Person:
Hasan, Amer
Author Name Variants
Fields of Specialization
Early childhood development,
Education,
Impact evaluation
Degrees
ORCID
External Links
Departments
Education Global Practice, South Asia Region
Externally Hosted Work
Contact Information
Last updated
January 31, 2023
Biography
Amer Hasan is a Senior Economist with the Education Global Practice, focusing on the South Asia Region (SAR). His most recent assignment before this was with the Human Capital Project team. He has also been a part of the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) Education team where he worked on Indonesia and China and served as Task Team Leader on both lending and analytical operations. He was the EAP regional focal point for Early Childhood as well as for Disability Inclusive Education. He co-led the 2018 flagship report on the quality of education in EAP entitled “Growing Smarter: Learning and Equitable Development in East Asia and Pacific.” Amer holds a PhD and Masters in Public Policy from the University of Chicago as well as a BA in History from Yale University.
Publication Search Results
1 - 10 of 18
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Publication
The Impact of Expanding Access to Early Childhood Services in Rural Indonesia: Evidence from Two Cohorts of Children
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-07)This paper uses three waves of longitudinal data to examine the impact of expanding access to preschool services in rural areas of Indonesia on two cohorts of children. One cohort was children aged 4 at the start of the project and was immediately eligible for project-provided services when they began operation in 2009. The other cohort was children aged 1 at the start of the project and became eligible for project-provided services two years later. The paper presents intent-to-treat estimates of impact in the short term (first year of the project) and medium term (three years after the project started), using experimental and quasi-experimental methods. For the cohort of 4-year-olds, while the magnitude of the enrollment impact is similar across children from different backgrounds, the impact on child outcomes is larger for children from more disadvantaged backgrounds in the short and medium terms. However, for this cohort of children, it seems that project-provided playgroups encouraged substitution away from existing kindergartens, suggesting that future interventions should incorporate such possibilities into their design. For the average child in the younger cohort, the project led to improvements in physical health and well-being as well as language and cognitive development. For this cohort, there is little evidence of differential impact. This can be explained by the fact that children who enrolled soon after the centers opened (the older cohort) were generally poorer, compared with children who enrolled later (the younger cohort). This may be because of fee increases in project centers as project funding ended. -
Publication
Early Childhood Education and Development in Indonesia: An Assessment of Policies Using SABER
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2015-08-11)Since the early 2000s, Indonesia has taken a number of steps to prioritize early childhood development – ranging from the inclusion of Early Childhood Development (ECD) in the National Education System Law No. 20 in 2003 to a Presidential Declaration on Holistic and Integrated ECD and the launch of the country’s first ever ECD Census in 2011. These policy milestones have occurred in parallel with sustained progress on outcomes included in the Millennium Development Goals, including for child malnutrition, child mortality and universal basic education. Additional progress could be achieved by strengthening ECD policies further. This report presents findings from an assessment of ECD policies and programs in Indonesia based on two World Bank tools: the ECD module of the Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) and a guide on essential interventions for investing in young children. Results from the application of both tools to Indonesia are used to suggest a number of policy options for consideration. -
Publication
The Impact of Early Childhood Education on Early Achievement Gaps in Indonesia
(Taylor and Francis, 2015-09-16)This study assesses whether the Indonesia Early Childhood Education and Development (ECED) project had an impact on early achievement gaps as measured by an array of child development outcomes and enrolment. First, using a fixed-effects model with a difference-in-difference estimator that compares children in project villages with those in non-project villages, we find that the positive impacts are concentrated among poor children. Second, extending our fixed-effects model, we also find that the achievement gap between richer and poorer children in project villages decreased on many dimensions compared with the achievement gap in non-project villages. -
Publication
The Role of Preschool Quality in Promoting Child Development: Evidence from Rural Indonesia
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-01)This paper reports on the quality of early childhood education in rural Indonesia. On average, the paper finds that centers created under the Indonesia Early Childhood Education and Development Project provide higher quality services than other types of preschools, as measured by a comprehensive instrument of preschool quality based on direct observation of classrooms in session (the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised). The paper also examines the relationship between preschool quality and childrens early development using three commonly applied measures of quality: (i) the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised; (ii) teacher characteristics; and (iii) structural characteristics of preschool services, such as their size and amount of class time. First, correcting for measurement error using an instrumental variables approach, the findings suggest that preschool quality is a significant and meaningful positive predictor of childrens developmental outcomes. Second, the findings for teacher characteristics are mixed, suggesting that policies focused solely on hiring teachers based on experience and training will be insufficient to improve childrens learning. Instead, policies must address the quality of professional development activities for teachers. Third, the amount of class time spent in early childhood programs is a significant positive predictor of children’s developmental outcomes. This suggests that in rural Indonesia—where early childhood programs are relatively low dose—children are likely to benefit from attending longer hours of preschool, either playgroups or kindergartens. Lastly, the paper compares items in the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised with Indonesias national minimum service standards for early childhood education and development, and finds that the relationship between this alternative, context-appropriate measure of preschool quality and children’s development outcomes strongly corroborates the earlier conclusions. -
Publication
Learning Losses in Pakistan Due to COVID-19 School Closures: A Technical Note on Simulation Results
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-10)Pakistan was among the first countries in the world to institute widespread school closures as a result of Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). What are the expected levels of learning that teachers will have to deal with in the class? Will children have lost learning while schools were closed? What should teachers, parents, and children expect from the first few weeks of schooling? How can parents, teachers, and the school system as a whole help children catch up? While school closures have been effective in supporting efforts at social distancing, they may well have serious consequences for schooling and learning. This note presents results from a series of simulations that aim to capture the impacts that school closures in Pakistan may have on the learning levels, enrollment, and future earnings of children and students. In this note, the authors present an overview of how these numbers are calculated and how to interpret them. This note draws on a simulation exercise for all countries on which data is available, including Pakistan, conducted by researchers at the World Bank. -
Publication
Contrasting Experiences: Understanding the Longer-Term Impact of Improving Access to Preschool Education in Rural Indonesia
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-11)This paper examines the longer-term impact of a project that expanded access to playgroup services in rural Indonesia. It compares the outcomes of two cohorts of children who were exposed to the same intervention at different points in time. One cohort was eligible to access playgroups during the first year of a five-year project cycle, beginning at age four. The other cohort became eligible to access these services during the third year, beginning at age three. The younger cohort was more likely to be exposed to playgroups for longer and at age-appropriate times relative to the older cohort. The paper finds that enrollment rates and enrollment duration in preprimary education increased for both cohorts, but the enrollment effects were larger for the younger cohort. In terms of child development outcomes, there were short term effects at age five that did not last until age eight, for both cohorts. The data reveal that the younger cohort had substantially higher test scores during the early grades of primary school, relative to the older cohort. To unpack why the two cohorts experienced different longer-term outcomes, the paper provides evidence of changes that transpired in the operating conditions of the playgroups over time. -
Publication
Built to Last: Sustainability of Early Childhood Education Services in Rural Indonesia
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-11)This paper studies the sustainability of early childhood education centers established under a large-scale, donor-funded project in rural Indonesia. Analysis of quantitative and qualitative data shows that 86 percent of the centers continued to provide preschool services three years after project funding ended. Centers balanced the reduction in funding by introducing student fees. The paper estimates a series of logistic regression models to predict center sustainability. Centers that increased their share of expenditures on teacher salaries during the project were significantly more likely to remain open. Often this was made possible by centers altering their mix of supplementary services provided. Centers that provided higher quality care, had more complementary services in the area, and had more parental involvement were significantly more likely to be sustained after donor funding ended. In contrast, centers with more substitute services in the area were less likely to be sustained. There is no evidence to suggest that distance to the village center or nearest neighboring center was a major factor for sustainability. There is also no evidence to suggest that, while they were operating, closed centers catered to children from different wealth backgrounds than those that remained open. These results point to actionable lessons for the design and sustainability of future development projects. -
Publication
Remote Learning During COVID-19: Lessons from Today, Principles for Tomorrow
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-11-30)School closures during COVID-19 (coronavirus) led to an unprecedented global experiment in the delivery of remote learning. This report seeks to assess what lessons can be drawn from experiences of remote learning during COVID-19 in K-12 education, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries. It focuses on the period from March 2020 to October 2021 and addresses the following key questions: 1. Was remote learning during COVID-19 taken up and if so, was it effective That is, did children learn as much as they did during pre-pandemic, in-person learning 2. What lessons can governments derive from this wide-spread experience 3. How might policymakers use these lessons to reimagine learning as schools begin to reopen This report is part of a larger effort led by the World Bank to provide guidance and technical assistance to optimize country effectiveness in the design and execution of remote learning strategies. It has been developed in conjunction with Remote Learning During the Global School Lockdown: Multi-Country Lessons, a qualitative study conducted between May and November 2020 to understand the perceived effectiveness of remote and remedial learning solutions implemented across 17 countries. -
Publication
Contrasting Experiences: Understanding the Longer-Term Impact of Improving Access to Pre-Primary Education in Rural Indonesia
(Taylor and Francis, 2021-02-02)This paper examines the child development outcomes of two cohorts of children who were exposed to the same intervention at different points in time. One cohort was eligible to access playgroups during the first year of a five-year project cycle, beginning at age four. The other cohort became eligible to access these services during the third year of a five-year project cycle, beginning at age three. The younger cohort was more likely to be exposed to playgroups for longer and at more age-appropriate times relative to the older cohort. The paper finds that enrollment rates and enrollment duration in preprimary education increased for both cohorts, but the enrollment effects were larger for the younger cohort. In terms of child development outcomes, there were short-term effects at age five that did not last until age eight, for both cohorts. Moreover, the younger cohort had substantially higher test scores during the early grades of primary school, relative to the older cohort. We document the extent to which program impacts can vary as a result of differences in project implementation. -
Publication
Gender Gaps in Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Skills in Early Primary Grades: Evidence from Rural Indonesia
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-09)This paper examines gender gaps in cognitive and non-cognitive skills among a sample of more than 10,000 children between the ages of 6 and 9 in rural Indonesia. In terms of cognitive skills, the analysis finds evidence of gender gaps favoring girls at each age in test scores of language (0.158-0.252 standard deviations) and mathematics (0.155-0.243 standard deviations) in the early years of primary school. Girls also perform significantly better than boys in non-cognitive skills, with higher scores on the social competence (0.086-0.247 standard deviations) and emotional maturity domains (0.213-0.296 standard deviations) of the Early Development Instrument, a finding consistent with research from high-income countries. Decomposition analyses are used to investigate the extent to which enrollment patterns in preschool and primary school as well as parenting practices contribute to these gender gaps in cognitive and non-cognitive skills. Standard decomposition approaches are extended to correct for selection on observables. The findings show that gender differences in enrollment patterns play a role in explaining gender gaps in test scores, while differences in parenting practices do not. However, the relative contribution of observed factors to gender gaps depends on the available quality of preschool services in the child’s village and whether the outcome of interest is cognitive or non-cognitive skills.