School Enrollment Research Articles

The demographical and economic factors affecting female labor force participation in Saudi Arabia

The female labor force participation holds significant implications for various aspects of society, the economy, and individual lives. Understanding its significance involves recognizing the multifaceted impact of women’s participation in the workforce. In this context, the current study investigates the factors influencing the female labor force participation rate in Saudi Arabia while using a set of independent variables such as GDP growth, employment-to-population ratio, inflation, urban population growth, tertiary school enrollment, labor force with advanced education, fertility rate, and age dependency ratio, covering a period from 2000 to 2022. The results reveal that the employment-to-population ratio, inflation rate, urbanization, and age dependency ratio have positive and statistically significant impacts on the female labor force participation rate. This research offers valuable insights for formulating policies to foster female empowerment and overcome the obstacles that hinder their economic participation.

The impact of welfare design on consumption patterns of the poor: Evidence from the recent Dibao reform in rural China

In the recent anti-poverty campaign, China's minimum livelihood guarantee program (called Dibao in Chinese) experienced significant changes in that it now includes both cash transfer and special assistances such as education and healthcare subsidies. Therefore, the current Dibao program in China is a composite cash transfer program containing the nature of both unconditional and conditional cash transfers. This paper is the first attempt to examine the impact of a composite cash transfer program on consumption patterns of the poor population by utilizing exogenous variation in the differential size of increases in Dibao subsidy lines across cities. We find that the Dibao reform has a significantly positive effect on total consumption of poor households. In particular, the generosity of this composite cash transfer program increased human capital expenditures to a large extent including expenditures on healthcare and children's education. The Dibao reform also generates positive spillovers such as increasing school enrollment and improving academic performance for children in Dibao families.

Epidemiology and Management of Pediatric Fractures in Malawi.

Pediatric fractures are common in Malawi, and surgical care, when needed, remains inaccessible to many. Understanding which children in Malawi receive surgery or nonsurgical treatment would help set priorities for trauma system development. We used multivariate logistic regression to evaluate associations between surgical treatment and age, sex, school enrollment, injury mechanism, fracture type, open fracture, referral status, hospital of presentation, delayed presentation (≥2 days), healthcare provider, and inpatient vs outpatient treatment. From 2016 to 2020, 10,400 pediatric fractures were recorded in the Malawi Fracture Registry. Fractures were most commonly of the wrist (26%), forearm (17%), and elbow (14%). Surgical fixation was performed on 4.0% of patients, and 24 (13.0%) open fractures were treated nonsurgically, without débridement or fixation. Fractures of the proximal and diaphyseal humerus (odds ratio [OR], 3.72; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.36 to 5.87), knee (OR, 3.16; 95% CI, 1.68 to 5.95), and ankle (OR, 2.63; 95% CI, 1.49 to 4.63) had highest odds of surgery. Odds of surgical treatment were lower for children referred from another facility (OR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.49 to 0.77). Most Malawian children with fractures are treated nonsurgically, including many who may benefit from surgery. There is a need to increase surgical capacity, optimize referral patterns, and standardize fracture management in Malawi.

Female Engagement in Asian Workforce: Exploring the Impact of ICT

The labor market in Asian countries has both challenges and opportunities for women to participate in the work force. The aim of this article is to investigate the association of ICT, female education, and fertility with the female labor force participation in 48 Asian countries from 2014 to 2021 in fixed effect model. The results reveal that there is positive and significant association of internet use with female labor force participation, whereas there is a negative relationship between mobile phone usage and female labor force participation which is only significant at ten percent. Similarly, the control variables, GDP and female secondary school enrollment have also positive relationship with female labor force participation. The fertility rate has negative association with female labor force participation. Furthermore, it is found that ICT has significantly affected to female labor participation in Central Asia and South-Eastern Asia. The findings of this article explain that the ICT has increased female labor force participation, their empowerments and returns in the Asian countries. However, it is applicable for the appropriate policies of ICT usage in such a way that it not only increases female labor force participation but also increases the productivity of female workforce. The policy makers should increase the skill-oriented applications in both mobile applications and internet browsers. There should be restrictions on certain applications in the devices which reduce work productivity thereby assuring increase in female labor force participation.

A STUDY ON INSTITUTIONAL ENVIROMENT OF THE MODEL SCHOOLS OF TEA GARDEN AREAS OF LAKHIMPUR DISTRICT, ASSAM

The National Policy on Education 2020 aims to transform the Indian education system by making it more inclusive, holistic and flexible. In continuations the Government of Assam launched a significant initiative in October 2020 to establish 119 Model Schools across major tea growing districts through Public-Private- Partnership (PPP). By May 2022, 97 of these schools were inaugurated marking a pivotal step towards providing quality education within tea garden community. The present study, through qualitative research methods , examined the institutional environment in enhancing Enrolment, Attendance and Community participation in the Model Schools in the Tea Garden areas of Lakhimpur district, Assam.

Clustreing of Province in Indonesia Based on Education Indicators Using K-Medoids

Data mining is searching for interesting patterns or information by selecting data using specific techniques or methods. One method that can be used in data mining is K-Medoids. K-Medoids is a method used to group objects into a cluster. This research aimed to obtain the optimal number of clusters using the K-Medoids method based on Davies-Bouldin Index (DBI) validity on education indicators data by province in Indonesia in 2021. The results showed that the optimal number of clusters using the K-Medoids method based on DBI validity is 5 clusters. Cluster 1 consists of 1 province with a higher average dropout rate, average length of schooling, and well-owned classrooms compared to other clusters. Cluster 2 consists of 15 provinces with an average proportion of school libraries lower than Clusters 3 and 4 and higher than Clusters 1 and 5. Cluster 3 consists of 9 provinces with an average proportion of school libraries, proportions of school laboratories, net enrollment rates, and higher school enrollment rates than other clusters. Cluster 4 consists of 8 provinces with a higher average enrollment rate than the other clusters. Cluster 5 consists of 1 province with a higher average repetition rate and student-per-teacher ratio than other clusters.

Implementation of Public Policy for Expanding Access to Basic Education as an effort to Increase School Enrollment Rates

Implementation of Public Policy for Expanding Access to Basic Education as an effort to Increase School Enrollment Rates

Assessing the Impact of School Feeding Programs on the School Enrolment of Children in Primary Schools: A Case Study of T/A Chimwala Mangochi Malawi

Assessing the Impact of School Feeding Programs on the School Enrolment of Children in Primary Schools: A Case Study of T/A Chimwala Mangochi Malawi

How can reading and writing be promoted in Anglophone West Africa? Evidence from new perspective: a word of mouth from experts in basic education

ABSTRACT The unintended consequence of primary school enrolment is to reduce illiteracy among pupils; however, increased school enrolment in sub-Sahara Africa yields fewer results of equipping pupils with reading and writing skills as many primary school pupils can hardly read and write. The study explores barriers influencing pupils’ poor reading and writing skills and strategies to promote reading and writing using qualitative inquiry. Thus, a semi-structured interview was administered to collect data from experts in primary education from the two most populated countries in West Africa (Ghana and Nigeria) that share similar educational policies, priorities, and challenges. The study's finding indicates that the illiteracy of parents, inadequate school facilities, and lack of community support for reading and writing activities were the fundamental barriers. The study suggests that schools adopt reading promotion tools used in Eastern Asia and Pacific countries as a national strategy. Parental involvement and community support for reading promotion activities should be encouraged, and primary schools should be resourced with reading materials, cheaper internet for schools, and digital learning facilities should be provided, which will make reading and writing less stressful and fun for pupils.

Kindergarten readiness: associations with a summer transition program and teacher/school level factors

ABSTRACT Transition to kindergarten is an important developmental milestone for children and families. This study explored factors associated with kindergarten readiness focusing on the impact of a summer kindergarten transition program. A mixed-method design was employed, and the qualitative data from interviews with 16 randomly selected kindergarten teachers and the quantitative data of assessment scores of 320 kindergarteners were analyzed. Compared with children who were eligible but did not participate in the transition program, those who participated in the program had significantly more family engagement and stronger home-school relations. Smaller class sizes were associated with children’s higher readiness scores in both academic achievement and social-emotional development. Larger school enrollment was associated with children’s higher readiness scores in academic achievement, more family engagement, and stronger home-school relations. Higher school poverty was associated with children’s lower readiness scores in social-emotional development. The findings can be used to inform program development and policymaking.

African youth and unemployment: does human capital investment still matter?

ABSTRACT Graduate unemployment has become a common phenomenon in Africa. Many youth with advanced education levels are not able to find decent jobs. This article examines the effect of human capital investment on youth unemployment using panel data from 44 sub-Saharan countries over the period 1991-2020. The Cross-Sectional augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lag (CS-ARDL) modeling approach is carried out to overcome the issue of endogeneity and cross-sectional dependency. Results show that in the long run, an increase in primary and tertiary school enrolments reduces the youth unemployment rate. In contrast, secondary school enrolment is positively associated with youth unemployment, independently of gender considerations. The short-run dynamics reveal that primary and tertiary school enrolments are positively associated with youth unemployment. In addition, the results confirmed Phillip's curve hypothesis between inflation and unemployment and Okun's law between economic growth and unemployment.

Post-compulsory schooling of youth in Turkey: a case of pro-cyclical enrollment

PurposeThis study investigates the effect of business cycles on school enrollment in Turkey. During recessions, school enrollment might increase as opportunity cost of schooling declines, yet it might also decrease because of reduced income households have for education. Which effect dominates depends on the context. We empirically explore this in a context displaying canonical features of developing countries.Design/methodology/approachUsing the Turkish Household Labor Force Survey data for a period covering the Great Recession, we estimate the effect of unemployment rate separately for enrollments in general and vocational high schools and in undergraduate programs. To understand the cyclicality, we use a probit model with the regional and time variations in unemployment rates. We also build a simple theoretical model of work-schooling choice to interpret the findings.FindingsWe find that the likelihood of enrolling in general high schools and undergraduate programs declines with higher adult unemployment rates, but the likelihood of enrollment in vocational high schools increases. Confronting these empirical findings with the theoretical model suggests that the major factor in enrollment cyclicality in Turkey is how parental resources allocated to education change during recessions by schooling type.Originality/valueOur finding of pro-cyclical enrollment in academically oriented programs is in contrast with counter-cyclicality documented for similar programs in developed countries, which highlights the importance of income related factors in developing-country contexts. Our heterogeneous findings for general and vocational high schools are also novel.

Quality of life of children with cerebral palsy: Evidence from Assam, India

BackgroundCerebral palsy (CP) is a common childhood physical disability, which often leads to secondary conditions and affects the quality of life (QOL) of the children suffering from it. This study measures the QOL of children with CP using Children with Cerebral Palsy Quality of Life Questionnaire (CP-QOL) and the factors affecting it. MethodsThis cross-sectional study covering 140 purposively chosen caregivers of children with CP aged 4–12 years was conducted in Assam, India, 2023. Subscale scores of CP-QOL were computed to determine the overall QOL score. Cronbach's α assessed the subscales' reliability and interval consistency. Bivariate analysis was conducted to present the socio-demographic variation in QOL, and logistic regression revealed the determinants. Regression model diagnostics were performed, which included the Omnibus test, the Hosmer–Lemeshow test, a classification table showing the model's sensitivity, specificity, and overall accuracy, and a ROC curve displaying the model's overall accuracy in predicting the outcome variable. ResultsThe overall QOL score was 44.94 ± 16.28. QOL scores varied significantly with children's age, Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) levels, special school enrolment, mother's education, family structure, and the behaviour of relatives and neighbours. Nearly three-fourths of the caregivers perceived a poor QOL of their children with CP. Children's CP type, GMFCS level, associated conditions, and religion were significantly associated with their QOL. ConclusionThe QOL of children with CP are significantly lower, the primary factor being the GMFCS level. Efforts to educate caregivers and customized policies and programs will help improve CP children's QOL.

A blockchain-based academic degree attestation system

ABSTRACT We propose a novel blockchain-based academic degree verification system. The system relies on a smart contract deployed on the Ethereum blockchain platform. The system protects the privacy of the students who have been verified without the need of encryption, and hence, avoid the complexity of security key management and the potential disaster if the keys are stolen or revealed. The amount of degree data is also designed to be minimum for proper verification. All operations on the critical path of the system are automated without any human intervention. However, the system does assume that the organization would stand behind the proposed system to ensure the system's integrity. The system is open to anyone who wishes to verify the degree of a student. To prevent spamming and to support the long-term sustainability of the system, a small fee is charged for each verification request. A portion of the fees collected is immediately credited to the participating schools. To facilitate automated school enrollment into the system, any school may request to enroll by placing a significant amount of stake in ETH. The stake can be refunded when the school decides to leave the system. However, if the school is blacklisted due to misbehavior, the stake is confiscated. This design strongly discourages adversaries from abusing the system. The performance of the system is fully characterized with regard to the gas consumption of key operations in various use cases. We demonstrate that the system is conducive for long-term sustainability.

False Generosity and the Out-of-School Children Conundrum in Nigeria: Assessing Media Strategies for Promoting Optimal School Enrolment

At the centre of human development is education, which takes diverse forms and is critical during the formative years of the human person. This underscores the essential role that education plays in people’s lives. As a fundamental human right, education occupies the fourth spot in the sustainable development goals, which aim to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all and promote lifelong learning opportunities. For decades, governments and multilateral donor agencies have expended resources to meet society's educational expectations. In Nigeria, these efforts have not produced the desired outcomes. With approximately 10.5 million children out of school as of January 2022, Nigeria remains among the nations with the highest rates of out-of-school children. Leveraging a combination of a survey, document analysis, and a critical review of extant literature, this paper argues that the efforts of governments and other multilateral donor agencies to eradicate the challenge of out-of-school children are, at best, false generosity. The study, therefore, re-emphasizes the need for the media to rediscover its social responsibility function and leverage the traditional media of flyers, handbills, posters and community radio in communicating the need for formal education and consequently ebb the tide of out-of-school children in Nigeria.

The Short- and Long-Run Impacts of Free Education on Schooling: Direct Effects and Intra-Household Spillovers

Abstract This study estimates the direct and spillover effects of a free education programme on educational outcomes in rural China. We find that, although the programme encourages more eligible children to attend secondary school, it also leads to a decrease in high school enrolment among ineligible girls with eligible siblings, as they are more likely to choose work instead. In the long run, males exposed to free education have more years of schooling than their non-exposed counterparts. However, such effect is not found among females. This disparity suggests that a gender-neutral policy may have an asymmetric effect between males and females because of spillover effects through intra-household resource allocation.

Social protection as a strategy for HIV prevention, education promotion and child marriage reduction among adolescents: a cross-sectional population-based study in Lesotho

BackgroundLesotho’s government has shown consistent efforts to implement social protection programmes. However, while recent evidence established a positive causal relationship between some of these programmes and food security there is little evidence on the extent to which these initiatives are associated with better educational and sexual and reproductive health outcomes among vulnerable adolescents in Lesotho.Methods and FindingsThe study uses cross-sectional, nationally representative data from the 2018 Lesotho Violence Against Children and Youth Survey. Our research examined the association between social protection receipt and educational and sexual and reproductive health outcomes among adolescents and young people (13–24 years) living in poverty. We employed multivariate logistic regression controlling for age, orphanhood, HIV status and sex. Social protection receipt was defined as household receipt of financial support from a governmental, non-governmental, or community-based program that provides income. Additionally, we fitted a marginal effects model by sex. Among the 3,506 adolescent females and males living in the two lowest poverty quintiles, receipt of social protection was associated with improvements in multiple adolescent outcomes: higher odds of consistent condom use (aOR 1.64, 95% CI 1.17–2.29), educational attainment (aOR 1.79, 95% CI 1.36–2.36), and school enrolment (aOR 2.19, 95% CI 1.44–3.34). Stratified analyses by sex showed that social protection receipt was also associated with reduced likelihood of child marriage among females (aOR 0.59, 95% CI 0.42–0.83) and higher odds of educational attainment and school enrolment among males (aOR 2.53, 95% CI 1.59–4.03 and aOR 3.11, 95% CI 1.56–6.19, respectively).ConclusionsOur study provides evidence that social protection programs are associated with improved educational, sexual and reproductive health and child marriage prevention outcomes among adolescents living in poverty. Implementing and expanding such social protection initiatives could prove instrumental in improving the well-being of vulnerable adolescents.ContributionsSocial protection programs have been increasing in sub-Saharan African countries, playing a pivotal role in poverty reduction, with Lesotho being no exception. Despite the optimistic outlook brought about by the implementation of the National Social Protection Strategy Lesotho I (2014-19) and II (2021–2031), the impact of these programs on some specific outcomes that concern the lives of the most vulnerable adolescents in Lesotho remains to some extent unexplored. Additionally, Lesotho grapples with high rates of HIV, adolescent pregnancy, child marriage and early school dropout, which can further contribute to poor long-term health and social outcomes among adolescents. In this study, we used data from the 2018 Lesotho Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) to examine the association between receiving social protection and multiple adolescent outcomes: educational, sexual and reproductive. The findings revealed that social protection programs, particularly the existing government-provided cash transfers, are significantly associated with multiple better outcomes among adolescents living in the poorest households in Lesotho. Such cash transfer schemes in Lesotho are associated with improved sexual and reproductive health outcomes for adolescent females, including reduced child marriage rates, and improved educational outcomes for males. These findings indicate that government-led social protection programmes are positively associated with favourable outcomes that can improve the quality of life for adolescents in resource-limited settings.

Designing a School Information System and Admission of New Students at Gunadarma Middle School Based on a Website Using the Protoype Method

The school information system and registration of new students at Gunadarma Middle School is currently still manual and seems traditional. This causes the process to be slow, inefficient, and prone to errors. This requires a webdite-based information system that can help schools manage school information system and new student registration using the prototype method. The prototype method was chosen because it makes it possible to develop the system quickly and iteratively, so that a system can be obtained that suits the user’s needs. The system designed will have several main features. Allows perspective students to register online by filling out the registration form and upload the required documents. The latter produces statistical reports on the number of students and selection results. This system is expected to increase efficiency and effectiveness in managing school information and new student registration.

Mother’s age at marriage and gender-differential in child schooling: Evidence from Pakistan

In this study, we provide empirical evidence in support of intergenerational effects of women’s marriage age on girl-specific child education outcomes using a nationally representative household survey of 24,809 households from Pakistan. Our key findings are four-fold: First, we find that mother’s age at marriage has no girl-specific impact on the education of children of school going age in terms of school enrolment, type of school (public/private) or education expenditure. However, there is a positive effect of delaying mother’s marriage on girls in terms of relative grade progression and primary school attainment, implying that late-marrying mothers are more likely to transfer their human capital advantages/disadvantages to the daughters. Second, the impact does not depend on whether the child is firstborn or later-order, youngest child or with no siblings. Sex of the previous child does not affect the relationship either. Third, the beneficial impact of mother’s marriage age on girls’ education is visible only in the cohort of women who got married in 2000 or later. Fourth, father’s marriage age is significantly associated with an increase in daughters’ school enrolment and primary completion. The impact of smaller spousal age difference is also positive. These findings are robust to the use of empirical strategies and specifications that address potential endogeneity, collider bias, recall bias, sample selection and confounding factors. These findings suggest that delay in women’s marriage is helping to narrow down gender disparities in education. The findings underscore the need to promote social and behavioural changes that encourage later marriages.

From Policy to Practice: Unpacking the Politics and Realities of Environmental Education Policy in Chinese Primary Schools

AbstractIn recent years, China’s strong commitment to the political agenda of ecological civilisation has increased the presence of environmental education (EE) in the policy arena. Using the waste classification policy as an example, this research explores the implementation of EE policy in two Chinese primary schools. Through the use of a policy enactment framework, the findings reveal that contextual factors such as school enrolment, infrastructure and external influences from the District Bureau greatly influence the schools’ policy capacity. By exploring the internal policy flow and school artefacts, it was found that although the waste classification policy was enacted similarly in the selected primary schools, the outcomes differed significantly. These variations highlight the complexities and challenges of implementing an EE policy under ecological civilisation and contribute to the understanding of the tension between localised adaptations and the nationally politicised EE policy mandates.