South Asia’s schools are failing the children who need them most. ‘The Political Economy of Education in South Asia: Fighting Poverty, Inequality, and Exclusion’ — by John Richards, Manzoor Ahmed and Shahidul Islam, with Fazle Hasan Abed — lays out the evidence for the malfunctions and inequities built into the region’s school systems, and explains why they persist. The authors argue for an educational agenda that can push back against the poverty, inequality and exclusion rooted in an unjust social order, and they insist that any remedy must be understood in political-economy terms. Published by Prothoma Prokashon, it is a book for education specialists, but equally for development practitioners, policymakers and political leaders.