities like smuggling and trafficking. These practices—often made out of neccessity— not only endanger their own lives, but also those of migrants and contributes to instability in southern Libya. This prompted a deeper reflection on the structural conditions that leave young people with few viable alternatives, especially the role of formal education. A reality that is clearly revealed through the lens of ToSI is that formal education in Libya operates through a framework of conditional inclusion, leaving behind the Tuareg. 

Written by Caroline Dyer, Elias Sanchez & Waad Treki.