Working Paper: NBER ID: w18971
Authors: Peter Boone; Ila Fazzio; Kameshwari Jandhyala; Chitra Jayanty; Gangadhar Jayanty; Simon Johnson; Vimala Ramachandrin; Filipa Silva; Zhaoguo Zhan
Abstract: We conducted a survey covering 20% of villages with 200-1000 population in rural Guinea-Bissau. We interviewed household heads, care-givers of children, and their teachers and schools. We analysed results from 9,947 children, aged 7-17, tested for literacy and numeracy competency. Only 27% of children were able to add two single digits, and just 19% were able to read and comprehend a simple word. Our unannounced school checks found 72% of enrolled children in grades 1-4 attending their schools, but the schools were poorly equipped. Teachers were present at 86% of schools visited. Despite surveying 351 schools, we found no examples of successful schools where children reached reasonable levels of literacy and numeracy for age. Our evidence suggests that interventions that raise school quality in these villages, rather than those which target enrollment, may be most important to generate very sharp improvements in children's educational outcomes.
Keywords: Education; Guinea-Bissau; Rural Education; Literacy; Numeracy
JEL Codes: F35; H43; I20; O55
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| interventions aimed at improving school quality (I21) | educational outcomes (I26) |
| parental willingness to pay for education (I21) | educational outcomes (I26) |
| school quality (I21) | educational outcomes (I26) |
| presence of teachers (A21) | effective teaching (A21) |
| poor educational outcomes (I24) | inadequate teaching quality (A21) |
| poor educational outcomes (I24) | inadequate school organization (I24) |