Publication: Primary Education in Malawi: Expenditures, Service Delivery, and Outcomes
Loading...
Files in English
16,676 downloads
Published
2016-03-30
ISSN
Date
2016-02-04
Author(s)
Ravishankar, Vaikalathur
Sankar, Deepa
Tanaka, Nobuyuki
Rakoto-Tiana, Nelly
Editor(s)
Abstract
The objective of this report is to inform an improved understanding of expenditure allocations and processes, the quality of service delivery in terms of inputs and outputs, and educational outcomes associated with primary education in Malawi. The report will also assess the government’s own diagnosis of challenges in the primary education sub-sector, and the reform program intended to address them. The findings of this report are intended to inform discussions as to how to strengthen the government program and associated financing mechanisms, to enhance the likelihood of success.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Ravishankar, Vaikalathur; El-Kogali, Safaa El-Tayeb; Sankar, Deepa; Tanaka, Nobuyuki; Rakoto-Tiana, Nelly. 2016. Primary Education in Malawi: Expenditures, Service Delivery, and Outcomes. World Bank Study. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/23737 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Addressing Educational Disparity : Using District Level Education Development Indices for Equitable Resource Allocations in India(2009-06-01)The challenge of development work in the social sector in India today is one of bridging huge disparities across regions of the country, gender and social groups. Unless national and state policies specifically target resources to address these disparities, achieving higher level outcomes in an inclusive manner, which is the real goal for human development in education and health, will be a distant dream. This paper takes up the case of the Indian government s Elementary Education for All Mission to understand how this flagship program relates investments to spatial and social disparities. For identifying the most deprived districts in terms of educational inputs, outputs and overall development, the authors estimate district level education development indices for 2003-2004. The contribution of the largest investment program is measured by "per child allocations" and expenditures at the state and district levels for 2005-2006. An analysis of comparing the ratio of allocations to expenditures with the ratio of district level indices to sub-dimensional indices shows that there is an apparent disconnect between the "real investment needs" of the districts, reflected in their level of educational development and the actual allocations made on an annual basis. The analysis shows that although all districts received more funds for investing in elementary education programs, the most disadvantaged and needy districts received proportionately more funds, which helped these districts to bridge access and infrastructure gaps and appoint more teachers. Benchmarking sector development by spatial entities helps not only in monitoring the outcomes, but also in targeting planning and funding to reduce disparities.Publication How Much and What Kind of Teaching Is There in Elementary Education in India? Evidence from Three States(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-02)This study focuses on the link between teachers' 'time-on-task' (TOT) and the nature of tasks in classrooms. This study, carried out with concurrence from Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), is built upon the independent study commissioned by MHRD to explore teacher attendance rates in schools. This study ventures beyond the quantitative dimensions of teacher attendance (physical presence) to look at the 'time-on-task' (TOT) and nature of tasks, that is, the quantity and quality of teacher presence and interaction. Most specifically, it will provide insight into the work environment of teachers who are the key to service delivery and suggest implications for both policy and program interventions to empower teachers and introduce more accountability into the system. The McKinsey and Company study (Barber & Mourshed, 2007) identified three things that matter most: (1) getting the right people to become teachers; (2) developing them into effective instructors; and (3) ensuring that the system is able to deliver the best possible instruction for every child. In the present study, the attempt is to see whether the teachers are 'effective instructors' and the system is delivering the best to its children. The study aims to find out the factors that facilitate improved quality of instructional time on the one hand, and what it means to the whole process of improving learning levels on the other. In addition, there is an effort to understand the characteristics of various enabling inputsPublication Expectations and Aspirations(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2020)Education has a large untapped potential to contribute to human capital, well-being, and wealth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). It had been at the heart of the region’s history and civilizations for centuries. The region invested heavily in education for decades but has not been able to reap the benefits of its investments. Despite series of reforms, the region remained stuck in a low learning – low skills level. There are four key sets of tensions that are holding back education in the MENA region. These tensions: Credentials and skills, discipline and inquiry, control and autonomy, and tradition and modernity are shaped by society and are reflected in schools and classrooms. If not addressed, MENA will continue to operate below its potential. Addressing these tensions and unleashing the potential of education requires a new framework with a three-pronged approach: A concerted push for learning that starts early for all children regardless of background, with qualified and motivated educators that leverages technology and uses modern approaches and monitors learning. It also requires a stronger pull for skills by all stakeholders in the labor market and society and involves coordinated multi-system reforms within and outside the education system. Finally, it requires a new pact for education at a national level with a unified vision, shared responsibilities and accountabilities. Education is everyone’s business and not just the responsibility of the education system. The push, pull, pact framework offers an opportunity for the MENA region to charge forward and reclaim its heritage of a learned region and meet the expectations and aspirations of its people. The current situation in MENA requires a renewed focus on education not just as a national priority for economic growth and social development but as a national emergency for stability, peace and prosperity.Publication Inequality of Opportunity in Early Childhood Development in Morocco over Time(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-05)Early childhood development is a critical, but often neglected, phase of human development. Shortfalls in early childhood development have historically been a challenge in Morocco, with children facing unequal opportunities to develop because of the circumstances of their birth. This paper examines the roots of inequality in human and economic development in Morocco by focusing on the state of early childhood development, inequality in early childhood development, and trends over time, using several surveys conducted between 2003 and 2012. Large disparities exist in children's chances of healthy early childhood development based on the circumstances of their birth. There have not been consistent improvements in the levels of early childhood development or decreases in inequality over time. This study discusses critical directions for future policy on early childhood development to address the deficits and disparities identified.Publication The Impact of a Community Development and Poverty Reduction Program on Early Childhood Development in Morocco(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-05)Participatory community development programs are designed to match government investments with local needs. In Morocco, where issues of inequality and poverty are high on the national agenda, a community development program, the National Initiative for Human Development, targeted high-poverty areas for additional investments. This paper examines whether, in addition to reducing poverty, such programs can also promote human development, specifically early childhood development. Early childhood development forms a critical foundation for later human development and plays a key role in the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status. Using panel data on communities just above and below the cutoff for National Initiative for Human Development inclusion in rural areas, regression discontinuity and fixed effect models are applied to identify the impact of the program on economic outcomes and early childhood development. Although the analysis finds some transitory impacts of the program on economic outcomes, it finds no impacts on early childhood development. Reducing inequality and promoting human development through early childhood development is likely to require specific, targeted, and sustained initiatives.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Secondary Education in India : Universalizing Opportunity(World Bank, 2009-01-01)The dramatic growth in Indian elementary education enrollment and improvements in retention and transition rates over the past ten years, particularly among more disadvantaged groups, are increasing pressure on the secondary level to absorb new entrants. Given ongoing center and state investments in Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (education for all), this trend will continue for the next 10 years. At the same time, India's impressive, sustained economic growth has increased household and labor market demand for secondary and higher education. Secondary education's contribution to economic growth, demonstrated high social benefits (particularly for girls), and support of democratic citizenship reinforce the need for increased public support at this level, particularly in light of the very large inequalities in access to secondary education, by income, gender, social group and geography. The challenge is to dramatically improve access, equity and quality of secondary education simultaneously. Small-scale learning achievement studies and parental preference for private schools suggest that the quality of public secondary education is alarmingly low. Efforts to improve the quality of secondary education are thus urgent, but medium to long-term in producing results. India needs to make the public qualitative investments now in teacher education and accountability, curriculum reform, quality assurance, examinations reform, national assessment capabilities and management information systems, which will require time and significant institutional capacity building to succeed at a national scale. The recently launched centrally sponsored scheme for secondary education, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), offers a strategic opportunity to improve access and equity; enhance quality, accountability and ability to measure learning outcomes; and promote standardization of curriculum and examinations across states. In addition, India's recent decision to participate in international assessments of student achievement is an extremely positive sign. Over time, such participation will provide an important objective baseline of students' cognitive skills and a future measure of success of the country's investments in elementary and secondary education.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Taxes, Spending, and Equity: International Patterns and Lessons for Developing Countries(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-11-17)Taxes and public spending underpin the basic administration of government and finance the human capital and infrastructure investments needed for economic growth. They can also have a significant and immediate impact on poverty and inequality. The question of how public finance can support longer-term growth objectives while promoting equity has become even more important in recent years, given the high fiscal deficits and debt levels most countries emerged with in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. These included the increasing cost of debt and the need to restart environmentally sustainable growth while helping households address the learning losses and other social scars caused by the pandemic. This paper examines the global evidence on which households pay which taxes and who benefits from what spending, and critically, the net effect on different households across the income distribution. The aim is to identify the patterns and lessons that emerge for designing progressive fiscal policies. A global dataset of 96 countries is assembled, spanning all regions of the world and all national income levels, grounded in the Commitment to Equity (CEQ) approach to fiscal incidence.Publication India Economic Update, September 2012(Washington, DC, 2012-09)Real gross domestic product (GDP) growth has slowed to a nine year low of 6.5 percent for FY2011-12, from 8.4 percent in the two previous years. The slowdown was most pronounced in the industrial sector, and more specifically in manufacturing and mining. In the quarter ending in June 2012, industrial output growth as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) has been negative. The contraction was particularly pronounced in the production of capital goods, which is in line with falling investment demand on the expenditure side of the National Accounts. The current account deficit reached a record 4.2 percent of GDP in FY2011-12, because of decelerating export growth and high crude prices. Merchandise exports grew by 41 percent in September 2011, but their growth slowed to 2 percent by August 2012 (measured as 12-months cumulative exports compared with the same 12 months of the previous year). Inflation reached 7.6 percent in August 2012. This represents a marked slowdown since September 2011, but there has been an uptick in food prices in recent months. Also, higher domestic prices for fuel, which are necessary to rein in spending on subsidies, will contribute to inflationary pressure. Inflation is therefore expected to reach 8 percent at end-March 2013. Real GDP growth is forecast to reach around 6.0 percent in FY2012-13, after 5.3 percent growth Q4 of FY2011-12 and 5.5 percent growth in Q1 of FY2012-13. The slowdown is at least partly caused by structural problems. These include power shortages, which are partly caused by the financial difficulties facing the electricity sector as discussed in the special topic section of this update, the corruption scandals that have hit the mining and telecom sectors, investor uncertainty because of pending changes in legislation (mining, taxes, land acquisition), and the tightening constraints of land and infrastructure. Tighter macroeconomic policies, slow growth in the core Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, and worries about another global recession also weigh on growth. Important signals to revive domestic growth drivers to lift sentiment more than produce instant efficiency gains could come from reforms recently announced and, more importantly, the reform of direct taxes, the implementation of the long-delayed Goods and Services Tax (GST), and passage of the land acquisition and mining bills. This update also looks closely at two important topics for medium- and long-term growth, namely India's Right to Education (RTE) Act, which aims to shape elementary education, and the financial difficulties in the Indian power sector.Publication Addressing Educational Disparity : Using District Level Education Development Indices for Equitable Resource Allocations in India(2009-06-01)The challenge of development work in the social sector in India today is one of bridging huge disparities across regions of the country, gender and social groups. Unless national and state policies specifically target resources to address these disparities, achieving higher level outcomes in an inclusive manner, which is the real goal for human development in education and health, will be a distant dream. This paper takes up the case of the Indian government s Elementary Education for All Mission to understand how this flagship program relates investments to spatial and social disparities. For identifying the most deprived districts in terms of educational inputs, outputs and overall development, the authors estimate district level education development indices for 2003-2004. The contribution of the largest investment program is measured by "per child allocations" and expenditures at the state and district levels for 2005-2006. An analysis of comparing the ratio of allocations to expenditures with the ratio of district level indices to sub-dimensional indices shows that there is an apparent disconnect between the "real investment needs" of the districts, reflected in their level of educational development and the actual allocations made on an annual basis. The analysis shows that although all districts received more funds for investing in elementary education programs, the most disadvantaged and needy districts received proportionately more funds, which helped these districts to bridge access and infrastructure gaps and appoint more teachers. Benchmarking sector development by spatial entities helps not only in monitoring the outcomes, but also in targeting planning and funding to reduce disparities.