Educational Attainment For Girls Research Articles

Poverty, women's autonomy, and girls' educational attainment at the higher secondary level: Insight from the Indian states

AbstractIn 2020, the Gross Enrollment Ratio of girls at the higher secondary level in India was 52.4%, down from 98.7% at the elementary level. This difference indicates a serious dropout rate among girls at higher levels of education. This dynamic motivates the twin objectives of this paper. We provide an overview of the scope and determinants of girls' current educational attainment at the higher secondary level for different states in India. In this attempt, we scrutinize the role of poverty and women's autonomy on the educational attainment of girls at the higher secondary level. A self‐developed socioeconomic index is used as a proxy for wealth status which is divided into five quintiles representing the poverty scenario of each state. Women's autonomy is measured by another self‐developed index: the Women's Autonomy Index. The empirical analysis is facilitated by the application of various statistical and econometric tools including multiple regression on the NFHS‐4 data for 28 Indian states. The empirical results suggest that the enhancement of women's autonomy and reductions in poverty enhance girls' educational attainment at the higher secondary level.

Girls’ Education and Child Marriage in Central Africa | Insights from Qualitative Fieldwork Part II: The Republic of Congo

Child marriage is defined as a formal or informal union before the age of 18. As in much of sub-Saharan Africa, the prevalence of child marriage remains high in the Republic of Congo (RoC), in part because educational attainment for girls is low. Based on qualitative fieldwork, this article looks at communities’ perceptions of child marriage and girls’ education and their suggestions for programs and policies that could improve outcomes for girls. The article also discusses potential implications for Catholic and other faith-based schools, as well as faith leaders.

Girls’ Education and Child Marriage in Central Africa | Insights from Qualitative Fieldwork Part I: The Democratic Republic of Congo

Child marriage is defined as a formal or informal union before the age of 18. As in much of Sub-Saharan Africa, the prevalence of child marriage remains high in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in part because educational attainment for girls is too low. Based on qualitative fieldwork, this article looks at communities’ perceptions of child marriage and girls’ education and their suggestions for programs and policies that could improve outcomes for girls. The article also discusses potential implications for Catholic and other faith-based schools, as well as faith leaders.

The Impact of an Epidemic: An Analysis of HIV and Early Marriage for Women in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper studies the relationship between HIV prevalence and marriage in Sub-Saharan Africa. We use repeated cross-sectional data from the Demographic and Health Surveys for Sub-Saharan Africa from 2003-2013 and find that the HIV epidemic is associated with higher likelihood of marriage. For young women, especially adolescent girls, the findings imply an important consequence of the HIV epidemic: its negative effect on educational attainment of girls through early marriage. Furthermore, the impact of the HIV epidemic on marriage, which varies from region to region, is shown to be weakest in Southern Africa, the region with the highest degree of HIV prevalence.

Girls’ educational attainment at the higher secondary level across Indian states: Scenario and determinants

The paper aims to explore twin objectives. Initially, an overview of the current scenario of girls' educational attainment at the higher secondary level across Indian states is presented. Then the paper explores the determining factors of the same. In this attempt, we scrutinize the role of poverty and women's autonomy on the educational attainment of girls' at the higher secondary level. The self-developed socioeconomic index is used as a proxy for poverty and women's autonomy is scaled by another self-developed index, viz., Women's Autonomy Index. The empirical analysis is facilitated by the applications of various statistical and econometric tools, suchlike Principal Component Analysis and regression analysis on the NFHS-4 data for 28 Indian states. The empirical results presume that enhancement of the socioeconomic status and women's autonomy escalates the girls' educational attainment at the higher secondary level. On the contrary, the religion Hindu, a proxy of socio-religious norms is the most important contributor in reducing the same. The study ends with suitable policy prescriptions based on empirical findings.

Improving Educational Attainment for Girls: A Case Study of One Rural Kenyan School

ABSTRACT The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine one rural Kenyan community’s attempts to improve the educational attainment for primary school girls in the region. Data were gathered through field notes; school artifacts; and interviews with teachers, community members, and grade eight girls. The asset-building theory of change (social, human, physical, and economic) was used to analyze the barriers to education, solutions to those barriers, and results from those solutions. Although some research studies of school improvements in Kenya exist, this research addresses a critical gap in understanding how even small improvements in a school can positively impact educational progress for girls in a rural community. While the improvements at this school are still ongoing, the initial results from this pilot study demonstrate the importance of addressing basic needs for girls that can further prepare them for a better future within their own cultural context. Three main findings emerged from the qualitative data: 1) addressing school infrastructure, 2) sanitary supplies with mentoring, and 3) family and community support for the school.

Education of Indonesian Girls: The Outlook of Discrimination, Rights, and the Impact on Society

The purpose of this quantitative study is to investigate the education of Indonesian girls in terms of discrimination, awareness of their rights to education, and the wider impact on society. The level of discrimination was analysed using the data of girls’ educational attainment and comparing it to that of boys from low income families, obtained from the Central of Bureau Statistics (CBS) Indonesia in 2012. Awareness of rights to education was investigated using a survey with 100 participants. The result showed that in all levels of education boys had a higher level of attainment than girls. Furthermore, there are higher numbers of girls than boys in the uneducated category. Girls’ educational attainment is closely linked to the human development index which is representative of society. Additionally, girls’ awareness of their rights to education is still very low.
 Keywords: Educational Attainment of Girls, Discrimination, Rights to Education, Human Development Index

The impact of an inclusive education intervention on learning outcomes for girls with disabilities within a resource-poor setting.

BackgroundDespite a global commitment to the right to education for persons with disabilities, little is known about how to achieve inclusive education in practice, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where the majority of the world’s people with disabilities reside. Moreover, although exclusion from education is magnified by intersecting gender and socioeconomic inequalities, there is especially little knowledge regarding what approaches to inclusive education are effective amongst girls with disabilities living in resource-poor settings.ObjectivesThe objective of this article was to assess the impact of an inclusive education intervention led by a non-governmental organisation (NGO) on the educational attainment of girls with disabilities in the resource-poor Lakes region of Kenya.MethodA quasi-experimental design was employed, where the literacy and numeracy educational attainment of the intervention and control groups was compared over two time points a year apart (Time 1 and Time 2; total matched N = 353). During this period, activities pertaining to six core components of a holistic inclusive education model were implemented.ResultsRelative to the control group, girls with disabilities in the intervention group reported a greater increase in literacy and numeracy attainment, adjusted for grade and level of functional difficulty.ConclusionFindings suggest that the intervention was successful in engendering additional improvements in the educational attainment of girls with disabilities from the resource-poor Lakes region of Kenya. Results highlight both the applicability of NGO-led interventions in settings, where national implementation of inclusive education is constrained, and the potential of taking such interventions to scale.

The Congruence Between Adolescents and Their Parents’ Gender-Role Attitudes in Urban Slums of Allahabad, India

Gender role differentiation intensifies during adolescence. The current study explores gender-role attitudes among unmarried young men and women aged 15–21 residing in the slums of Allahabad, India. The survey asked a series of questions about gender role attitudes to young men and women and to their parents (relating to work and educational attainment for girls, marriage and husband–wife relations). Since either the father or mother responded to the parent questionnaire, data analyses are based on subsets of mother–daughter pairs (n = 2124), mother–son pairs (n = 2135), father–son pairs (n = 788), and father–daughter pairs (n = 452). No significant differences emerged in terms of adolescent background characteristics of the four groups and the adolescent population of the study. A fair amount of congruence in gender role attitudes was found in the mother–daughter and father–son pairs for most items. However, a similar pattern was not visible in the father–daughter or mother–son pairs. Multivariate regression analysis indicated strong influence of parental attitudes on the adolescent’s attitudes. While education led to a shift in girls’ attitudes to gender egalitarian ones, it did not impact the attitudes of adolescent boys.

Primary education completion in Egypt: Trends and determinants

Egypt has committed to providing “education for all”. Annual Global Monitoring Reports show a Net Enrollment Ratio of 97%. We use data from the 1988 through 2014 Egypt Demographic and Health Surveys to assess progress in the Net Attendance Ratio and the Primary School Completion Rate. Economic equity in educational attainment increased. However, only children from wealthy families have achieved Universal Primary Education: middle-class and poor children lag. Educational attainment of girls and rural boys has improved; gender parity has been achieved. The attainment of poor urban boys has been stagnant. They are now the most educationally disadvantaged children.

The Effects of Teenage Pregnancy on the Educational Attainment of Girls at Chorkor, a Suburb of Accra

Recently, the incidence of teenage pregnancy has been very high in Ghana. The study therefore was designed to explore the effects of teenage pregnancy on the educational attainment of the girl-child at Chorkor. A total sample size of fifty-five (55) respondents was used for the study. Questionnaire, in-depth interview, focus group discussions and observation were used to collect data for the study. With respect to factors that lead to teenage pregnancy, it was evident that poor parenting, poverty and peer influence are the major causes of teenage pregnancy. The study also revealed that most of the teenage mothers drop out of school. The study therefore recommended that teenage mothers should be helped in their psychosocial development and job skills development. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2013.v4n3p53

Gender differences in educational attainment at the primary and secondary education levels in Turkey

Due to its importance for economic and social development, studies on the education of children, particularly decisions about the education of girls, have been growing in the literature. This study investigates the determinants of the educational attainment of girls and boys at the primary and secondary education levels in Turkey using the 2003 Household Budget Survey. This study differs from most of the other studies by considering both the censoring problem and unobserved common family characteristics in the analysis. The educational attainment and the potential factors that are associated with gender gap in schooling are found to differ by the level of education. In particular, parental education and community characteristics are the main factors for the schooling of girls, particularly at the secondary school level, whilst having a self-employed father or having a father working in agriculture are among the key determinants of the primary school educational attainment of boys.

Gender, Educational Attainment, and the Impact of Parental Migration on Children Left Behind.

Estimation of the causal effect of parental migration on children's educational attainment is complicated by the fact that migrants and non-migrants are likely to differ in unobservable ways that also affect children's educational outcomes. This paper suggests a novel way of addressing this selection problem by looking within the family to exploit variation in siblings' ages at the time of parental migration. The basic assumption underlying the analysis is that parental migration will have no effect on the educational outcomes of children who are at least 20 because they have already completed their educations. Their younger siblings, in contrast, may still be in school, and thus will be affected by the parental migration experience. The results point to a statistically significant positive effect of paternal U.S. migration on education for girls, suggesting that pushing a father's U.S. migration earlier in his daughter's life can lead to an increase in her educational attainment of up to 1 year relative to delaying migration until after she has turned 20. In contrast, paternal domestic migration has no statistically significant effect on educational attainment for girls or boys, suggesting that father absence does not play a major role in determining children's educational outcomes. Instead, these results suggest that the marginal dollars from U.S. migrant remittances appear to enable families to further educate their daughters. Thus, policymakers should view international migration as a potential pathway by which families raise educational attainments of girls in particular. JEL: O15; J12; J13; J16; J24; F22.

Female Leadership Raises Aspirations and Educational Attainment for Girls: A Policy Experiment in India

Exploiting a randomized natural experiment in India, we show that female leadership influences adolescent girls' career aspirations and educational attainment. A 1993 law reserved leadership positions for women in randomly selected village councils. Using 8453 surveys of adolescents aged 11 to 15 and their parents in 495 villages, we found that, relative to villages in which such positions were never reserved, the gender gap in aspirations closed by 20% in parents and 32% in adolescents in villages assigned a female leader for two election cycles. The gender gap in adolescent educational attainment was erased, and girls spent less time on household chores. We found no evidence of changes in young women's labor market opportunities, which suggests that the impact of women leaders primarily reflects a role model effect.

Gender, Educational Attainment, and the Impact of Parental Migration on Children Left Behind

Estimation of the causal effect of parental migration on children's educational attainment is complicated by the fact that migrants and non-migrants are likely to differ in unobservable ways that also affect children's educational outcomes. This paper suggests a novel way of addressing this selection problem by looking within the family to exploit variation in siblings' ages at the time of parental migration. The basic assumption underlying the analysis is that parental migration will have no effect on the educational outcomes of children who are at least 20 because they have already completed their educations. Their younger siblings, in contrast, may still be in school, and thus will be affected by the parental migration experience. The results point to a statistically significant positive effect of paternal U.S. migration on education for girls, suggesting that pushing a father's U.S. migration earlier in his daughter's life can lead to an increase in her educational attainment of up to 1 year relative to delaying migration until after she has turned 20. In contrast, paternal domestic migration has no statistically significant effect on educational attainment for girls or boys, suggesting that father absence does not play a major role in determining children's educational outcomes. Instead, these results suggest that the marginal dollars from U.S. migrant remittances appear to enable families to further educate their daughters. Thus, policymakers should view international migration as a potential pathway by which families raise educational attainments of girls in particular.

Do returns to education matter to schooling participation? Evidence from India

While it might be expected that demand for schooling will depend positively on the economic returns to education (ER) in the local labor market, in fact there is theoretical ambiguity about the sign of the schooling–ER relationship when households are liquidity‐constrained. Whether the relationship is positive or negative depends on which effect dominates – the positive substitution effect of an increase in ER on years of education, or the negative income effect. For India, we find a positive relationship between the rate of return to education for adults in the local labor market and school attainment of girls and non‐poor boys. The size of the effect of ER on years of education acquired is large for some groups. However, for poor boys the negative income effect dominates the positive substitution effect. Thus, while improved economic incentives for acquiring education have a positive impact on educational attainment of girls and non‐poor boys, they worsen the educational attainment of poor boys. Policy implications are discussed.

Influences on Educational Attainment: The Importance of the Local Residential Environment

The local residential environment is shown to be a major factor affecting the educational attainment of thirteen-year-old and fifteen-year-old schoolchildren. Its strength and effect relative to other variables, like intelligence and social class, are demonstrated via path analysis. It has a greater influence on the educational attainment of girls than of boys. Possible processes leading to both the differential and the general effect are discussed. The scale of analysis suggests that exactly where within a catchment area people live affects their children's educational attainment.