Samer Al-Samarrai

Achieving Schooling for All: Budgetary Expenditures on Education in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia

This paper analyzes public spending on education in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia over recent years, with a particular focus upon primary schooling. It identifies regional expenditure trends since 1980, and provides more detailed comparative data for selected countries during 1990-95. It shows that the achievement of high enrollment ratios has been associated not only with high priority being assigned to public expenditures on primary schooling, but also with the presence of modest unit costs of schooling. The paper argues that schooling for all is achievable, even in countries which are among the poorest, and where school enrollments are presently very low, provided governments are willing to reform both the private and public costs and efficiency of school systems, and to give expenditures on primary schooling their proper priority.

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

Abstract 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.

Urban and rural differences in primary school attendance: an empirical study for Tanzania

There is evidence of growing disparities in primary schooling rates between urban and rural areas in Tanzania. This paper presents empirical estimates for the determinants of primary school attendance in Tanzania for the early 1990s, and provides a comparison of attendance rates between the urban and rural areas for a number of different age groups. All the estimated models provide adequate fits to the data and many of the estimated coefficients are consistent with prior expectations. A statistically significant differential in primary school attendance rates between urban and rural areas is detected for the age groups examined. On the basis of our estimates, a large part of the differential is attributable to differences in observed characteristics with an important role exerted by urban-rural differences in the measure used to proxy household income.

Introducing a performance-based school grant in Jakarta : what do we know about its impact after two years ?

This paper evaluates the early impact of introducing a performance component into Jakartas school grant program on learning outcomes. Using administrative data, it applies difference-in-differences and regression discontinuity approaches to identify the impact of the grant by exploiting differences in program coverage over time, as well as by comparing changes in test scores between schools that received the additional performance award with schools that did not. The paper finds that the introduction of the performance component had different impacts on government primary and junior secondary schools. The program improved learning outcomes for primary schools at the bottom of the performance distribution and narrowed performance gaps across schools. However, improvements in equity were also driven by negative impacts of the program on better performing primary schools. Overall, the program reduced primary examination scores albeit by a small amount. In contrast to the results at the primary level, the performance component improved examination scores in government junior secondary schools. However, the impact seemed to be greatest among better performing schools and has therefore widened performance gaps. The findings also suggest that program impact was largely through competition between schools to receive the performance component. There is little evidence that the additional resources schools received from the award had any additional impact. The evaluation utilized preexisting administrative data and the paper offers some suggestions on how education information systems can be strengthened to create more robust feedback loops between research and policy.