On the income dimension of employment in developing countries

This paper discusses the problems aassociated with measuring economy wide employment in developing countries. In doing so, it sets up the outline of a framework in which employment and its dimensions in developing countries ought to be conceived. The paper then goes on to propose a measure of employment that gives relatively acceptable returns to the worker. Based on this measure, the work explores how the incidence of good employment has been associated with economic growth and income inequality in the developing world.employment / income generating activities / income distribution / measurement / developing countries

School dropouts or pushouts? Overcoming barriers for the right to education

Persistently high dropout rates are one of the biggest challenges to fulfilling the right to education in India. This paper attempts to assess the magnitude of the problem of dropout. The paper critically reviews the evidence on some of the commonly cited reasons for dropout, including poverty, limited to access to credit, child labour, and children’s and parents’ lack of interest in education. The paper argues that the literature rarely looks at the role of procedures and rules in schools and the wider education system in terms of pushing children out of school. It is the contention of this paper that the reason a persistently high dropout rate should be located in the absence of a social norm in terms of children’s right to education; and that this is reflected in the lack of systemic support available for children at risk of dropping out. The paper also documents an experiment initiated by MV Foundation in Shankarpalle Mandal, Ranga Reddy district, Andhra Pradesh, where procedures, rules and practices relating to various aspects of school were changed to ensure that every child stayed in school and completed elementary level

Improving access, equity and transitions in education: creating a research agenda

The Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitions and Equity (CREATE), was established with DFID support in 2006. It is a partnership between research institutions in the UK, Bangladesh, India, Ghana and South Africa. This paper is the first in a series of CREATE publications which will be developed over the life of the consortium. The first part of this paper discusses why access issues remain at the centre of the problems of achieving Education for All and the Millennium Development Goals. Many children remain unenrolled at primary level, many of those enrolled attend irregularly and learn little, and large numbers fail to make the transition to secondary schooling. After outlining the magnitude of the challenge of improving access to universal levels, the paper develops analytic frameworks to understand access issues in new ways, and generate empirical studies related to each of the zones of exclusion identified. The last part of the paper briefly outlines some of the empirical research that is being developed

Teachers and Access to Schooling in Ghana

This paper provides insights about the specific impact teachers’ actions and attitudes can have on access to schooling. The paper reports how teachers’ irregular attendance, lateness and absenteeism as well as misuse of instructional hours and indiscriminate use of corporal punishment contribute to pupils’ irregular attendance and dropping out. It also reports how poor supervision by head teachers contribute to irregular teacher attendance, punctuality and absenteeism, and how these in turn impacted negatively on pupils’ access to schooling. The study also identifies gaps in research around teacher contribution to children dropping out of school and suggests how further research could address some of these