Christopher Colclough obituary

Christopher Colclough played a key part in shifting aid-supported education programmes away from secondary and higher education towards the primary level, where he thought they would have most effect

The economist Christopher Colclough, who has died aged 70 of cancer, did much to shape the course of education in developing countries. In 1982, he assembled a range of hard evidence to show that primary education does more for economic development than secondary or higher education. An article he wrote for the World Bank showed how, in the developing world, primary education brought productivity benefits for work in the informal sector (the very small-scale operations that can be important for poor communities) and smallholder agricultural production. In addition, by improving literacy and numeracy, primary education contributes to wider social and economic life, through better health, nutrition and birth spacing.