Financing Basic Education in Bangladesh

This paper presents education finance trends for Bangladesh since 2000. It shows that while government spending on education as a proportion of national income has stagnated, it has increased in real terms. Real increases in education spending have resulted in substantial increases in per student spending in basic education. At primary, enrolment declines have reinforced these trends and in 2005 per student spending in government primary schools was 30% higher, in real terms than in 2001. Despite these increases, per student spending on education in Bangladesh remains low compared to other countries in the region and countries at similar levels of development. Levels of government funding also vary enormously across different providers of basic education although these differences do not appear to have a significant impact on education outcomes at the primary level. At secondary, there appears to be a closer correlation between levels of public funding and outcomes although the socio-economic status of student intakes also appears to play an important role. To achieve equitable access to basic education, it is important to narrow these public funding differences. However, given the comparatively low levels of funding across the basic education system it is perhaps more important to increase overall levels of funding if the quality and overall efficiency of the system is to be improved

Financing basic education in Bangladesh

This paper presents education finance trends for Bangladesh since 2000. It shows that while government spending on education as a proportion of national income has stagnated, it has increased in real terms. Real increases in education spending have resulted in substantial increases in per student spending in basic education. At primary, enrolment declines have reinforced these trends and in 2005 per student spending in government primary schools was 30% higher, in real terms than in 2001. Despite these increases, per student spending on education in Bangladesh remains low compared to other countries in the region and countries at similar levels of development. Levels of government funding also vary enormously across different providers of basic education although these differences do not appear to have a significant impact on education outcomes at the primary level. At secondary, there appears to be a closer correlation between levels of public funding and outcomes although the socio-economic status of student intakes also appears to play an important role. To achieve equitable access to basic education, it is important to narrow these public funding differences. However, given the comparatively low levels of funding across the basic education system it is perhaps more important to increase overall levels of funding if the quality and overall efficiency of the system is to be improved.Education; education finance; Bangladesh; basic education

Achieving education for all: How much does money matter?

This paper explores the extent to which differences in the resources allocated to education explain differences in educational access and performance across countries. Cross-country regression analysis shows that the link between educational access and performance and public education expenditure is weak.. The paper suggests that levels of household spending, the effectiveness of the public expenditure management system and the composition of public education spending are important factors explaining this weak link. The results imply that the achievement of the education millennium development goals will require more than just increases in expenditure on primary education. This does not imply that resources are unnecessary, but that increasing resources alone is unlikely to be sufficient. The composition of resources and institutions that govern the use of these resources play a central role in translating resources into better schooling outcomes. A stronger focus on these aspects of education systems will be required if the Millennium Development Goals in education are to be achieved.education; public expenditure; millennium development goals

Education, Employment and Earnings of Secondary School-Leavers in Tanzania: Evidence from a Tracer Study

The extent of information on labour market outcomes and the earnings of educated groups in Tanzania, and Sub-Saharan Africa more generally, are limited. This is particularly so for individuals who fail to gain access to wage employment and are required to rely on exploiting self-employment opportunities. The current paper, using a recently completed tracer survey of secondary school completers, analyses the impact of education and training on individual welfare through the estimation of earnings equations. Our empirical evidence suggests that the rates of return to educational qualifications are not negligible and, at the margin, provide an investment incentive. However, we find little evidence of human capital effects in the earnings determination process in the self-employment sector. Information contained in the tracer survey allowed the introduction of controls for father’s educational background and a set of school fixed effects designed to proxy for school quality and potential labour market network effects. The analysis shows that the inclusion of these controls tends to reduce the estimated rates of return to educational qualifications. This emphasizes the potential confounding role of school quality/network effects and parental background for rate of return analysis. We would argue that a failure to control for such background variables potentially leads to an over-statement in the estimated returns to education. A comparison of our results with evidence from other countries in the region shows that despite an extremely small secondary and university education system the private rates of return to education in the Tanzanian wage employment sector are relatively low.

Household Constraints on Schooling by Gender: Empirical Evidence from Ethiopia

Using data collected during school-based surveys in two regions in Ethiopia, bivariate and multivariate analysis has been carried out to identify some of the important constraints to primary schooling. Problems in obtaining a representative sample of children not in school for this type of analysis are identified, and allowances are made for these problems, where possible. The results provide some evidence that well-nourished children from wealthier households whose mother and father are literate are more likely to attend and complete primary school. Furthermore, starting school at the official starting age of seven years and not repeating a grade increases the chances of completion. For children living within the vicinity of the school, opportunity costs do not appear to have a significant impact on the probability of attending or completing school, although girls in and out of school have a heavier work burden, relative to boys. Whilst similar factors are found to influence the probability of both boys and girls attending and completing school in the sample, their impact on girls is greater – undernourished girls from households lacking possessions, whose parents are illiterate, are 20 per cent less likely to attend school and 16 per cent less likely to complete school compared to a boy with these characteristics. Starting school above the official age and repeating a grade are also shown to reduce the chances of girls completing school by a slightly greater amount than boys. Statistical analyses of the kind used in this paper are not able to control adequately for cultural constraints to schooling, although these are recognised as potentially providing an additional important explanation for the gender gap

Who Gets Primary Schooling and Why? Evidence of Gender Inequalities Within Families in Guinea

This paper examines family-level determinants of schooling for boys and girls in Guinea using bivariate and multivariate analyses on data collected from school surveys. The results indicate that parents’ education and household wealth are two important determinants of school attendance and completion, particularly for girls. Mothers’ formal education is found to be a significant determinant of girls’ school attendance, increasing the probability of attendance by 18 per cent. In contrast, fathers’ formal education has no significant effect on children’s schooling. Non-formal education appears to have a different impact on the chances of currently being in school for boys and girls. Mothers’ non-formal education increases the chances of boys attending school and decreases those of girls, whereas fathers’ non-formal education reduces the chances of both boys and girls attending primary school

Abolishing school fees in Malawi: the impact on education access and equity

In 1994, the newly elected Government in Malawi abolished primary school fees. Using household survey data from 1990/91 and 1997/98 this paper assesses the impact this major policy change, combined with increased Government spending on education, has had on access to schooling by the poor. This paper shows that enrolment rates have increased dramatically over the 1990s, at both the primary and secondary levels, and that crucially these gains have been greatest for the poor. In order to sustain and build-on these gains the paper suggests cutting back on the informal ‘contributions’ that are widely prevalent in primary school and improving the allocation of secondary school funding. Furthermore, the focus of policy reform, particularly at primary, should shift towards raising the quality of education. Finally the paper argues that careful advance planning and piloting of the reform in selected areas are useful strategies that other countries considering abolishing primary school fees could take to cope with the associated surge in enrolments

Where has all the education gone in Sub-Saharan Africa? Employment and other outcomes among secondary school and university leavers

Anecdotal evidence and generalisations abound concerning the employment outcomes of secondary school and university leavers, but there is very little solid, accurate information on what these groups in African countries do after they have completed their education. Using tracer surveys, this paper presents comprehensive time-series information on the activity profiles of representative samples of secondary school leavers and university graduates in Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The paper shows that much of the anecdotal evidence surrounding the labour market outcomes of these groups is spurious. While employment outcomes are generally much better than expected, the tracer surveys highlight the enormous challenges of educating and subsequently utilising secondary school leavers and university graduates in an efficient and effective manner in low-income African countries. In particular, given the paucity of new employment opportunities in the formal sector, much more needs to be done in order to ensure that both these groups are better prepared for productive self-employment, especially in high growth and higher skill activities