Secondary School Enrollment Research Articles

The Impact of Public Healthcare Expenditure and Other Determinants on Life Expectancy in Nigeria

This study’s core objective is to empirically investigate the impact of public healthcare expenditure and other determinants on life expectancy in Nigeria for the period 1981 to 2018, with the aim of proffering policies to improve life expectancy. Grossman’s health model was used to analyze life expectancy as a function of gross domestic product (GDP), government health expenditure, inflation, secondary school enrolment, food production, and urban population. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL-bounds) technique, Granger causality test based on Toda Yamamoto approach, and Augmented Dickey-Fuller test, was utilized to analyze the data. The results show a long-run causal relationship between life expectancy and the variables: per capita income, government health expenditure, inflation rate, secondary school enrolment, and urbanization in Nigeria. Thus, highlighting the significant long-run impact of public healthcare expenditure on life expectancy at birth in Nigeria. Based on the study’s findings, key recommendations for Nigeria to improve the life expectancy of its citizenry were; to increase its public healthcare expenditure and GDP per capita expenditure, address issues of inadequate and insecure food production, develop new regional cities to cut down rural-urban drift, reduce inflation and ensure price stability. Keywords: Life Expectancy; Public Healthcare Expenditure; Income Per Capita

The relationship between trade liberalization and gender disparity in education: Evidence from Pakistan

Purpose: Over the past few decades, there has been an increasing interest in understanding the relationship between trade liberalization and gender inequality in developing countries. In Pakistan, due to its social, demographic, cultural and economic problems, gender disparity in education (GDE) is still prevalent. This study examines the impact of trade reforms on gender disparity in education using micro data from Pakistan.
 Design/Methodology/Approach: The feasible generalized least-squares (FGLS) method is employed for empirical analysis. We used panel corrected standard errors (PCSEs) for robustness checks.
 Findings: The analysis reveals that a reduction in import tariffs is associated with GDE. Trade liberalization gives rise to gender disparities. We added several control variables to the baseline model for robustness checks. Regarding the control variables, average family wage income, family size, urbanization, female-to-male labor force participation and the female share of the total labor force are identified as important determinants of GDE in Pakistan.
 Originality or Value: This study contributes to the existing literature by studying the relationship between trade liberalization and gender disparity in education in Pakistan and employing a better measure of reductions in import tariffs for trade liberalization. We construct a provincial liberalization index. Second, this study takes into account the whole trade regime as a sample period (i.e., from 1990-2005) to assess the impacts of the trade regime as protection rates significantly reduced through this regime. Third, we measure the gender gap in education by comparing males and females' average years of schooling as opposed to previous studies that used secondary school enrolment ratios as a proxy for the gender gap in education. Fourth, we used panel data to explore the impact of trade liberalization on gender disparity in education for empirical analysis.

Environmental correlates of adolescent active travel to school in Asia: An ecological study.

This study aimed to examine the association between country-level environmental correlates and the prevalence of active school travel (AST) in Asia and country-level differences in AST by age and sex. This ecological study involved 31 Asian countries. Dependent variables were AST prevalence, AST prevalence difference by age, and by sex. Independent variables were country-level environmental correlates extracted using publicly available datasets, classified into physical and social environments. Association estimates of each dependent variable and each of the independent variables were calculated using univariate linear regression. All variables were standardized to have a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1. Results showed that 1 standard deviation (SD) difference in urban population percentage, night-time light, secondary-school enrolment, and prevalence of adult insufficient physical activity were negatively associated with AST prevalence (SD difference: -0.44 (-0.78 to -0.09), -0.40 (-0.76 to -0.04), -0.39 (-0.74 to -0.04), and -0.40 (-0.76 to -0.03), respectively). A 1 SD difference in car per people was associated with a -0.46 (-0.84 to -0.09) difference of AST prevalence by age. A 1 SD difference in PM2.5 concentration and of prevalence of adult insufficient physical activity were associated with a difference of 0.38 (0.01-0.74) and 0.42 (0.03-0.80) difference of AST prevalence by sex. This study shows that Asian countries with a greater number of people living in urban areas, lower levels of overall adult physical activity and higher levels of night-time light have a lower prevalence of adolescent AST. Country-level physical and social environmental correlates explained some of the regional variance in AST. Future policy actions and interventions for the region need to be contextually sensitive to the environmental correlates that vary between countries.

Government Education Budget and the Sustainability of Student Enrollment in Public Secondary School in Bungoma County, Kenya

In Kenya, since 2008, the government has increased monies going to the education sector in collaboration with other foreign organizations in an effort to reduce the amount of money that households spend on their children who attend public secondary schools. In public secondary schools in Bungoma County, Kenya, this study aimed to determine how much the average government education spending affects the sustainability of student enrollment in secondary schools. A descriptive survey design was used for the investigation. The principals and household heads from Bungoma County's public secondary schools made up the target population. The 691 school principals and household heads in this study were chosen using a stratified random sampling procedure to ensure that the sample was representative. As instruments for gathering data, questionnaires, schedules for interviews and observations, and document analysis were all used. Expert judgment was used to determine validity. Through piloting, reliability was established. Statistics, both descriptive and inferential, were used to analyze the data. According to this survey, a secondary school student's Kshs 10,265 allowance is insufficient to keep them in school. According to the study's findings about government spending on each student, more students are enrolling in secondary school as government spending rises. As a result, this study suggests that, in order to raise the enrollment rate of pupils, the government or other educational stakeholders can assist parents who have children in first grade in purchasing a school uniform.

Role of Education and Financial Development in Economic Growth of Selected Asian Countries

Education and financial development are key determinants of economic growth. This research makes an effort to highlight the role of education and financial development with urbanization in the economic growth of selected Asian countries. Economic growth is used as a dependent variable, and secondary school enrolment, financial development, life expectancy, and urban population are used as independent variables. Panel data set for the time 2002 to 2019 is used for the analysis. The random effect technique is used. The study results demonstrate that secondary school enrolment, financial development, life expectancy, and urban population increase economic growth in selected Asian countries. It is recommended that government should provide free of cost education facilities in selected economies. Moreover, the public should be provided with more financial debt facilities to increase per capita income, high living standards, and economic growth in these selected economies. The plan must be placed on education and health high on the agenda in these economies.

Analyzing the Consequences of Long-Run Civil War on Unemployment Rate: Empirical Evidence from Afghanistan

This article aims to uncover the asymmetric labor-market consequences of the long-run civil war in Afghanistan by employing a non-linear autoregressive distributed lags (NARDL) model and an asymmetric causality technique over the period from 2004Q3 to 2020Q4. The findings from the NARDL model reveal that the positive asymmetric shocks from the cost of war, GDP growth, final government expenditure, foreign direct investment, and the rule of law significantly decrease the unemployment rate, while their negative asymmetric shocks increase the unemployment rate in the short and long runs. Innovatively, the composite financial inclusion index has been incorporated into the model, which provides interesting results. It demonstrates that enhancing the outreach of financial services plays an important role in reducing the unemployment rate during wartime in Afghanistan, while its exclusion is found to increase the unemployment rate both in the short and long runs. Moreover, the results of the asymmetric causality test reveal that an asymmetric causality runs from both the positive and negative components of the cost of war, the composite financial inclusion index, GDP growth, foreign direct investment, inflation rate, population growth, and the rule of law to the unemployment rate, while no evidence is found to support a causality nexus between the unemployment rate, final government expenditure, and the secondary school enrollment rate. The results entail several policy implications that are discussed.

The shadow economy and education in Uganda: Is there a long‐run relationship?

AbstractUsing time series data from Uganda covering the period from 1991 to 2017, this paper applies autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing approach to examine the long‐ and short‐run relationship between education and the shadow economy. We find evidence of the long‐run relationship. The results indicate that an increase in both primary and secondary school enrolment significantly reduce the size of the shadow economy in the long run, all else equal. The above relationship is robust to alternative specification and estimation methods. We also uncover bidirectional causal relationship between education and the shadow economy. In the short run, increased school enrolment reduces the shadow economy but in an insignificant manner. At the policy level, the existence of a negative relationship between education and the shadow economy suggests that mitigating informality requires reforming education system to address issues of quality. Additionally, addressing informality may require improving the economic and financial environment so that the needs and obstacles faced by individuals and or businesses are handled. Furthermore, reforming the political and institutional environment may go a long way into mitigating the expansion of the shadow economy in Uganda and Africa in general.

Human capital and its impact on Ethiopian economic growth: ARDL approach to co-integration

Maintaining human capital at an optimal level is among the important mechanisms for ensuring steady economic growth. This study aims to examine the impact of human capital on Ethiopia’s economic growth. The study used the ARDL model applying annual data for the period 1980 to 2020. The ARDL-bound test was used to evaluate the presence of con-integration between human capital and independent variables. The study also applied the augmented Dickey-Fuller and Phillips-Perron unit root tests to check the stationarity of the variables. The test result presented that almost all variables become stationary after the first difference. Accordingly, the result from the bound test indicated the existence of a long-run relationship between the dependent variable and independent variables entered into the model. The estimated error correction model with a − 0.9528 coefficient also confirmed the existence of co-integration with a high speed of adjustment towards the long-run equilibrium. In the long-run real GDP, education expenditure, health expenditure, labor force, gross capital formation, total government expenditure, official development assistance, secondary school enrolment, consumer price index, drought, and policy change have astable long-run connection. The finding indicates an increasing ratio of health expenditure and secondary school enrollment should be designed, among others, to contain improved human capital in Ethiopia.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: A STUDY OF NIGERIA AND SOUTH AFRICA

The research on the determinants of economic growth has taken a new dynamic pattern in the recent times. More studies are now explaining the need to better consider the socio-economic indicators that promote economic growth across the globe. Hence, this paper examined the relationship between socio-economic indicators and economic growth in both Nigeria and South Africa covering the period 1999-2020. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimation technique was employed. The results of the study show that secondary school enrollment and employment are positive and significant in driving the economic growth of both Nigeria and South Africa. However, inflation and mortality rate reduce economic growth in both countries. But in South Africa, life expectancy reveals a negative impact on economic growth. The empirical outcomes of the study can be used by the government to formulate policies that can promote human capital development and employment creation. It can also assist the government in formulating monetary policies that can reduce the outburst of inflation.

Infectious diseases and health outcomes’ implications of natural resource curse in Africa

The far-reaching implications of natural resource curse on most resource-rich developing economies arguably suggests no aspect of the broader economy is spared. In light of this stark reality, this inquiry probes into causal linkages between infectious diseases, its associated health outcomes and natural resource rents on 42 African economies for which there are no missing data, over the period 2000–2019. Employing an endogenous–resistant estimator of the system generalized method of moments, the following findings are unambiguously documented. First, natural resource curse thesis is validated for curable infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis but refuted for an incurable HIV prevalence. Second, the established resource curse equally affects health outcomes by shortening life expectancy, raising under-five mortality rate, increasing both birth and death rates, respectively. Third, the curse and the blessing that are often associated for owing abundant natural resources spread across other confounding variables such as per capita GDP, urbanization, control of corruption, polity, temperature, latitude, government spending on health, prevalence of HIV for females, secondary school enrolment rate, telephone per 100 subscriptions, foreign direct investment, per capita carbon emissions, trade openness, and globalization depending on which of the diseases and health outcomes’ models is estimated. Lastly, the established resource curse narrative is robust to using alternative measures of natural resource curse. In line with above findings, policy implications are drawn.

Can Public Health Expenditure Influence National Productivity in an Agrarian Economy? Evidence from Nigeria

Despite the nation’s wealth in natural and human resources, productivity measure in Nigeria has not been satisfactory. Several factors have been alluded to be responsible for this. This paper investigated the impact of public health expenditure (with gross capital formation and secondary school enrolment as control variables) on national productivity (real GDP divided by working population as proxy) in Nigeria between 2000 and 2020. The theoretical foundation was based on Solow Neo-classical and Romer Endogenous growth models. The unit root test showed that variables were stationary at level. The descriptive result shows significant fluctuations in government domestic expenditure on health with an average of 18% of total health expenditure. Regression results showed a significant and positive relationship between healthcare service expenditures and productivity in Nigeria. The study recommended that Nigerian health policies should focus on developing the domestic health sector by increasing yearly budgetary allocation to the sector.

Causes of Female High School Student Dropout in Bangladesh: An Exploration of the Pabna District in Familial, Economic and Institutional Contexts

Since ancient times, women in Bengal have been poorly treated and left without most of their rights. Moreover, that continuity still exists in some areas, education being one of them. Male and female enrollment in primary and secondary schools has recently reached the expected level. However, the rate at which female students drop out of secondary school is still alarming. The goal of this study is to find out why so many female students in Bangladesh, and especially in the Pabna district, drop out of high school. In carrying out this research, qualitative and quantitative data have been used almost equally, and a mixed-method approach has been applied to reach the aims and objectives of the research. Findings show that female students drop out of Western-style secondary education mainly because of structural-level barriers. Poverty among parents or guardians is the root cause of dropout among economic issues. And all the structural-level issues are interlinked with poverty. Though child marriage is the immediate process of the dropout, it is not the leading cause. It is a process. Research shows that it is impossible to stop female students from dropping out of high school if the poverty of their parents or guardians is not alleviated and the immediate process is not stopped. It is suggested that needy and educationally disadvantaged students receive a special financial incentive. In addition to getting support from the government administration, the school management committee must play a decisive role in meeting the problems and supporting female students in all aspects.

Parental Involvement in Senior Pupils’ Learning in the Context of the Implementation of China’s Double Reduction Policy

Parental involvement in learning, entertainment, emotion, and daily care is crucial to the growth and development of children. Due to the increasing significance of educational attainment in China, parental involvement in child learning is receiving ever-increasing weight and is now the most prevalent of the four aspects. In the wake of the implementation of the Double Reduction Policy, family education has encountered new obstacles, resulting in a shift in parental involvement in education. In the framework of policy execution, the learning involvement of parents of senior students merits special consideration, as they are burdened with the upcoming enrollment in secondary school. The objective of this essay is to describe the current state of parental involvement in learning under the new policy and investigate the causes of existing problems. Also presented are suggestions for enhancing the effectiveness of parental involvement in child study.

Assessment of gender differences in secondary school achievement among Moroccan students

In Morocco, as in many other countries of North Africa and Middle East, access to education has improved during the last few decades, and gender gaps in secondary school enrolment have already disappeared. In addition, there is increasing evidence that girls have been outperforming boys in education during the last decade. The aim of this study was to assess the gender differences in three Moroccan high schools. Data was collected, in August-October 2022, from the results of 2022 Morocco’s Baccalaureate exam which refers to the secondary school graduation examinations. We have analyzed the general baccalaureate grades of all students from three establishments. The sample of three options (experimental sciences, literature and Human sciences, and mathematic) was categorized by gender into male and female. To assess the gender difference, a Mann–Whitney test was used. Results have showed that there was an increase in the number of girls compared to boys at the three studied high schools, and that girls have proved to outperform boys in the two options of experimental sciences as well as in literature and human sciences streams. On the contrary, although the number of boys exceeds that of girls for the mathematics option, they both score identical results in the subject. This difference between male and female students, which favors girls over boys, has been discussed in the light of numerous scientific studies.

Monetary Policy and People’s Socio-Economic Welfare in Nigeria

This study examined the effect of monetary policy on the socio-economic welfare of Nigerians between1980 and 2021 from three perspectives: income, health and education. We assessed the short and long run effects of six monetary policy variables (lending rate, savings deposit rate, liquidity ratio, monetary policy rate, loan deposit ratio and private sector credit to gross domestic product ratio) and inflation (control variable on three different socio-economic welfare variables (gross domestic product per capita, child mortality rate and primary and secondary school enrolment) during the study period.Results of the auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL) technique show thatrevealed interest rate, liquidity rate and private sector credit have negative and significant effect on the per capita income while savings deposit rate, monetary policy rate, loan deposit rate and inflationhvesa positive and significant on per capita income. In the long run liquidity ratio and monetary policy rate have significant positive effect on income per capita while the ratio of private sector credit to GDP has a significant negative effect on it. Inflation has a positive but insignificant effect on per capita income. Furthermore, in the short run, all the selected monetary policy variables have significant effects on child mortality rate. While the effect of interest rate, liquidity ratio and monetary policy rate is negative, that of savings deposit rate, loan deposit ratio, private sector credit and inflation is positive. On the long run, interest rate, private sector credit and inflation have positive effect on child mortality but whereas the effect of interest rate is insignificant, the other two have significant effect. Regarding number of school enrolment, in the short run, interest rate has a negatively significant effect while liquidity ratio, loan deposit ratio and inflation have direct positive effect on it. Savings deposit rate has an insignificant positive effect on it while private sector credit has a negative insignificant effect on it. On the long run, interest rate, private sector credit and inflation have an insignificant positive effect on the number of primary and secondary school enrolment. Savings deposit rate, monetary policy rate and loan deposit ratio have insignificant negative effect on it. The effect of liquidity ratio is significantly positive. The study concluded that monetary policy has significant effect the socio-economic welfare life of Nigerians both in the short and long run. The study recommends the sustenance of the existing liquidity ratio and monetary policy rate due to their favourable effects on the people’s welfare.

Impact of Migration on Non-Migrant School Completion Rates and Enrolment in South Africa

South Africa struggles with low secondary school completion rates and this has a negative effect on poverty and inequality. In this study, we examine the relationship between internal migration (international migrants were excluded) and non-migrant educational outcomes (secondary school enrolment and completion rates) in South Africa between 1996 and 2011. We use census data for the years 1996, 2001 and 2011 (at the district and municipal levels) in several linear probability regression models that include the First Difference (FD) and System Generalised Method of Moments (GMM-SYS) with instrumental variables. The 2011 census is the latest available in South Africa now. We find that internal migrants have a positive effect on both enrolment and completion rates of non-migrants. These results vary in intensity depending on the level of education of both internal migrant and non-migrant household heads. These results have implications for the local labour market and for income inequality in South Africa; internal migrants provide positive peer effects that contribute to raising non-migration enrolment and completion. Internal migrants also provide job market competition which influences non-migrants to complete secondary schooling. There is scant empirical evidence on the impact of internal migration on education outcomes in African countries, especially in South Africa. Our paper provides evidence from a country with a history of persistent internal migration. Most prior research has focused on the relationship between immigration and education outcomes in the developed world. We recommend that government improves secondary school quality in rural and urban areas and increase study loans for students at tertiary institutions.

Maternal Mortality Rates and The Presence of Skilled Healthcare at Birth

In this study, the maternal mortality rate across the world was examined from an external viewpoint. The rate was analyzed against births attended by skilled workers, GDP per capita, secondary school enrollment, and income levels. The research was looking to determine if there was a statistical relationship between the mortality rate and the percentage of births attended by skilled healthcare workers. This research is important to examine the many inequalities on a healthcare basis amongst the countries. This looks at how dangerous pregnancies and labors can be in certain areas of the world. Through research conducted such as this, it should be able to give a global standpoint on where the rates are at, which could indicate improvements that can be made. The research results indicated there was a negative statistical relationship between the maternal mortality rate and the percentage of births attended by skilled healthcare workers. The meaning behind this research is as the percentage of births attended by skilled staff increases, the mortality rate of the mother should decrease. Research also indicated a statistical relationship with income level; the lower-income countries, on average, had a higher maternal mortality rate.

A Statistical Comparative Analysis of Changes in Selected Determinants of Maternal Mortality in Bangladesh: A Road Map for Nigeria

Nigeria failed to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 and is currently on track to miss the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 of reducing the maternal mortality rate in the country to under 70 death per 100,000 live births. This study aims to examine trends of maternal mortality in Nigeria and Bangladesh and analyse the impact of changes in selected determinants on maternal mortality in both countries between 1985 and 2020. Pearson correlation and linear regression tests were used to identify the strength and impact of the association between these determinants and maternal mortality. The results from this study reveal that Bangladesh witnessed a significant rise in female literacy rates and female secondary school enrolment which were strongly negatively associated with maternal mortality. The increase in female literacy and female secondary school enrolment was approximately twice that experience in Nigeria, in the same period. In Bangladesh, every unit decline in adolescent fertility rate averted 7.16 deaths per 100,000 live births. The percentage of government total expenditure on health in Nigeria shows a moderate negative Pearson correlation when compared to the maternal mortality ratio. The opposite was however the case in Bangladesh. This may suggest that health expenditure alone is incapable of reducing maternal mortality. From the empirical result of this study, policymakers in Nigeria will need to pay close attention to the sociocultural determinants of maternal mortality in a multi-sectoral approach.

Impact of Education on Economic Growth: Evidence from SAARC Countries

The primary objective of this paper is to examine the influence of education on SAARC members' economic growth to estimate panel data periods from 1990 to2019, the current study employed panel unit root such as ADF Fisher Chi-square, LLC and IP&SW and for long-run and short-run co-integration applied PMG approach, Kao (1999) co-integration, and Dumitrescu-Hurlin Panel Causality test. Primary School Enrollment (PSE), Secondary School Enrollment (SSE), and Tertiary School Enrollment (TSE) have a constructive and significant influence on GDPPC growth in the long term but have a negligible outcome in short run. In all three models, negative noteworthy value of ECM suggests junction from the short term to long-run equilibrium. Moreover, there is a unidirectional causal association running from PSE, SSE, and TSE to GDPPC. This study concluded that the government should place a greater emphasis on education to stimulate economic growth.

Sport specialization in Swedish football players: Investigating a model of antecedents and outcomes

ABSTRACT Drawing on data from the present and former football players (N = 1026) selected to a national football talent programme at the age of 15, this study explores a model of sport specialisation. We examined three specific aspects of sport specialisation including early football specialisation, participation in youth elite football training environments (i.e. academies) and enrolment in upper secondary football specialisation schools. Antecedents of these sport specialisation factors included gender (i.e. sociocultural), grit (i.e. personality) and perceptions of family finances (i.e. social). Outcomes focused on adult football participation at the age of 21 including elite skill acquisition (i.e. playing elite football) and personal development (i.e. participation in non-elite football). Findings revealed that females were less likely to gain access to elite football training or school specialisation environments. There was also a positive association between grit and participation in elite training environments. In terms of outcomes, players, who got trained in elite training environments during adolescence, were twice as likely to play elite football at the age of 21, while those who attended football specialisation schools were more likely to participate in non-elite football at the age of 21. Early specialisation was not associated with either adult participation outcome. This is one of the few studies to date addressing diverse antecedents and outcomes of sport specialisation factors. Understanding how sport specialisation practices relate to future skill acquisition and personal development can provide guidance for maximising the benefits of youth sport programming. Highlights Girls had less opportunity to participate in elite training environments and school football classes. Early specialisation was unrelated to elite football participation at the age of 21. Participation in youth elite training increased the likelihood of elite status as an adult. Need for closer examination of sport specialisation disparities for female players.