Participation in schooling : determinants and learning outcomes in Nepal

THEWORLDBANK Discussion Paper EDUCATION AND TRAINING SERIES Report No. EDT9 Participation in Schooling: Deferminants and Learning Outcomes In Nepal Dean T. Jamison Marlaine E. Lockheed December 1985 Education and Training Departrnent Operations Policy Staff The views presented here are those of the author(s), and they should not be interpreted as reflecting those of the World Bank..  Other Available EDT Discussion Papers EDTI General Operational Review B. Searle July 1985 of Textbooks EDT2 Does SENA Matter?--Some E. Jimenez August 1985 Preliminary Results on the B. Kugler Impact of Colombia's National Training System on Earnings EDT3 Higher Education K. Hinchliffe August 1985 in Sub-Saharan Africa EDT4 Planning of Education: G. Psacharopoulos August 1985 Where Do We Stand? EDT5 Evaluation in World Bank B. Searle, ed. August 1985 Education Projects: Lessons from Three Case Studies EDT6 Financing Technical Education C. Lee September 1985 in LDCs: Economic Implications from a Survey of Training Modes in the Republic of Korea EDT8 The Structure of Educational E. Jimenez August 1985 Costs: Multiproduct Cost Functions for Primary and Secondary Schools in Latin America EDT 9 Participation in Schooling: D. Jamison December 1985 'Determinants and Learning M. Lockheed Outcomes in Nepal EDT1O Classroom Uses of the J. Friend November 1985 Computer: A Retrospective View with Implications for Developing Countries EDT17 Childhood Malnutrition P. Moock December 1985 and Schooling in the Terai J. Leslie; Region of Nepal; Child D. Jamison Malnutrition and School Performance in China EDT20 Lending in Primary R. Romain November 1985 Education: Bank Performance Review, 1962-1983 (Continued on back cover)  Discussion Paper Education and Training Series Report No. EDT9 PARTICIPATION IN SCHOOLING: DETERMINANTS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES IN NEPAL Dean T. Jamison and Marlaine E. Lockheed Education Policy Division Education and Training Department December 1985 The World Bank does not accept responsibility for the views expressed herein, which are those of the author(s) and should not be attributed to the World Bank or to its affiliated organizations. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions are the results of research or analysis supported by the Bank; they do not necessarily represent official policy of the Bank. The designations employed, the presentation of material, and any maps used in this document are solely for the convenience of the reader and do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the tWorld Bank or its affiliates concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its boundaries, or national affiliation.  Abstract This paper examines the determinants of adult cognitive competencies and of child school participation in the Terai region of Nepal. Data on three generations from 795 rural farm households were analyzed. The results of the analysis are: 1) First generation (grandparent) landholdings, literacy and caste status were significant determinants of second generation "innate ability" as measured by the "Ravens Progressive Matrices" (RPM) test. 2) RPM was a significant determinant of second generation schooling. 3) Second generation schooling was a significant determinant of second generation literacy, numeracy, reading comprehension and attitudinal modernity. 4) Attitudinal modernity was a significant determinant of attitude toward school for all households, but not for the subset of households in villages for which school availability data had been obtained. 5) In these latter villages, there was no relationship between school availability and a positive attitude toward school. 6) Third generation child school participation was determined jointly by second generation landholdings, caste, schooling and numeracy, and attitudinal modernity, and the child's sex. 7) Girls were significantly less likely to have completed at least one year of school than were boys. 8) The presence of small children in the household only slightly decreased girls' chances to participate in school. 9) School availability had no tffect on child school participation.  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This paper was prepared under the auspices of World Bank research project RPO 671-49, "Education and Rural Development in Nepal and Thailand," which was undertaken by World Bank staff and consultants in collaboration with staff of New ERA, a Nepalese research and consulting firm. A number of our colleagues -- Bal Gopal Baidya, Susan Cochrane, Joanne Leslie, Peter Moock and Rajendra Shrestha -- have provided valuable advice and assistance on various aspects of our work, and we wish to acknowledge our indebtedness to them. Erwin Chou and Kalpana Mehra provided expert computer assistance on all aspects of the work.  Participation in Schooling: Determinants and Learning Outcomes in Nepal There Is substantial evidence that suggests that the level of attained adult education is related to such dimensions of development as individual earnings and employment in the urban labor markets,1 agricultural productivity,2 human fertility,3 and health and nutritional status4. Nonetheless, there are relatively few empirical studies of the mechanisms underlying these effects. In order better to understand education's effects on these development outcomes, this paper uses data from rural Nepal to examine education's effects on such potentially mediating variables as adult cognitive competencies5 and attitudes6. A further potentially important consequence of schooling and improved cognitive competence of adults is to increase the desire for schooling for their children, and this paper reports on Lhis and other determinants of school participatLon as well as Lts cognitive consequences.  -2- This paper is organized as follows: Section 1 presents background material concerning the determinants of adult cognitive competencies and attitudes and of child school participation; Section 2 describes the data; Section 3 examines the determinants of adult attitudes and cognitive competencies; and Section 4 examines the determinants of child school participation. The fifth section summarizes our conclusions. 1. Background .1.1 Determinants of Adult Cognitive Competencies There have been numerous and diverse studies attempting to relate school outcomes to variations in the amount or quality of school inputs. The findings of these studies have sometimes been interpreted to imply that schools do not make a difference. Yet there Ls growing evidence that the number of years spent in school do affect both adult cognitive competencies and adult attitudes, which, In turn, are determinants of child school participation. While these studies provide little guidance concerning how to improve the quality of schooling, they do conclusively show the enduring impact of schooling on various dimensions of cognitive capacity. Relatively few of the available empirical studies of the effects of years of education are from less developed countries, and one purpose of this paper is to use data From Nepal to help fill this gap. Two recent revLews have summarized most of the relevant literature. Harnqvist7 has summarized studies from Lhe U.S. and Sweden, and Sheffield8 has summArized studies from a number of low-income countries. The overwhelmLngly consistent fLndlngs of Lhese studies was that years of schooling affected LLteracy,9 reading and writing,t0 numeracy,t' and modernity.12  -3- One important shortcoming of the available literature Ls that, with data gathered only on adults, it is difficult to ascertain the extent to which an observed correlation between completed schooling and cognitive competence may result in part from the plausible hypothesis that more innately able individuals both attend school longer and would in any case perform better on tests of adult competence. While it is difficult to assess with complete adequacy the extent to which this hypothesis is correct, by including a test of 'ability' along with our other, more achievement-oriented measures, we are in this paper in part ahle to control for this effect. 1.2 Determinants of School participation School participation in Nepal is low for all but primary school males, and total enrollment rates for children 9-15 are well below 20%. (Table 1). In general, littLle empirical work on the determinants of school enrollments in less developed countries has been conducted; Birdsallt3 provides a valuable overview of available evidence. Since near-universal male primary school enrollments are now common (though far from universal), much work has been directed toward explaLning female enrollments. Reviewing these studies, Bowman and Anderson14 cite five major determinants of female enrollments--ethnic and regional differences, caste differences, paternal occupatlion, paternal education, attitudinal modernity and such miscellaneous factors as foreign travel or language usage. Such factors have also been shown to be related to positive parental attitudes toward schooling for children.  -4- Research on determinants of school participation in Nepal in particular Is very limited. Such research as does exist suggests that -- in addition to the factors cited by Bowman and Anderson -- household economic factors, student health and nutritlonal status,15 school availability, and school quality and relevance are all important. In the next subsections we discuss the factors commonly believed to affect school participation, with particular reference to conditions in Nepal. 1.2.1 School availability Lack of school supply could arise either because there is no school within walking distance, because the available schools are overcrowded or because the quality of available schooling is low. Walking distance. School availability in Nepal has Lncreased dramatically in the past 30 years. In 1951 there were 321 primary schools enrolling less than one percent of eligible children; in 1975 there were 8,708 schools enrolling 59 percent of the children;16 by 1982 the number of primary schools had risen to 9,404.17 Since there are large numbers of primary schools in Nepal It would seem Lhat distance to school Is not a major problem on the average. There probably Is, however, a substantial minority of primary school-age children In rural areas for whom distance to primary school Ls a problem. At the lower-secondary level there are fewer than a quarter as many schools, and distance to school may be more of a problem. Shrestha18 reports, however, that while dLstance to school was related Lo school part1itpation in Corkha District, lt was reported by parents In Jumla, OhankuLa and Chitawan Districts to be one of the least important reasons for not sendlng children to school.  -5- Crowding. The average student-to-teacher ratlio Ls low for both primary and secondary levels (nationally only about 32; in the districts examined in this paper, 28 and 30). Thus, overcrowding probably poses no problem for most students at either level. School quality and relevance. Another important problem for primary and lower-secondary schooling, particularly in rural areas, is the students' lack of access to schooling that is relevant to their lives and of a quality sufficient to make attendance worthwhile. In the relatively few studies of determinants of school-leaving behavior in developing countries, poor quality of teachers has emerged as a principal reason for student's dropping out.19 School quality affects student dropout propensity both directly and through Increasing the incidence of repetition, which itself causes higher dropout rates. Direct evidence about the quality of learning in Nepal's primary schools Is limited. One recent study completed by the Institute of Education,20 however, suggests that the quality of learning Is quite low, and reflects the very poor conditions for learning: untrained teachers, Lnsufficient materials, and monotonous teaching methods. Many teachers lack the school-leaving certLificate earned after tenth grade graduation, and perhaps only one-third of all teachers have training beyond the tenth grade. Teaching matertals are scarce, although the impressive effort now underway to prepare and distribute textbooks and teachers' guides for all subjects at all grade Levels may help to Lmprove Lhe situation. TeachLng methods are traditional, vILh classes dominated by teacher lectures and unembellished readings from the textbooks. Students are expected to  - 6 - respond chorally to the teacher's quesLions, to recite alould from their texts and, In general, to memorize. Students are rarely asked to relate the content of their lessons to their own experiences and perceptions, and rarely expected to analyze, synthesize, or consider questions of cause rather than questions of fact. Students are not encouraged to ask questions.21 1.2.2 Demand for schooling Lack of parental demand for education could arise from out-of-pocket costs for schooling, the opportunity cost of student's time, and/or parental attitudes regarding schooling. Out-of-pocket costs. These Include direct tuition expenses and the cost of books. Under Nepal's New Education System Plan, the government finances all of the primary teacher's salary and three-fourths that of a lower-secondary teacher, except In remote areas where all the costs of lower-secondary Leachers are borne by the government. It has been estimated that costs to the student for primary education are about Rs.15 per year for copybooks, pencils and examination fees. The addition of school uniforms, estimated to cost Rs,70 each, Lncreases the direct cost of primary school atLendance to Rs.90-300 annually. The costs to a lower- secondary student are about Rs.78 for copybooks, pencils, examination fees and books. Whlle students Ln remote areas will have teacher and book costs somewhaL more subsidized than these numbers would indicate, Lhey are far less easily able to afford cash expenditures of these amounts, as total household cash income In rural Nepal Ls only Rs.1500-Rs.2000 annually.  7- The out-of-pocket cash expenditures can he expected to be a significant barrier to students' access to schooling, particularly at the lower-secondary level. Shrestha22 found that low family income was the most important reason reported for parents not educating children ln the Chitawan District and the next most important reason in the Dhankuta District. Cost of student's time. At both the primary and lower-secondary levels, the time a rural student spends in school must frequently be at the expense of his or her doing useful work at home.23 Studies show that the demand for female child labor Is higher than the demand for male child labor. Acharya and Bennett24 report that in 8 representative districts in Nepal, girls aged 5-9 work 3.4 hours per day and that girls aged 10-14 work 7.3 hours per day, which is 50% more than boys In the same age groups work. A study of farm households in Kabre Palanchowk found that 25% of girls and 13% of boys aged 6-14 were employed ln farm labor.25 A study undertaken in Pokhara, Nepal, reported in Kasaju26 found that: "Youngsters who do not come to school need to work for their parents, ... need to support their family's economy and ... cannot complete the school because the number of hours they are required to stay at school does not match with the number of hours they can afford to spend. In a study, 'A survey of parental reasons for not sending their children to primary school Ln Pokhara Town Panchayat Area,' Nfr. tTpadhva has pointed out the need for a child to work Ln support of the family as one of the most frequently LisLed reasons for no-enrollment. The most frequentLy stated reason, states Mr. IUpadhva, was that Lhe parents did not see any value in educating yirls.  This finding Is confirmed by Shrestha,27 who reports the primary reason for parents in Jumla, Gorkha and Dhankuta not wishing to educate their children as being a "lack of supporting members for household." That "girls are to be given away In marriage" was found to be the second most frequently mentioned reason for not educating girls in Jumla, Gorkha and Chitawan. Attitudes. According to Ministry of Education data, in 1977 only approximately 30% of the age cohort of female children were involved In primary schools. Female school enrollment in rural areas has been shown to be related to parental attitudes, particularly parental conservatism.28 The evidence from Shrestha and IJpadhya suggest that parental conservatism may be one factor restricting girls' education Ln Nepal. A recent study of parental attitudes in Dolkha, Bank and Kathmandu Districts reported that "The general notion of these parents about girls was that girls would not remain an asset to them all along, which Implies that higher investment on their education was not warranted from the practical point of view."29 1.3 The Causal Model In the present paper, we examine the effects of these factors across three generations. Figure I illustrates the causal structure. The variables In Boxes A-D are entirely exogenous and are assumed to affect second and third generation variables In Boxes F-H; the variables Ln Box E -first generation land hoLding and lLteracy-are also exogenous, but they are separated to clarifv the Lnter-generational structure of this model. The variables In Box A--dLstrict, caste and age-and Ln Box E are assumed to Influence '-nnate" abiLLty as measured by the Raven's Progressive  0 , I' I I0 I I 1 + - m1~~~I 1- H g | _ n B f @ fi v + * - | 1-h I * M ] QQ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~( I -~~~~~n I ~~0 I' I z I ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ S z s ! g~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~2