Provision Of Free Education Research Articles

Free Education vs. Quality Education: A systematic analysis

Overview: The debate between free education and quality education remains a critical issue in the global education landscape. This systematic analysis aimed to dissect the intricate relationship between the provision of free education and the assurance of quality education. While free education is often lauded for its role in increasing accessibility and promoting educational equity, concerns about the potential compromise in quality cannot be overlooked. Body of Knowledge: The study’s analysis drew on a comprehensive review of existing literature, case studies, and empirical data from various countries that have implemented free education policies. Central to this analysis is the understanding that free education, though essential for fostering inclusivity, often faces challenges such as underfunding, overcrowded classrooms, and inadequate infrastructure. These issues can severely impact the quality of education delivered, resulting in poor learning outcomes and diminished educational standards. Methods: The study engaged both the qualitative and quantitative methods and a descriptive research design that sampled 150 respondents; head teachers, teachers and learners from selected secondary schools in Lusaka district, Zambia. Data was obtained from the respondents by means of interviews and questionnaires. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data whereas quantitative data were analyzed by the use of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (version 26) and Microsoft Excel (version 16). Results: The study’s analysis delves into the economic implications of free education. While it alleviates the financial burden on families, especially in low-income regions, the long-term sustainability of such policies is questioned. The study examined various funding models and the role of government expenditure in maintaining high educational standards without imposing direct costs on students. Recommendation: The study therefore recommended for policymakers to adopt a holistic view, ensuring that the drive towards free education is matched with adequate resources, effective management, and a commitment to continuous improvement in educational standards.

The Provision of Free Education and its Sustainability: The Zambian Scenario

The Provision of Free Education and its Sustainability: The Zambian Scenario

The effect of schooling, experiences, and firm size on earnings in Sri Lanka (Incorporated with the major emphasis of Mincer’s Earnings Function)

This paper attempts to identify the effect of education, experiences and firm size on earnings in Sri Lanka incorporated with empirical emphasis of the Mincer’s Earning Function. Since distinguished findings are reported pertaining to the log earning profile of education and experiences in literature, this study attempts to investigate, which kind of log earning profile is associated with education and experiences in Sri Lanka by adding a new variable “Firm Size” to the conventional Mincer’s earning function. For this purpose, direct personal interviews with structured questionnaire survey were conducted to collect cross sectional data from 115 employees who are employing at firms in different sizes in Maspotha Divisional Secretariat Division of Kurunegala District. OLS Multiple regression analysis and Curvilinear regression techniques were employed as the major data analysis tools of the study. Results revealed by the study show that log-earning is a linear function of education (R2=34.5%) and a quadratic function of experiences (R2= 35.8%). Rate of returns to education (7.4%) was higher than the rate of returns to experiences (2.7%) which implies that the log-earning profile in the area is education oriented. Medium scale enterprises (20.1%) were identified as the most influential firm type on earnings. Overall, it shows that the firm size has a positive effect on earnings in the area. Homogeneous preferences on education stimulated by the provision of free education were identified as the reason for linearity of education while deterioration of skills with declining physical and mental effort with growing age were reasons for the concavity behaviour of experiences. Further investment on education, taking wage policies of firms into consideration and forecasting future expectation of firms in the job market will lead to increase rate of return on the investment of education and experiences.

Recruitment of general practitioners in China: a scoping review of strategies and challenges.

BackgroundChina is rapidly expanding its general practitioner (GP) workforce as part of recent healthcare reform, with an extra 400,000 GPs by 2030. This scoping review identifies the published strategies for GP recruitment that are being implemented and the challenges encountered.MethodsWe searched six English and three Chinese databases from 2015 to April 2022, following Arksey and O’Malley’s framework and the PRISMA ScR reporting guidelines.ResultsA total of 40 Chinese-language and 5 English-language records were included. We identified multiple policies, pathways and programmes focused on expanding GP recruitment. Twenty-two evaluations of these initiatives show varying degrees of effectiveness. Selecting general practice as a career is affected by many factors, including individual’s background, remuneration and benefits, career prospects, working environment, self-fulfilment, and current national developments and reorganisations of primary care. The challenge most frequently reported was the adequate provision of qualified GP in rural regions. The targeting of students from rural areas and provision of free education in return for an obligatory six-years’ working in their hometown upon graduation appears to be effective. Extracted records mostly studied views of trainees in a defined locality, and we identified a paucity of studies which explored the perspectives of organisations and institutions, similarly there were areas of China not contributing to the literature and there were no records taking a national perspective.ConclusionsLong-term monitoring is required to assess policy changes and to systematically evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions nationally. The monitoring of the challenges influencing GP recruitment can be used to inform the design of future initiatives.Development of a minimum agreed standardised set of outcomes used to measure and report evaluations will help assess the relative contributions and cost effectiveness of different approaches being used to boost GP numbers. We provide suggestions for improving the benefits and rewards for GPs and how to promote recruitment to the more rural or less attractive areas.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12875-022-01854-0.

Evaluasi Kebijakan Penyelenggaraan Pendidikan Gratis Pada Jenjang Sekolah Dasar dan Menengah Pertama

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the policy of providing free education in Pelalawan Regency. The method in this research is to use a qualitative research type with a case study approach with the research location in the Education and Culture Office of Pelalawan Regency. Data collection in this study was obtained through observation, interviews and documentation which were then analyzed through data analysis. The results showed that in evaluating policies on the provision of free education in Pelalawan Regency by using 6 criteria, the evaluation of Dunn's policies was not optimal. In the implementation of this policy there are still obstacles so that there are still not any that do not comply with the criteria for policy evaluation.

Is free pre-primary education associated with increased primary school completion? A global study

While global enrollment in primary education has increased significantly particularly since it became a target of the United Nations “Education for All” initiative and one of the Millennium Development Goals, primary completion rates have remained virtually unchanged since 1999. Evidence from studies of individual programs in a range of countries suggests that enrollment in pre-primary education can improve school readiness and achievement in primary school, and therefore, potentially raise primary completion rates. As research has also found that provision of free education is associated with higher enrollment, we hypothesize that provision of free and compulsory pre-primary education will be associated with higher primary school completion rates. Further, we hypothesize that free pre-primary education will have the largest impact where completion rates have been lowest. Using a database of quantitative, globally comparable measures of national provision of free pre-primary education we created, and data from UNESCO’s Institute for Education Statistics, we analyze the 104 nations with complete data. We conduct multivariate quantile regression analyses. We find that, controlling for national income and level of urbanization, provision of at least 1 year of free and compulsory pre-primary education is associated with a nearly 10 percentage point increase in primary school graduation rates for countries at the median and a 12 percentage point increase in rates for primarily low- and lower-middle-income countries at the lower end of the distribution.

The Development of Tertiary Education in Greece: The Determinant Factors

From the 1950s onwards, there has been a sharp increase in the number of students studying at higher education institutions both at European and global level. By 2000 in the developed countries of the West such as Sweden, Canada and the USA, 85% - 90% of the population aged between 18 and 24 studied in post-secondary educational institution. This development could be attributed on the one hand to the role of the Welfare State and in particular the provision of free education and on the other, to the broader transformation of the global economy and the consequent emergence of demand for employees, white collars workers rather than blue collar ones. Greece has also exhibited a growth in the demand for higher education especially after the 1970s. During that period the expansion in the number of University and Technological Institutions was accompanied by a considerable increased tendency for students to study abroad in Europe and the USA. Indicatively, until recently Greece maintained the largest ratio of students over population studying abroad internationally. The causes are more of social rather than economical origin. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that determine the phenomenon of increased demand for further studies in Greece. Furthermore there is an attempt to evaluate public as well as private expenditure as these emanate from the National Accounts and also household surveys. Moreover there will be an attempt to evaluate if the theory of Human Capital, regarding the return of investment, constitutes a critical factor to the decision for education. The data on which this paper is based originate from public sources (National Statistical Service) and also from empirical surveys conducted by the authors.

Fifty Years of Socialist Education in Revolutionary Cuba: A World-Systems Perspective

The educational achievements of revolutionary Cuba are well documented, and of international importance given the current global struggle to achieve universal primary schooling as one of the Millennium Development Goals. Revolutionary Cuba achieved and has sustained universal access to free and secular public education at all levels, with a high degree of equity, alongside a comprehensive program of adult education and the unprecedented provision of free education and training, particularly medical training, for students of the South. This paper focuses on the less well-researched aspect of the political and ideological objectives of Cuban school education, and the ways in which these have been reflected in school structures, curricula, and pedagogical practices. Acknowledging the ongoing achievements in terms of provision and academic performance, it is argued that the project of socialising new socialist citizens through schooling has been mixed. Drawing on world-systems theorising, some fundamental features of Cuba’s school system are identified that have historically worked against such outcomes. The ensuing contradictions have been exacerbated by post-Soviet social and economic conditions and changes, producing distinct outcomes in contemporary Cuban society that pose major challenges to Cuba’s political and educational project.