Schools and teaching are essential tools in the fight against corruption. A quality education has the power to strengthen personal integrity, raise awareness of rights and responsibilities, reduce social inequality and break the chain of corruption.
Education is a fundamental human right. All around the globe it is seen as the key to a better future, life with dignity and a sustainable livelihood. Funding is critical to ensure that education achieves these ends. But resources are not sufficient alone. Corruption and mismanagement can squander funds before schools ever see them. A series of integrated mechanisms is needed to stop these losses before they start.
The global demand for education has significantly boosted the economic attractiveness of getting into the higher education business. Many new providers in all shapes and sizes have sprung up in recent years, creating quality control challenges regarding their operations. External evaluations and independent assessments offer students and society one of the most effective ways to size up these newly established institutions and to combat any corrupt practices that they may employ in their operations.
Topic:
Corruption, Economics, Education, and Privatization
Universal primary education is one of the eight pledges of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that are set to be met by 2015. Since the goals have been adopted, corruption and governance deficits have undermined their achievement. In the case of education, progress has been mixed and there are wide disparities among groups. The number of students staying in the education system through primary school has reached 90 per cent. Yet, enrollment rates have seen a declining trend, and poor governance and corruption have been pointed to as among the culprits.
Topic:
Corruption, Development, Education, and Governance
Education is the key to a strong democracy, economic competitiveness and a world-class standard of living. In recent decades, however, America has lost its place as a global leader in educational attainment in ways that will lead to a decline in living standards for millions of our children and the loss of trillions of dollars of economic growth.
GUANG'AN, China—Jiang Xin leaves school at 2:30 p.m. every-day. On his way home, the 8-year- old usually lingers by the rice fields with his friends for an hour or so, squatting on the edge of a dirt road, where trucks loaded with coal roar by. They play with pebbles, exchange school gossip, or punch the buttons of Jiang's video game player, which he wrapped in tape to prevent from falling apart. Their cattle stand together in a nearby field, grazing on grass stalks.
Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis & Research (ZIPAR)
Publication Date:
12-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR)
Abstract:
The middle class is increasingly becoming a topical issue in Zambia. However, the lack of a definitive
measure of the middle class in the country makes it difficult to have targeted policies on this group of
people, perceived worldwide to be the drivers of economic growth. With high and rising income inequality
in Zambia, we propose two operational definitions of the middle class by exploring the middle class from a
median perspective and from a ‘relative affluence’ perspective. Defining the middle class on the basis of the
‘actual middle’ versus ‘relative affluence’ provides vastly different pictures. The results show that individuals
and households that fall in the ‘relative affluence’ group have achieved a modest standard of living and are
actually near the top of the country’s income ladder while households in the actual middle of the income
distribution in Zambia have a standard of living well below what can be perceived as a ‘middle-class
lifestyle’ elsewhere. This requires targeted policy designs when referring to changes in the economic status
of the Zambian middle class. We propose a household income distribution framework which combines
both the actual middle households and the relatively affluent middle households to create an enabling
environment for inclusive growth policies, rather than just pro-poor policies.
Topic:
Education, Economic growth, Class, and Middle Class
Institute for the Study of International Development, McGill University
Abstract:
This research to policy brief reviews the recent evidence on effective methods to improve rural
education in developing countries. Canada’s Child and Youth Strategy (CYS) concerning access to a
quality education is analysed within this context and recommendations are generated from a large body
of recent experimental evidence from around the world. This brief takes each component of CYS and
derives policy recommendation based on lessons learned from the most relevant natural and
randomized experiments. Natural experiments are typically large-scale government projects, whereas
randomized experiments are typically smaller-scale, but focus on internal validity by relying on random
assignment to treatment (program) and control (no program). Such an experimental approach is
particularly useful as it allows researchers and policy-makers alike to take the evidence as causal on the
effectiveness of these projects.
Devesh Kapur, Megha Aggarwal, and Namrata Tognatta
Publication Date:
12-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for the Advanced Study of India
Abstract:
This report investigates student awareness, interests and aspirations around general and vocational education. Using a survey administered to class 12 students in one district each in Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, and Karnataka, we attempt to gain a better understanding of student aspirations, awareness levels, sources of information, key stakeholders and factors that influence their education and career choices. We then map student interests against sectors that are slated to experience the highest growth in terms of job creation. Our results indicate aspirations of students are largely misaligned with the needs of the Indian economy. It is important to create opportunities, generate awareness about various career options and the respective pathways available to realise career goals. Our findings have implications for policies aiming to improve participation in vocational education and training.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Education, and Labor Issues
We study the determinants of households' choices of lighting fuels in Kenya, including the option of using solar home systems (SHSs). The paper adds new evidence on the factors that influence the introduction and adoption of decentralized and less carbonâ€intensive energy sources in developing countries. We capitalize on a unique representative survey on energy use and sources from Kenya, one of the few relatively wellâ€established SHSs markets in the world. Our results reveal some very interesting patterns in the fuel transition in the context of lightingâ€fuel choices. While we find clear evidence for a crosssectional energy ladder, the income threshold for modern fuel use – including solar energy use – is very high. Income and education turn out to be key determinants of SHSs adoption, but we also find a very pronounced effect of SHSs clustering. In addition, we do not find a negative correlation between grid access and SHSs use.